So I was flitting around YouTube this weekend and came across this video of a member statement made by Carrot River MLA, Fred Bradshaw in the Saskatchewan Legislature and which was uploaded a couple months ago on April 17, 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psj4cFq7kqQ
Although they don’t specify who the “prominent NDP blogger” in question is (and out of the three or so bloggers who regularly write about the NDP in Saskatchewan, I’m probably number four on the list of prominence!), I’m pretty sure this guy is referring to this post I wrote a month after the Leadership convention.
Oops! 😉
Well, here’s the thing…
Seeing one of my blog posts used in this way has some parallels to when I blogged about a physical altercation that Dwain Lingenfelter had with an NDP member soon after winning the Leadership in 2009 which got referenced by John Gormley on his radio show the following Monday.
Although my goal with this blog isn’t to provide ammo for the Sask Party back benchers and conservative radio hosts in Saskatchewan, one of my goals *is* to tell the truth (or at least the truth as I see it) while also being open and transparent.
To me, the altercation in 2009 took place in a public lobby when any member of the media or anyone with a camera phone or a blog or Facebook account could’ve reported what happened, just as I did. And similarly in 2013, my post about the lack of outreach I’ve noticed from the Broten campaign (other than a few fundraising appeals including a recent one that urged a donation to help keep up the momentum – grrr!) is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me dog.
Like the two approaches to politics I outlined in the original post, I think there’s a couple different approaches to how you behave as a member of a political party. Some believe that we’re all on the same team with our ranks closed to the outside and following the leader simply because he’s (or she as the case may be) is the leader. Others believe that we have a duty to tell the truth, speak out about things we don’t agree with and endeavour to be as open and transparent as possible – even about things that others might not want to hear.
The one thing I’d change if I re-wrote the post is to not make it appear that I’m speaking broadly for the Meili and other campaigns. I only know that I personally have not seen anything I would consider significant outreach and also that I have heard similar sentiments expressed by others who were involved in the leadership race in a variety of ways.
But of course, I also do not know what is happening behind-the-scenes and/or at the highest levels so perhaps Cam, Ryan, Trent and Erin are all attending secret meetings to plot how to rule the world (oh wait, that’s Brad Wall.) 😉
Anyhow, the worst part of all this as far as I’m concerned isn’t that the Sask Party used my blog for an attack that’s struggling to get to 100 views as I type this (and I’m probably responsible for half of those as I watched and re-watched it over the weekend thinking really?).
No, the worst part is that it was so easily preventable. As I said in the entry, had I seen some type of outreach – maybe not a personal phone call from Cam to everyone who supported a different candidate but something, I wouldn’t have written what I did and my post wouldn’t have become ammo for Mr. Bradshaw.
Seems almost too easy, doesn’t it?
(Coincidentally, today happens to be the three month anniversary of the NDP Leadership convention. Since I still haven’t seen anything I’d personally consider significant and meaningful outreach, as a mini-protest I’ve resolved to stop opening the NDP fundraising mailers and e-mails for the time being!) 😉
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