Email: BC Conservative Board of Directors outing their leader’s ‘Judas’

This email was sent to me and besides cleaning up the format, have only hi-lited a few specific areas and is posted in its entirety as received. For some additional back-ground see my previous post here:

We have an AGM coming up in Langley next month; probably the single most important event in the history of  our party since its rejuvenation under John Cummins’ leadership. These are certainly interesting times to be a BC Conservative.

This email is primarily to let you know that I am running for President of the Party, and that I would very much appreciate your support in that endeavour.   I believe I have demonstrated a proven track record of leadership on the Provincial Board this past year, as well as in my dual roles chairing the Province-wide Policy Committee, and now the Platform Committee as we head into the May election.  Those of you who have dealt with me directly know that I listen, consult, collaborate, and work toward consensus wherever possible.  These are skillswhich, it would seem, are badly needed within our Party right now.

Which brings me to my second point.  Many members of our Party (quite likely including yourself), will have received an email early Thursday from one John Crocock, a director-at-large on our Provincial Board,in which he strongly urges a vote in favour of a “leadership review” in advance of the AGM.

First of all, you should know that Mr. Crocock does not speak for the Board.  We had no idea it was being sent out.  The fact is that when he and an ally on the Board tried to get access to the full party membership database earlier this month – we suspect so they could spread their divisive message even further than they did – they were roundly denied.  Out of a total board of 26 members, there were only three votes in favour of that motion, which shows just how small a minority they truly are..

However this email, (the one you’re reading right now), is being sent out with the full knowledge of the majority of the Board. 

As to the substance of Mr. Crocock’s comments, there truly is none.  He claims to have been “getting a lot of phone calls” from members who are somehow vaguely upset with the direction of the Party.   If this is true, he’s pretty much the only one.  I haven’t received any communication of this kind, and I have taken a fairly high profile in my various roles with the Policy and Platform Committees; I’m certainly not inaccessible.  Further, the Regional Directors in our two strongest areas in terms of membership, (the Okanagon and the North Island), have also received no such communication.

In his email, Mr. Crocock also seems to question some of the decisions of the Board.  I would simply say that he has been a member of that Board for almost a full year, and a review of the minutes of recent our Board meetings shows he has not requested that any negative vote of his be “recorded” on any single major question that has come before us.  Further, most of the motions which he himself has made in the last 6 to 8 months have “carried”.  So for him to criticize decisions that he was an integral part of seems disingenuous at best; downright dishonest at worst. 

The bottom line, folks, is that the last thing we need right now is a”leadership review”.   John Cummins has taken this Party from getting less than 5% of the vote in the last election to the point where we are consistently in the low 20% range.  We are tied with the governing Liberals, and the trending has us pulling ahead in the next few months.  Suggesting that we change leaders when we are in the midst of this kind of success curve is absolute madness.

Even the imploding BC Liberals recognize the folly of a leadership review this close to an election, and if any Party is in desperate need of new leadership, it’s them!  Having a leadership race now would be a ridiculous waste of time, resources, and energy, all of which should be put toward fielding winning campaigns and candidates in next May’s election.

I had not intended to make John Cummins’ leadership an issue in my run for President, and it certainly is not central to my candidacy for that position.  However,  for the record, I will be supporting him 100%, and I urge you to do the same by voting “no” to the leadership review.

I would also respectfully ask you to forward this email to your local Constituency Board(s) and to all the members in your local CA to apprise them of the situation and to provide some balance to the material that was sent out early Thursday.  Thank you in advance.

Respectfully:

Al Siebring,

Director-at-Large

BC Conservative Party