I have been meaning to meet with Richard for a few weeks for a coffee, but life intervened and it did not happen. I had a chance to talk with him on the phone about his campaign this afternoon.
Richard has managed to raise enough money to have signs up, print enough copies of a brochure to give one to everyone in town, and to have ads in print, on TV and radio.
He is working very hard to try and get elected, he has a passion and dedication to getting elected that is lacking in many of the people running for council.
At the moment his biggest downside is that his material lacks any sense of his passion and understanding of the issues. In the first few seconds of being on the phone with him I found out that he had to live in his car for two weeks and then couch surf for another six weeks before he managed to find a place to live. He quickly put a different human face on the housing problem in Victoria for me.
He is politically active but is not tied to a political ideology. He is like most Canadians, fiscally conservative and socially liberal.
I have only eight votes and I would have to drop someone I already plan on voting for to vote for him. If you have not made up your mind, check him out and consider voting for him.
Richard Park's Website
Richard Park's Facebook Group
18 comments:
A comment was left making accusations against Richard Park. The person posting the comment did not leave any contact details so I have no idea if it is true or not.
I will be contacting Richard Park and asking him about the jist of the comment.
I am not sure it is accurate to say Park is not tied to a political ideology, as he has campaigned with the NDP several times in the past.
http://martlet.ca/view.php?aid=40185
http://web.uvic.ca/univsec/elections/BiographicalSketchesforBoardofGovernorCandidates.htm
States right there he's involved in UVSS Political Action and CFS Protest Organizer.
We all know the CFS is about as non-partisan as the teamsters, as Michael Smyth so eloquently put it.
To Anonymous: I don't see how the clips and links you provided in any way contradict the comment that this candidate is "not tied to any ideology". Just because someone has supported campaigns or even a party in the past does not make them ideologues. Does reason and thoughtful debate never move intelligent people to modify their views?
The CFS is run like any union executive...to be "in" with them, especially to be on a list of people that local student organizations are authorized to hire, on behalf of the CFS, says something about Mr. Park's true political motivations.
This is what Richard Park had to say on the issue when I asked him:
I was not part of that slate that made that decision. I am currently with the left leaning slate, there is no denying that. Mind you though, I am not NDP, nor pro CFS.
The year that happened I was not even part of the board, nor running. I did not run with any of the board members that made that decision.
Here is a strong example showing I am willing to disagree with the slate I ran with. I was the only one on my slate against the military ban on campus.
http://martlet.ca/view.php?aid=39668
I am not partisan to any party, I have worked on the campaign's of Keith Martin (Liberal), Denise Savoie (NDP), Chuck Strahl (Conservative).
I am assuming this is one of the bitter people from student politics. You as a former UVSS board member know about the petty squabbles.
Also to prove that I wasn't on the board when that fiasco occurred, here are the minutes from one of the meetings when this was being dealt with.
http://www.uvss.uvic.ca/board/minutes/2006-2007/minutes%202006-05-04.pdf
If you have anymore questions, feel free to contact me.
Cheers,
Richard Park
Mr. Park may not have been on the slate that chose to ignore election results to stay in power, but choosing to run with them the following year shows an endorsement. When you add in his campaign materials promoting his own involvement in the CFS campaigns showing Premier Campbell riding a stick of dynamite, and especially reading that email showing he's on the "CFS-for-hire" approved list, his political leanings become clear.
Richard Park endorsing the NDP slate for school board:
"Hi there,
My name is Richard Park, I am an avid supported of Mark and the putting students first team."
- Facebook
Personally, I tire of people who claim to be politically non-partisan while supporting everyone along the one party line. Yeesh!
Just to clarify to whoever this poster is.
I ask you to attempt to do your research first. This slate is not an NDP slate. If you would look at their backgrounds, you would have noticed that only one of them have an NDP background, another one has a liberal background, and the other 2 are unbeknown to me.
There is an NDP school board slate running in the midst, but it's not this one. It's fairly obviously to everyone which one it is.
Regarding the CFS campaign, myself I have never been inside the CFS offices of Victoria, let alone any BC offices. I support some of their various campaigns does not mean I am in full support of the organization.
I ask you to tell me who you are instead of hiding behind anonymous tags so we can have an adult conversation and I can inform you on my views instead of you telling me what I think.
"Mr. Park may not have been on the slate that chose to ignore election results to stay in power, but choosing to run with them the following year shows an endorsement."
This is false. Penny Beames ran for the slate "Putting Students First". Richard Park has run the past 2 years on the slate Team FAST. You'll also notice that Richard Park was "listed but weren’t graded" (unlike other members of his slate given B's) in one of the links anonymous gave. This shows that the CFS doesn't see him as a blatant CFS hack, but supports some of their causes.
I ran *against* Richard Park in one election, yet am still friends with him and respect him because I do believe that he objectively considers issues and doesn't tow party lines. The individual posting these links and trying to make the connections is likely someone sore about losing to Richard.
I'm not comfortable with these CFS connections....in my opinion, voting for Park is too risky.
From what I remmeber Putting Students First changed their name to Team FAST because of the vote-rigging scandal.
Actually, Putting Students First was much more focused on the issues of tuition and access to education. Team FAST has a clear environmental focus with far less emphasis on PSF's issues.
"voting for Park is too risky"
Ok seriously..did you work on the Conservative's anti-Dion ads? Richard serves on the UVSS board with individuals who are active within the CFS but he himself is not.
How about debating his stances on the issues affecting the citizen's of Victoria instead of digging for dirt.
Putting Students First did become Team FAST. The Beames incident happened under another name, Students for Progressive Change, but it's the same slate.
That said, aside from having run with people who have bona fide CFS connections, Richard Park has no connections to the group. I don't think he's ever been at any of their AGMs or anything, and while he's supported their *campaigns*, I've never seen him stridently defend the *actions* of the CFS the way their hardliners on the board have.
That said, municipal council has a lot of issues of concern; post-secondary education isn't exactly one of them, so this threat of a CFS hijacking doesn't seem all that huge to me. Maybe at the provincial level, but sure as hell not city council.
I dont like the CFS because they are joined at the hip to the NDP.
Good thing the CFS has nothing to do with municipal politics then.
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