Who’s The Real Mayor Of Langley Township?

MLA & Minister Coleman Endorses Township Mayor Alberts at Election kick-off and Fundraiser!

The Langley Times reports, “Rich Coleman, the most powerful politician in Langley by virtue of his provincial cabinet post, introduced him and gave him a ringing endorsement.”

Township tax increases of “ 26 per cent over six years — triple the rate of inflation.” And current Mayor Alberts and his entire male township slate of merry tax & spend cabal back “continued tax increases of at least five per cent annually over the next five years.” Essentially paraphrases mayoralty candidate Rick Green. He continues on to say “This year, the Township has the second-highest tax increase in the region, at 5.95 per cent.”

Green also said the Township has been engaged in “very questionable land deals.”

Nothing new here to this Editor or our on-going LFP contributors like Councillor Kim Richter who have been writing about this tax – spend & borrow council for years. But it certainly is heartening to see that even a relatively unknown outsider who also hopes to challenge the incumbent Township Mayor Alberts sees the same bold faced financial fiascoes in the halls of the Township hierarchy!

But surprisingly the real powerhouse and questionable shocker who now openly backs Mayor Alberts at his recent weekend fundraising campaign kick-off is none other than Langley's MLA Rich Coleman, a prominent cabinet minister, and of most interesting note our provincial housing minister.

So one has to wonder, who is the really running Langley Township? And what is really going on here?

As Mr. Green says, why in heaven’s name would a sitting MLA and especially a most senior & political savvy seasoned provincial minister ever publicly go out on a limb and endorse Mayor Kurt Alberts and essentially his slate and by default his platforms? Even in the good ole days of the LLT in power at Township hall, Minister Coleman never came out and publicly endorsed the LLT to this dramatic degree. In fact it was indeed suggested that he had been very closely aligned with the LLT key members at that time. I always respected him for this arm's length approach.. No more though! So why indeed come out so publicly in favour for Mayor Alberts now and essentially his silent slate too? To do so is more of a liability than an asset under any circumstance by anyone in a higher political office. By endorsing Mayor Albert’s, he has gone out on a limb and is essentially endorsing the policies and actions past, present and future of this Mayor and his ruling silent slate.

In my opinion, this clearly and strongly suggests that MLA Minister Coleman has for all intents and purposes (by endorsing the current Mayor) endorsed the historically highest tax increases in the Township that have been put in place by this sitting Mayor’s silent slate. Should we extrapolate then that Minister Coleman has also then endorsed the out of control spending and rampantly over budget capital projects cost overruns as well? Then of course there are the “questionable” and lengthy list of land deals that have plagued this ruling Mayor and his slate! Why would an astute and most senior politician like Minister Coleman ever undertake a risk to so strongly and publicly interfere (yes interfere) and endorse this current Mayor and for all intents and purposes his platforms past, present and future?

Why indeed?

Our current Prime Minister Harper has been criticized extensively about his lack of demonstrated good judgment in his allowing and indeed supporting the choice of Minister Bernier and of supporting his Ministers litany of fiascoes. How is this any less a sign of poor, weak or at minimum questionable judgment by Langley's MLA Minister Coleman in deciding to endorse a spend & tax Mayor especially with the long list of outrageous tax, spend & borrowing burdens & issues that this Mayor has laid upon our taxpayers?

In fact this Mayor and his silent slate has even looked financially ridiculous on our municipal airport lease rates which were roundly criticized by even airport appraisal experts who said that the rate the Township sold land leases out were ridiculously far too low and indeed essentially a very questionable subsidy. These landlords who got generation long leases at pennies on the dollar are now advertising rates for sub leases that are in line with and competitive with industrial lease rates in non airport areas like Gloucester yet this Mayor and his tax, spend & borrow tax cabal defended these bargain basement public leases and still pathetically do.

Again so why is MLA and senior Minister Rich Coleman endorsing this Mayor and essentially his vision past, present and future that have seen historically high tax increase in the Township of Langley? Why would Rich Coleman take this political risk to endorse this Mayor? Has Gordon Campbell endorsed a mayor candidate for Vancouver? Is this the "new" Liberal way?

Even more questionable is why would his boss, Premier Campbell, allow such a questionable endorsement of a governing municipal Mayor and by default his silent slate when indeed this is the top minister in charge housing in the province which puts this minister right in the spotlight with highest level property deals and development deals at the highest provincial level? One would think that especially with his responsibilities as the provincial housing minister that the Premier would encourage his senior housing minister to keep his nose out of municipal politics especially in his very own riding.

The risks and questions that could surround the housing minister’s endorsement of any group in any municipality could also affect the the Liberal party itself and of the Premier. Especially, so close to the next provincial election.

So at minimum this Editor thinks that the lack of at minimum good judgement by Housing Minister, Rich Coleman, if not more issues again begs the single question.

Why in heavens name would MLA and senior housing Minister Rich Coleman ever entertain to decide to endorse his own riding’s controversial Mayor especially after the regional press published article after article abut questionable Township land deals?

We can’t answer this question right now and can only speculate but we certainly hope others will look in depth into this whole issue.

Is this another example of poor or questionable judgement just like when Minister Coleman assisted his own Township Councillor Bateman, who by the way is Coleman’s riding VP and former communications consultant, despite the press ragging on about Bateman’s illegal advertisement of a raffle to fund raise for his political re-election?

We emphasize that all of these comments herein is not to suggest for a single moment that "one should simply follow the money"!

Langley Times Editor says Mayor “Alberts has often outperformed..” Another Blatant Endorsement?

Once again in the view of this Editor, I am not surprised to see the municipal race now include all levels of the local Langley establishment including the fifth estate who all rush to blindly support the incumbent Mayor Alberts and his silent slate. Despite the abysmal tax, spend & borrow track record of the incumbent ruling slate on Township council. Some would suggest that the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are spent on advertising by Langley Township and indeed the additional advertisements of our local MLAs and MP (they by the way all showed up to support Mayor Alberts this past weekend ) are very significant dollars that may influence the media’s support. Maybe, maybe not. But this Editor is constantly astounded at the local media’s ongoing support and unwavering blind allegiance to the ruling establishment in the Langleys. Again who is the real ruling establishment is the real question? Does Bucky really want a Liberal ruling elite in Langley?

It's amazing that the Langley Times essentially now also pats Councillor Jordan Bateman on the back for losing his previous contempt of the ruling Mayor Alberts policies on his blog. Now he's on the Mayor's bandwagon. How politically expedient! Then The Times criticizes Councillor Richter for essentially being the only hold-out remaining on Township council that questions any of the financial policies of the Mayor Alberts council. The audacity!

Only in Langley you say! Time for a clean sweep. Enough of the incencestuousness...