NDP leadership hopeful Lenore Zann says a letter that Interim Party Leader Maureen MacDonald sent to some party members shows more action should have been taken against a caucus staffer who broke the rules during the campaign to name a permanent leader.
The issue stems from a complaint lodged by Zann after one of her supporters said she received an email from the camp of Dave Wilson, another leadership hopeful, within two hours of signing up with the party. Zann said that was a red flag because each of the three campaigns was supposed to get the latest membership information every two weeks.
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The letter sent to the party’s provincial and executive councils says “any breach of this policy would be cause for dismissal and I have made this very clear.” The letter is signed by MacDonald and has NDP letterhead, but she and the party declined commenting and wouldn’t confirm if the letter was sent by her.
Read the full letter below:
An investigation found that a paid NDP caucus staffer, who was volunteering for Wilson’s campaign, accessed the party’s private membership database to get the contact information, Zann said. The party ultimately fined Wilson’s campaign $100 and Wilson fired him as a volunteer, but the staffer kept his job in the caucus office.
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“Nothing was done to the staffer and there are people that are disappointed with that,” said NDP member and Zann supporter Les Holloway. “It’s unfortunate.”
It’s not clear how often the staffer accessed the database, Zann said. But because she lodged the complaint near the very end of the campaign she says she thinks it could have happened more often.
“We found out one particular issue,” she said. “But this could have been going on for quite some time.”
Zann appealed the $100 fine issued to the Wilson campaign and MacDonald’s decision not to sanction the staff. The appeal on the fine was rejected but a committee is being struck to look into whether the staffer should have faced a penalty.
Wilson said he doesn’t have any concerns with how MacDonald handled the case.
“I think she’s acted appropriately as leader over the last two years,” he said.
MacDonald informally supporting Wilson, says Zann
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MacDonald hasn’t formally backed a candidate, and it’s tradition in most political parties for current leaders to avoid weighing into a leadership race. However, Holloway and Zann both say they think MacDonald is giving Wilson a leg up.
For example, Holloway says MacDonald’s Twitter feed shows her support for Wilson.
“She was re-posting as a leader of the party, re-posting Dave Wilson endorsements,” Holloway said.
A quick scan of her most recent tweets show two retweets of Wilson endorsements and a retweet of his platform. It didn’t appear that she did the same for other candidates, but she did retweet a picture from Students Nova Scotia featuring her and Zann together.
“It’s pretty clear that our interim leader is supporting one person over another,” Zann said. “I feel that in some ways it has held me back.”
The party says this issue won’t stop the leadership convention from going ahead. As of Friday afternoon more than 60 per cent of the members had already voted in the race, the new leader will be announced Saturday afternoon.
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