[news] PMs ticking time bomb

[ron]

Toronto Star	 February 24, 2004

PM’s ticking time bomb

Police raid on B.C. ‘Basi Boys’ could turn embarrassing spotlight on
Martin’s tactics in ousting of Chrétien

Thomas Walkom

The most unpredictable element of a political scandal is its spillover.

Even if Prime Minister Paul Martin is able to persuade most Canadians that
he had nothing to do with the Quebec sponsorship affair, the controversy may
remind voters about other matters the Liberals would prefer forgotten.

One such matter is simmering away in British Columbia, sparked by
post-Christmas police raids on the homes and offices of key Martin
organizers.

Up to now, the raids have been virtually ignored by media east of the
Rockies, as of little interest to anyone outside B.C.

In fact, as Liberals here admit privately, the B.C. business is a time bomb
for the Prime Minister. Unlike the Quebec sponsorship scandal, it speaks to
something for which Martin cannot escape responsibility — the ruthless, and
at times dubious, tactics he used to oust Jean Chrétien, take over the
Liberal party, and become prime minister.

The B.C. events surfaced publicly on Dec. 28 when RCMP and Victoria police
raided the offices of two political aides in the provincial Liberal
government.

Police said the raids were connected to a 20-month investigation into drugs
and organized crime.

More tellingly, as Victoria police chief Paul Battershill told reporters a
few days later, the raids were connected to allegations of "money laundering
and proceeds of crime."

Initially, the media concentrated on the provincial angle. That made some
sense since the two aides, David Basi and his brother-in-law Robert Virk,
were important figures in Premier Gordon Campbell’s government.

But it soon became clear that the police were casting a wider net. Officers
searched the offices of two key Martinites — Bruce Clark, the Prime
Minister’s chief fundraiser on the west coast, and Eric Bornman,
communications director for the federal Liberals.

As well, police visited Mark Marissen, B.C. campaign chair for Martin’s
leadership, and asked him to hand over what he later called important
documents he may have inadvertently received.

Most attention, however, focused on Basi. In addition to his provincial
role, Basi, too, was a key figure in Martin’s successful campaign to take
over the federal Liberal party.

Described as a bright and energetic organizer, Basi recruited thousands of
new Liberals — many from his own Indo-Canadian community — to capture riding
associations for Martin.

Known as Basi’s Boys, the new members flooded ridings. In one particularly
high-profile case, they took over the Liberal constituency association of
then natural resources minister and Chrétien supporter Herb Dhaliwal.

In another instance, the Basi Boys successfully had their people appointed
to the executive of the Esquimault-Juan de Fuca Liberal riding association.

That won little public attention — until early December when, as part of
their money-laundering investigation, police raided the home of one of those
Basi Boy appointees.

Around the same time, police also uncovered a marijuana growing operation at
a Vancouver Island property owned by Basi but rented to someone else.

The politically sensitive nature of the case has made it unusually opaque.
Search warrants authorizing the Liberal raids — as well as any information
backing them — have been sealed by the courts.

As a result, it’s impossible to know the exact nature of the allegations
involved.

It is worth pointing out, however, that so far no one involved in any of
these raids, including Basi, has been charged with anything.

Nonetheless, all of this is potentially bad news for Martin. In the midst of
an ethics scandal, it reminds the public that his capture of the Liberal
crown, and hence the prime ministership, involved tactics that were hardly
glorious.

To join the Liberals and vote for the party leader, a prospective member
must sign a form and pay $10. Under party rules, that fee is not supposed to
be paid by someone else.

It sounds simple. But in practice, as Liberals themselves admit, various
factions end-run the rules by engaging in massive sign-ups in which
organizers, rather than the prospective members, pay the $10 fees.

That means that the faction with the most blank membership forms and the
most money can win. Indeed, one of the keys to Martin’s success over
Chrétien was his ability to change the party rules in key provinces so that
— up until last February — Martinites had access to the largest number of
blank forms.

All that was needed then was money for the $10 fees. In B.C., where Liberal
membership skyrocketed from 3,000 to about 40,000, that meant about
$370,000.

Some of this undoubtedly came from the new members themselves. But clearly,
some did not. In one riding where the Basi Boys had been active, the
Vancouver Sun found some cases of duplicate memberships and others where new
members denied paying their own fees.

One member turned out to be a dog that had been dead for five years. But he,
too, was welcomed to the Liberal party.

He even received a Christmas card from the-then jolly but now very
beleaguered Martin.

Thomas Walkom’s column appears on Tuesday. twalkom at thestar.ca


http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic
le_Type1&c=Article&cid=1077535862546&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist9
69907626796