Exclusive to Angry in the Great White North, Dufferin-Caledon Federal Liberal Association Membership Chair Janet Rosenstock reveals details concerning Garth Turner's aborted attempt to become the Liberal Party candidate for the riding.

Exclusive to Angry in the Great White North, a statement from Dufferin-Caledon Federal Liberal Association (DCFLA) Membership Chair Janet Rosenstock on Garth Turner:

Janet Rosenstock, Membership Chair of the Dufferin-Caledon FLA said, "I am not sure Mr. Turner's reasons for leaving are indeed his reasons for leaving. Another candidate for nomination had come forward and was in process. Perhaps Mr. Turner did not want to face a fight for the nomination. As far as Mr. Turner's feeling that the Leadership would not grant him a nomination meeting is concerned, there are rules that must be followed. Every FLA must have a certain level of membership before a nomination meeting can be granted. The Membership level is lowered during what is called, 'Electoral Urgency.' Our 'Electoral Urgency' number is roughly 175. We needed about 12 more members. Mr. Turner and his supporters were told repeatedly that a nomination meeting could and would be held when the required level of membership was reached. Two and one half months later, Mr. Turner and his supporters had failed to sign up a sufficient number of members."

So there you have it.  According to Janet Rosenstock, Garth Turner failed to sign up sufficient numbers of members to hold a nomination meeting.  As Membership Chair, this is Janet Rosenstock's concern.

Garth Turner chooses to report the refusal to schedule a nomination meeting as a signal that he's too brutally honest for Michael Ignatieff's Liberal Party, and trumpets that loudly on his blog.  But this statement suggests that in reality, Garth Turner failed to complete the simple task of signing up members.

Is signing up members a hard thing to do?  It wouldn't seem to be the case.  A whisper from inside Dufferin-Caledon is that the rumoured new candidate for the riding nomination signed up nearly twenty new members in a day. 

So what about this business of Garth Turner's views not being welcome by Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff?

It might be true.  It might also have nothing to do with Garth Turner's aborted attempt to become the candidate.   True or not, it makes Garth Turner sound like a martyr instead of a failure.

Donations: Off topic, but I'd appreciate donations to help me fight the Blair Wilson lawsuit.  For anyone who was having trouble with the donation button, the code has been corrected.  Thanks again.

How to we interpret all this?  In two-and-a-half months, Garth Turner failed to reach the threshold of new memberships required to hold a nomination meeting.  If he had, he would have been acclaimed.  Instead, a new candidate has appeared, and with the help of people in the riding clearly uncomfortable with the possibility of Garth Tuner representing their riding, the new candidate quickly made up lost ground.  Realizing that he could lose a widely watched nomination fight, and facing active resistance from within the riding, Garth Turner chooses to abandon his bid altogether.  For Garth Turner, quitting is better than losing.  But in the process of quitting, Garth Turner injects the notion that he was too brutally honest for Michael Ignatieff's Liberal Party.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 09:22 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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