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Kent Hehr for Mayor?

Posted by on 9 September 2010, 8:04 am

From: Darryl Raymaker
Sent: September 9, 2010 8:43 AM
To: Brent Johner

Subject: KENT HEHR FOR MAYOR

Hi Everybody.

Attached are an order form, bio and recent article about Kent Hehr.

I am supporting Kent to become Mayor in the next election and I hope you will too.

He is a fine, intelligent and energetic young man who will make a fine Mayor.

I am pleased to invite you to attend a fundraising dinner for him to be held on Wednesday, September 15 at the Chinese Cultural Center, 197 – 1 st SW beginning at 6 PM.

You can also send your cheques or cash to me or as per the order form for your tickets

My address is XXXXX.

The food will be great! Kent will give a rousing speech! And it is a most worthy cause!

I look forward to seeing you there! And it is all for the modest cost of $200.

We appreciate your help!

Darryl Raymaker

From: Brent Johner
Sent: September 9, 2010 9:03 AM
To: Darryl Raymaker
CC: Kent Hehr Campaign Office

Subject: KENT HEHR FOR MAYOR

Hi Darryl.

Ald. Bob Hawkesworth is an old friend. So I will be supporting him in this election.

If Bob wasn’t running, I would certainly have considered Kent.

However, the events of yesterday would surely have changed my mind.

The volunteers at the Oakridge Community Centre worked very hard to organize an all candidates forum.

They started planning for it in April, before Kent ever entered the race and before they knew how many candidates there would be.

Kent was invited on June 29.

His campaign team responded on August 5. No questions were asked about accessibility at that time.

Nobody bothered to check the site out until the day prior to the forum.

Then, instead of working with the volunteers to resolve resolvable issues, his team decided to issue a media statement and earn some free media at the expense of our volunteers.

As a result the community centre is now getting hate email and some of the volunteers who worked hard to raise money for recent renovations that improved access for the disabled have been reduced to tears.

Shame on Kent and every adviser who was behind this stunt.

Best regards,
Brent Johner

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David Swann Has to Go

Posted by on 12 April 2010, 4:40 pm

The day after David Swann was elected leader of the Alberta Liberal Party, I cancelled my monthly contribution to the Decore Plan. I further decided, on that day, not to renew my party membership when it came up for renewal at the end of the year.

A short time later when the Calgary Glenmore by-election was called, I refused to work for candidate Avalon Roberts — a woman I had supported in two previous provincial elections.

It was a tough decision for me, primarily because Donn Lovett, a man I respect, was her campaign manager. But I believed then, as I believe now, that David Swann is a flake.

Today, my friend Dave Taylor, MLA for Calgary Currie, left the Alberta Liberal Party caucus to sit as an independent. In explaining why he made such a dramatic decision he made reference to Swann often acting like he is “living on another planet”.

Good for Taylor! I will never forget David Swann’s decision to camp out in front of Stephen Harper’s office and undertake a hunger strike over Darfur. At the time, ALP Leader Kevin Taft, Dave Taylor and my good friend Craig Cheffins were hard at work trying to provide an effective opposition to the reigning Conservatives.

I have never forgiven Swann for that incredibly self-serving act of mock martyrdom. While everybody else in the provincial caucus was out working their butts off doing what their constituents elected them to do, Swann was reclining in a lawn chair in front of a federal politician’s office and making regular appearances on the evening news.

Granted, there are many other events in this man’s history that lead one inevitably to the conclusion that David Swann is a flake. But this event, more than any other, helped make my mind up.

It was a mistake to elect him leader in the first place. But it is an even bigger mistake to allow him to continue in role now that a credible man like Dave Taylor can no longer sit with him in caucus.

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Stand Up for Oakridge Co-op against Terrorism

Posted by on 11 March 2010, 7:47 pm

Somebody, it seems, has a grudge against my neighbourhood grocery store. For the fourth time in a month, a deranged terrorist wannabe has stuck pins into food in the deli and bakery sections of the Oakridge Co-op in southwest Calgary.

That’s my store. It’s my Co-op. Like many people in this area, I’m both a customer and a shareholder. So an attack on that store feels like an attack on my family.

Will this loser’s attacks stop me from shopping there? Not a chance.

Over the 15 years that I have been a customer at the Oakridge Co-op I have become connected with many of the staff on a personal level. Nina in the Kiddie Coral. Sunil in produce. Melodie, Mary, Luda, Kevin, Kathleen, Des, Andrew, Les and Adrian on the checkout line. These are all good people caught up in a bad situation that is far beyond their control.

I feel terrible about it. I can see what they are going through. In some departments, hours have been cut severely. Some of the poorest and oldest have been the hardest hit and are now having trouble making ends meet at home.

I have no intention of abandoning these people over a handful of stick pins. In fact, I would like to emphatically encourage everybody in Oakridge and the surrounding communities to take a stand against this terrorist and make a special effort to buy your groceries at the Co-op until he is caught.

Show him that our loyalty to the people who work at our Co-op is stronger than our fear of his silly little stick pins.

The Oakridge Co-op and the staff who work there are part of our community. They support our schools, our community association and dozens of local groups with donations throughout the calendar year.

They give boy scouts a section of their parking lot to raise money by selling Christmas trees every year. They allow girl guides to set up shop and sell cookies outside their front door. They donate all of the food for the Louis Riel School back-to-school barbecue in September.

They have supported our activities for years. Now it’s our turn to be there for them — and for their families.

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