CONFLICTS SUNK BREMNER: NPA LETTER

Rejected mayoral candidate says he was victim of civic party’s ‘kangaroo court’

The Non-Partisan Association shot down its own sitting caucus member’s bid for its mayoral nomination because of, among other things, concerns his day job left him in an “inherently conflicted” position.

That allegation was among the “serious concerns” outlined in a two-page letter sent Sunday evening from NPA president Gregory Baker to NPA Coun. Hector Bremner, according to a person who had reviewed the document.

But Bremner called that allegation “ridiculous” Monday, saying the correspondence only highlighted how the NPA’s mayoral nomination process has devolved into a “kangaroo court.”

Sunday’s letter came at the end of a tumultuous week for the city’s oldest political party, after the board voted last Monday to reject Bremner’s attempt to seek the party’s mayoral nomination, prompting a series of departures from the party, including prospective candidates and two board members, as Postmedia News reported last Friday. By Monday, another director had departed, bringing the total to three.

On Monday morning Baker released a statement saying he had sent a “confidential letter” to Bremner the previous evening, “outlining in detail the reasons why the NPA board did not approve his mayoral application.”

“Although the NPA does not plan to publicly release this information, Mr. Bremner is within his rights to release the information, as well as the contents of the letter, as he sees fit,” Baker said in the statement.

The letter hasn’t been released publicly, but a person who had a copy of it read excerpts to The Vancouver Sun over the phone Monday and described parts of it, including the list of the NPA’s concerns about Bremner’s application.

Within hours of Baker’s statement Monday morning, Bremner responded, saying the concerns outlined in the letter were “based on politically motivated accusations made by a rival campaign, not on anything of substance.”

Bremner’s statement Monday morning said he would be “responding in the next few days to this letter and more importantly about our path forward.”

But later Monday, after Postmedia obtained information about the letter, informed Bremner of a plan to publish some of the details, and offered him a chance to respond, he granted a phone interview.

“We’ll obviously have a full response to the letter at some point, and it’s unfortunate that parts of it are going to get out, out of context,” Bremner said. “It took (the NPA) a week to write it, so it’s going to take me a day or so to respond ... The letter only proves that it was a kangaroo court.”

The letter outlines the NPA’s “serious concerns” about Bremner’s application, beginning with Bremner’s request that his lawyer accompany him to the Green Light Committee meeting to discuss his prospects of being on the ballot for the NPA’s nomination meeting on May 29.

The letter cites three conflictof-interest complaints involving Bremner’s work with the Pace Group, a media-relations and lobbying firm. Baker confirmed Monday that the three complaints referenced in the letter were those filed by two locals named Raza Mirza and Justin Fung.

Mirza and Fung, both of whom spoke last month to Postmedia about their complaints, said they had recently signed up for NPA memberships. Both expressed

concerns about Bremner’s suitability for the city’s top job.

But Bremner and his supporters say Mirza and Fung are motivated by their stated support for a rival candidate for this year’s NPA mayoral nomination, Glen Chernen. Last September, Chernen filed his own complaint involving Bremner’s lobbying work, while the two were competing for the NPA council nomination for last October’s byelection, which Bremner won.

The NPA’s letter alleged Bremner is “inherently conflicted” because of his work with the Pace Group, and expressed concerns that the councillor wasn’t “forthright” in some of his responses to previous complaints.

Bremner said: “It’s a ridiculous statement to say I’m inherently conflicted,” adding he made it clear to the NPA that if he won the nomination he would quit his job with the Pace Group to campaign full time, thereby eliminating the potential for conflict.

The final point of concern in the NPA’s letter said that Bremner “waffled” on the question of whether he would allow the board to control his policy direction if he were to win the party’s mayoral nomination.

The point about the “waffling,” Bremner said, “is really profound. My comments to (the NPA board) was saying I certainly wanted to work with them, but I also asked that the candidate’s positions be considered. Not just some shadow group that’s unelected and not public is somehow running government, essentially, if we were to form government. That, to me, is just exemplary of what we were contending with.”

Bremner was set to meet Monday night with a group, including organizers, advisers and possible council candidates, to discuss their plans for the October election. It’s expected Bremner will make an announcement in the next two or three days, with many observers believing he may run against the NPA with his own slate.