I know it's hard to believe, but I wonder if Farhan Chak is planning to run for office again.

The straw that broke the Liberal Party's back when it came to supporting Farhan Chak's candidacy in the riding of Edmonton--Mill Woods--Beaumont was the revelation that Farhan Chak had misrepresented his doctorate.

In short, he didn't have one, but he had been adding PhD to his name and signing letters as "Dr Farhan Chak", including letters written regarding his political aspirations.

Farhan Chak has maintained a website VoteChak.ca to support his run as a Liberal.  Originally, the site was simply signed "Farhan Chak, PhD":

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Now after the news broke that he had yet earn his degree, the site changed.  New text was added to explain that he had almost completed getting his degree.

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The added text reads: "Farhan Chak has completed his doctoral research program but is awaiting to schedule his VIVA and has his convocation."

The effort was to no avail.  Farhan Chak was compelled to quit as Liberal Party candidate.

So that's that, right?

Well, then why is Farhan Chak continuing to update his VoteChak.ca website?

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The new text read replaces the VIVA statement with this: "Farhan Chak has Passed his VIVA with an outstanding distinction and has completed all requirements for his doctoral program.  The official convocation is scheduled for January 2008."

Presumably that convocation has taken place, and Farhan Chak can actually attached PhD to his name...finally.

Congratulations.

Now why is he updating his VoteChak.ca website, which still bears the maple leaf and the swoosh from the official Liberal Party logo (but not the name of the party itself)?   The main text of the site has remained unchanged, and still encourages the reader to vote for Farhan Chak in Edmonton--Mill Woods--Beaumont.

I'm not sure what to make of this.  The Liberals have already nominated a new candidate for this riding.  It is not likely that Farhan Chak could run for the Liberals in any riding.  The notoriety has likely ruined any chances for a political run for years, perhaps longer.

But to continue making updates to the site dedicated to his aborted attempt at a political career?

Is Farhan Chak planning a political comeback?

But the cat came back the very next day,
The cat came back, we thought he was a goner,
The cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away.

Addendum: Farhan Chak mentions getting votes from the constituents of Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont, but does not mention the Liberal Party.  The distinctive leaf/swoosh element is from the Liberal logo, but there is something of note.  The alt text for that top element does say "Liberal candidate":

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The funny thing about alt text is that it is what a browser renders when images are not loaded.  Here is how the site looks with images turned off:

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Well, that leaves nothing to the imagination.  Remember that search engine spiders read the alt text to help index the site.

So Farhan Chak seems to be updating a site that still explicitly names him as the Liberal Party candidate.

How curious.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:36 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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