Someone is pulling the strings from behind – and whoever they are – they are cowards for not showing their faces

Allison Patton (center) of the dissident group - with Christy
Clark and Kevin Falcon.  They sure look happy together

News media from TV, newspapers, and radio were filled late yesterday with the soothing calm faces of a handful of dissidents within the BC Conservative Party.

These people gratefully acknowledged the work of John Cummins, to bring the party to where it is, and then proceeded to stab him in the back by demanding he resign.

For the past few months now a group (although the members seem to flow in and out and not really have any structure) has worked to see the leadership of the party change.

There is NOTHING wrong with that -- the members voted – and they made their choice. 

The group wishing to see a leadership race undertaken was defeated in a democratic vote of the membership.  Case closed – right??  NOT!

Since the BC Conservative Party AGM in Langley concluded, a number of people have taken it upon themselves to force the party into a leadership race. 

All that aside, the Executive and Board of the BC Conservative party has endeavored to work with members of the group to try and come to a resolution.  Even yesterday Al Siebring, along with two others, sat down face to face with representatives from the dissident group – they met until mid-afternoon.

And the results of that meeting?  Here they are from the mouth of BC Conservative Party president Al Siebring:

"... I put forward the case that you, our members, had voted very substantially in favour of John's continued leadership and furthermore, that common sense would dictate that it makes no political sense for us to change leaders in advance of the expected May election.

In the end, operating under a tight time-line, all parties agreed there were things which warranted continued discussion, so we agreed to the following statement:

"We have had constructive discussion to bring both sides together. The goal is to conclude the process within 24 hours. The Party Board will meet Thursday night to consider next steps."

That statement was, according to the participants on the other side of the table, agreed to by the principals in the anti-Cummins faction shortly before 3pm.

Then, at 4pm, those principals held a Press Conference to announce that they were demanding John Cummins' resignation by Friday afternoon ...”

SADLY ... these people are not interested in anything but forcing their will on the rest of the party. They have their own agenda … and that agenda is, “we want the power, and control.”

Conspiracy theories and rumours are running wild at the moment, and who knows what, if any, part of them may be true.  I think it is fair to say however that below the surface, there are people who are orchestrating and manipulating what is currently going on.

Contrary to what has been said in the past few days … and yesterday by Allison Patton and Rick Peterson at the dissident media conference ... no one works to depose the leader of a party, without having someone in mind to replace them.

Someone is pulling the strings from behind – and whoever they are – they are cowards for not showing their face(s).

I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops with the thoughts of one conservative.  Care to share your thoughts?