Opportunity sprouts in potato patch
There’s something blurry about politics at the highest operational level — that dreamtime realm of closeddoor caucus meetings, hard-to-read policy papers and committees within committees. It’s only when you get down to what one might call micro-political acts that the process actually reveals itself in a tangible way. And even, occasionally, gets interesting.
So it is with the Great Potato Putsch of 2012, back in the news again. Surely you know the story, because it’s an easy one to remember over coffee: Alderman spots hippies planting hippie garden on unsightly vacant lot in his neighbourhood, calls cops, shuts it down.
While tasty grist for both right- and left-leaning bloggers, the incident probably wouldn’t have lingered except for two things. The alderman, John Mar, just announced he is running for federal office. At the same time, a local civil liberties group has asked city hall to investigate whether Mar used his political clout to expedite his wishes in ways that ordinary disgruntled neighbours cannot.
I have to admit, I’m as curious about that as the Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association, which I must further confess I never heard of until last week. I see by their website, however, that their volunteer directors include former Herald writers Gillian Steward and Catherine Ford, no slouches themselves in the professional curiosity department.
Hence, we now have this mini-crucible of political struggle, a faceoff between political poles that is so clear cut that the online commentary virtually writes itself.
On the one wing, it’s unkempt Occupy Calgary types scoffing at no-trespassing signs in their restless campaign to outlaw private property. Their stated plan to donate the harvest to local food banks? A socialist fig leaf.
On the other, it’s The Man using excessive force to squash a natural and harmless activity. The only possible reason? A show of authoritarian might.
For his part, Mar says he welcomes the scrutiny, and perhaps he does. He clearly believes he didn’t overstep any ethical boundary, though the evidence does not seem in his favour.
By his own admission, Mar’s first call was to Bill Bruce, the head of bylaw services — whom I guess qualifies as a colleague. Now, as someone who has been visited by bylaw officers before, I’m pretty sure my dandelion-hating neighbours had to queue up on a phone line in order to bring me to justice.
Second, how can it look anything but bad when Mar, an ex-policeman himself, shows up to the guerrilla garden in a police van. (One of several, apparently, a measure of overkill that will likely figure in future investigations.)
Mar says that happened because the police were having a hard time finding the site, and he, standing shoeless in front of his home, merely offered assistance. Because, you know how confusing the streets can be at 17th Avenue and 17th Street S.W.
Meanwhile, as a fellow now running for the Conservative nomination to contest Lee Richardson’s former seat in Calgary Centre, Mar seems rather comfortable with how this looks. It’s as if he’s winking at the electorate, saying everybody knows how things get done in the real world, and it’s by people with power. So if you want to elect a guy who will get things done, Mar’s your man.
Frankly, a lot of Calgarians feel exactly that way, so as a form of political calculus, it just might be spot on.
On another level, though, the episode suggests that an ambitious politician like Mar has grown tired of tedious civic issues like, for example, why we can’t officialize the purposeful use of vacant lots long left to rot by absentee speculators.
It’s therefore unsurprising that Mar wants to follow in Richardson’s footsteps. The consummate insider served in the governments of Diefenbaker, Mulroney and Harper. He’s been on more boards and committees than you’ve had hot breakfasts. And now he’s swung over to be Alison Redford’s principal secretary.
Politics is about serving the public. It’s also about exploiting opportunity.
Everybody knows how things get done in the real world, and it’s by people with power.
KEVIN BROOKER’S COLUMN APPEARS EVERY SECOND MONDAY.