Tech entrepreneur Brody drops out of NPA mayoral campaign

In what may be one of the shortest-lived mayoral campaigns in Vancouver history, new media and tech entrepreneur Leonard Brody has backed out of being one of the preferred candidates for the Non- Partisan Association.

In an interview Thursday morning, Brody said “now is not the right time” for him to make a mayoral run. He said he made the decision late Wednesday after weighing his responsibilities to both his companies and to the citizens of Vancouver.

“I have so many business obligations that I made to so many other people and organizations. I simply could not give the job the time it needs, especially in a time when I believe you need to be very ambitious and do a lot more,” he said. “I simply don’t have the time and it wouldn’t be fair.”

Instead, he endorsed former Vancouver Sun managing editor Kirk LaPointe, one of two other shortlisted candidates interviewed for mayoral candidacy for the Nov. 15 civic election, whom he has known for many years.

“I am a really big, big fan of Kirk’s. He is a great guy, hard- working and principled, and I think we would be lucky to have him as a mayor in this city.”

Brody’s shortlisting as an NPA mayoral candidate promised to inject considerable interest in the fall civic election. He, LaPointe and former NPA Park Board chairman Ian Robertson were selected by the NPA executive as finalists in their search for a contender to take on Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. The NPA was expected to announce its slate after a board meeting next week.

The NPA issued a brief statement saying it is “honoured that Leonard Brody agreed to join the candidate selection process.” It is expected to meet next week to ratify its selection of candidates for the civic election.