Spilled gov't gravy proof of questionable lobbying

'Insiders' insiders' net clients big deals in Campbell controversy

Michael Smyth
The Province
Sunday, June 08, 2008

The decision by B.C. Hydro to contract out much of its functions to giant multinational corporation Accenture for $1.4 billion is one of the biggest controversies surrounding Premier Gordon Campbell's privatization agenda.

But, until now, British Columbians only knew part of the story. Now we discover a Vancouver company led by senior Liberal political organizers Patrick Kinsella and Mark Jiles was helping the deal along behind the scenes.

That was just one of last week's revelations contained in an amazing series of documents obtained by hard-digging Internet blogger Sean Holman.

Kinsella co-chaired the Liberal election campaign in 2001 and 2005. Jiles was Campbell's personal campaign manager in Vancouver-Point Grey.

Apparently this situated them perfectly to land lucrative government deals for their clients, Accenture being only one on a long list.

The Progressive Group -- the company operated by Kinsella and Jiles -- also helped Alcan land a sweet deal to expand its Kitimat smelter. It helped the B.C. Motion Picture Production Industry Association bag $65 million in provincial tax breaks. And on and on.

B.C. lobbyist registrar David Loukidelis is now investigating whether Kinsella and Jiles broke the rules by failing to publicly register as lobbyists while delivering all this government gravy to their undoubtedly delighted clients.

After several days of silence, the Progressive Group on Friday issued a written statement saying its activities did not constitute "lobbying" under the law in B.C.

Hmm. The dynamic duo brag in their resume that they were hired by the motion-picture association "to convince the provincial government to extend the foreign tax credits" to their clients.

If that's not lobbying I'd like to know what is. I look forward to Loukidelis's report.

In the meantime, the bigger story is about special deals for Campbell's political friends and their deep-pocketed clients. Kinsella and Jiles are insiders' insiders, two of the most powerfully connected Liberal party operatives in B.C.

And, man, what those connections can get you! In 2006, for example, Progressive was contracted by the state of Washington to help the Americans cash in on our 2010 Olympic Games.

"At that time, the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee had a policy . . . that British Columbia firms were going to get a priority treatment in the bidding and solicitation of Olympic contracts," the resume says.

"However, after hiring the Progressive Group, we were able to develop a marketing strategy which focused on Washington State companies assisting B.C. companies win these Olympic contracts."

Well, isn't that special? B.C. companies are supposed to get first dibs on Olympic contracts, but if you hire Gordon Campbell's buddies, a foreign country can get part of the action!

By the way, the only reason we know about all this is because Holman was able to obtain the documents from the Washington government under that state's freedom-of-information law.

With a simple e-mail request, he obtained 153 pages of uncensored documents outlining the activities of Kinsella and Jiles. The documents were released by the state in just eight days. That's openness and accountability at work.

But that would never happen in B.C. Our FOI law is so shot through with exemptions and loopholes that these documents would never have seen the light of day.

Campbell promised to end special deals for friends and insiders. He promised to run the most open and accountable government in Canada.

This case shows he has failed on both counts.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Today, in 24 hours, Public Eye published the results of an exclusive investigation into statements by The Progressive Group that the firm has helped win major government contracts and benefits on behalf of powerful foreign and business interests. Progressive's chairman is Patrick Kinsella, who headed the provincial Liberal's election campaigns in 2001 and 2005. And it's president is Mark Jiles, Premier Gordon Campbell's former constituency campaign manager. The investigation was the result of documents obtained via an access to information request with Washington State. The following are links to parts one, two, three, four, five and six of those documents.

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