Premier Christy Clark swept into office with a promise to improve the provincial government's "transparency." But her administration has just hired a new communications director who supported stopping the public from finding out who bankrolled a Coquitlam-based political group.
Brian Bonney, the B.C. Liberal Party's operations director between 2006 and '07, was put on the public payroll last month as head of the government's new multicultural communications office. That means he'll be working closely with long-time political associate and former business partner Harry Bloy, the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and the sole MLA who supported Clark's bid for the Liberal leadership.
Described in 2002 by Bloy as a "tireless volunteer in Scouting and many social causes," the Burnaby-Lougheed legislator presented him with the Queens Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal for his volunteer service a year later, which included being a "driving force for independent schools."
Bonney is also known, however, for playing hardball politics at both the provincial and municipal levels. That included being the media contact for one of the women who accused Robin Blencoe of sexual harassment in July 1995 - an issue the New Democrat cabinet minister was eventually forced to resign over. Bonney then made a bid to become mayor of Burnaby during the city's 2002 election.
During that campaign, opponents slammed Bonney's slate for mudslinging. Bonney also ended up apologizing for a third-party attack ad he didn't write but helped place in a local newspaper. But it was in 2006 that Bonney came to Public Eye's attention.
Around that time, he was involved with Coquitlam First, a group that ran a slate of seven candidates during the previous year's municipal election, spending $100,000 on advertising and promotions in the process.
But when the campaign was over, it was learned Coquitlam First wasn't legally required to disclose where that money had come from. That's because it hadn't registered as an electoral organization, having missed the deadline to do so, according to the group's campaign manager.
The controversy prompted The Tri-City News to run a poll asking readers, "Should the Coquitlam First civic election slate fully disclose the list of contributors to its campaigns last fall?" In response, Bonney sent an email to supporters asking, "If you have a second, could you click the link below and vote (I would prefer "no").
A provincial government spokesperson declined to comment on that incident. The spokesperson wouldn't specifically say how Bonney was hired, other than that he was appointed to his new job via a cabinet order. As for how much he's being paid, the spokesperson said communications director salaries range from $89,000 to $112,000.
Bonney, who declined comment through the spokesperson, also formerly served as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business's senior staffer in British Columbia.
Sean Holman is editor of the online provincial political news journal Public Eye (publiceyeonline.com). He can be reached at [email protected].
