Raise a reader, rouse an adman

Extra! Extra!

"Man buys copy of the Vancouver Sun from British Columbia's Education Minister with a fresh $100 bill donation to the newspaper's vital Raise-a-Reader literacy charity!"

Read all about it!

There's more to this picture (which was posted caption-less on the government's main propaganda website) than meets the eye. 

Admen reunite: Palmer (left) and Fassbender (newsroom.gov.bc.ca)

If you follow B.C. politics, you probably know the man on the right is Peter Fassbender. He's the rookie Surrey-Fleetwood BC Liberal MLA who was re-elected Mayor of the City of Langley in 2011 (a post held since July by Ted Schaffer who was chosen by the rest of council to serve the rest of Fassbender's term).

Fassbender is a close friend of Deputy Premier Rich Coleman, who installed Fassbender as chairman of B.C. Pavilion Corporation, a post he held through the election.

Fassbender hit the streets on Sept. 25 to sell papers with news of a $500,000 donation from taxpayers to Raise-a-Reader, via Decoda Literacy Solutions, a spinoff of the secretive 2010 Legacies Now.

The man on the left is Frank Palmer, British Columbia's most-powerful and most-successful ad-man. He's the Palmer in Palmer Jarvis Advertising, which is now DDB Canada where he is chairman and CEO. 

Before he was a local politician in Langley, Fassbender was a business partner with Palmer at P.J. They go way back. In the 1990s, Fassbender was Palmer's right-hand man.  

Palmer, through an Alberta numbered company, 971261 Alberta Ltd., donated $2,500 to Fassbender's election campaign, which cost almost $200,000 (nearly double Premier Christy Clark's failed Vancouver-Point Grey campaign). Even while he was running for office, Fassbender remained the chairman of B.C. Pavilion Corporation, the taxpayer-owned company that runs B.C. Place Stadium and the Vancouver Convention Centre. Palmer is also a board member. 

Donating a C-note to a newspaper's charity is tame for Palmer. Last year, he dressed up as rapper Big Frankie P and recorded a track to benefit the National Advertising Benevelont Society, the ad industry's self-help charity. You could say he went from rap to fish-wrap.

Award-winning DDB was among six ad agencies on a pre-approved list of companies that the government called-upon from time-to-time over the last three years. During the most recent fiscal year, DDB billed the government $5.4 million and BC Hydro $11.7 million. DDB remains one of the government's go-to ad shops; it was included on an expanded, post-election list of 23 companies offering traditional, digital, video and polling services. Palmer's thoughts about procurement appear in Strategy, one of the Canadian industry's trade mags. 

Here's my Tyee reality check "Mad Men are always election winners" about the ad industry's relationship with the government and the ruling party. The Vancouver ad industry is reliant on government contracts, because it lacks the quantity of private sector corporate head offices that Toronto and Calgary boast. The government spent $36.4 million during the year leading up to the election. The re-elected Liberals would say it was money well-spent. Taxpayers? Not so much. 

Now you know a little more about a photograph on the government website. 

Riot report ghost writer reluctant to talk about BC Rail briber

I got a call from Stewart Muir on Friday afternoon. Turns out he was the ghost writer for the report on the 2011 Stanley Cup riot that bears the names of John Furlong and Doug Keefe. Furlong, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics boss, hired him, he said.

The former Vancouver Sun deputy managing editor didn't seem very enthusiastic when I asked him about whether his wife, Athana Mentzelopoulos, influenced or was informed about the content of the report. His denial was emphatic, yet defensive.

It's not an unreasonable question. Muir is a veteran journalist who obviously knows our job is to watch those in power and keep an eye on those close to them. He has a family connection in the Office of the Premier. Mentzelopoulos was hired in August as Premier Christy Clark's deputy minister of corporate priorities. Mentzelopoulos was a deputy minister under ex-Premier Gordon Campbell and even served as a bridesmaid at Clark's wedding. Clark is a big Canucks' fan and enjoys the support of donors like Canucks and Rogers Arena owner Francesco Aquilini.

You can read my story on Muir here.

Before I finished the interview, I took the opportunity to ask about records mentioning Muir and Mentzelopoulos that are displayed on this blog entry by Alex Tsakumis.

Tsakumis managed to obtain expense reports filed by OmniTrax lobbyist Erik Bornmann that were collected by the RCMP in their investigation on the corrupt 2003 sale of BC Rail to CN Rail.

Bornmann was an admitted briber of public employees while he worked as a lobbyist for the BC Rail bidder. He was never charged in the BC Rail affair, but he agreed to become the star witness against ministerial aides David Basi and Bob Virk. Those two men accepted cash and gifts from Bornmann in exchange for information about the BC Rail sale.

Basi and Virk mysteriously copped a plea bargain in October 2010 just when the trial was about to get interesting. The B.C. Liberal government, under then-Premier Campbell, agreed to pay their $6 million legal bills, despite the fact they were guilty. Auditor General John Doyle is examining the highly unusual transaction.

Bornmann was admitted into the Law Society of Upper Canada, meaning he can practice law in Ontario, after this 2-1 decision. Read BC Railscam ace chronicler Bill Tieleman's blog here.

Bornmann's records on the Tsakumis blog show that Muir met with Bornmann on three occasions for what appear to be expensive meals, in the months before the BC Rail privatization was announced and the infamous raid on the B.C. Legislature happened:

July 8, 2003: "Entertainment Stewart Muir/Athana" $366.44
July 15, 2003: "Entertainment Stewart Muir and guests" $319.21
Oct. 7, 2003: "Entertainment - Business Editor - Vancouver Sun" $774.18

I sought Muir's comments on his infamous host and whether it was simply a traditional "reporter-source" relationship. (I was hoping he might have some insight about the scandal that dominated headlines in British Columbia for more than seven years.)

"I haven't seen the material," Muir said.

I offered to email him a link, but I told him I didn't have his email address. Could I have his email address? He didn't seem interested.

"You can Google it," he said.

I have no proof whatsoever of any wrongdoing by Muir or Mentzelopoulos. Just because they met with Bornmann does not mean you or I should think less of them.

I remain interested in what Muir might have to say about those meetings with someone who eventually became known as a central player in the BC Rail scandal.

If he wants to comment, he does not have to Google my contact information.