Angry in the Great White North

Update: More on the history of adrianecarr.ca.

Update: Further evidence confirming the true ownership of the domain, independent of registration information.

Update: Jim Harris of the Green Party agrees that an ex-Green made the website, and has issued an apology..

The domain and associated website at adrianecarr.ca is either a silly political practical joke or a complex political mind game. Adriane Carr is the Green Party candidate for Vancouver Centre, and in a federal election, she would almost certainly face the incumbent Hedy Fry representing the Liberal Party.

At adrianecarr.ca, you get this simple message:

I support Hedy Fry in Vancouver-Centre.

She has been a good MP in Ottawa
and continues to be a strong voice for the community.

http://www.hedyfry.com/vancentre/home

The Green Party is rather upset, and Jim Harris is pointing fingers at Hedy Fry:

Fry is obviously terrified about facing Adriane in the upcoming federal election.

I posted this blog this morning (Tuesday July 10) and this afternoon I got a call from a journalist for a Vancouver newspaper asking me to comment on the situation.

He told me that Fry has denied being involved with this - so I'll take her at her word.

But then the candidate is never involved in these kinds of things. It's someone in their campaign. The person doing these kind of things are always, purposely kept at a distance from the candidate.

So I asked the journalist - "will she come out and categorically, unequivocally condemn this?" The answer: no.

So I checked the domain registration information, and the domain is registered in the name of Jayun McDowell, and he provides his work mailbox, work address, and other work-related information as part of the registration. He works for Webtide Internet Solutions.

Now here's the funny thing. Jayun McDowell is also helping out the Free Your Vote group in British Columbia pushing for proportional representation:

I am doing the web work for the Free You [sic] Vote site. Scott (humble@monkeywrenchcafe.org) has registered the domain and the site is hosted on an indymedia server I believe. We are noticing a lot of downtime and would like to point the domain to my server. Scott is not in town and we would obviously like to get this happening asap as people are being directed to the site. Is it possible for someone there to repoint the domain to www.gowebtide.com/freeyourvote

thanks, jayun

Who is the person behind Free Your Vote? Adriane Carr:

The Initiative Proponent, Adriane Carr, must sign each application form and forward it to Elections BC for approval.

So what is the relationship between Jayun McDowell, Adriane Carr, and Free Your Vote? Was Jayun just the web designer hired to work on this website?

Voted for 28 years. My vote has never counted. I believe in a pure Pro Rep system, no threshold.

So Jayun believes in proportional representation, and publicly advocates for the same thing Adriane Carr is pushing for. He also worked on Carr's proportional representation website.

To clinch it, though, note that over the last 28 years, Vancouver Centre has been represented by both the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives. If Jayun had been voting in that riding all that time, he must have been either an NDP supporter or a Green Party supporter for his vote "not to count".

And even if he moved around in that time, given that the Progressive Conservatives, the Liberals, and the NDP are all major players in BC politics at every level, it is hard to believe that he never once voted for a winning candidate. Unless, of course, he was voting for the Green Party and other marginal parties in all those years. Those are the sorts of parties that benefit in a proportional representation system, especially ones in which there is no threshold, which is what Jayun McDowell wants. Similar to the sort Green Party candidate Adriane Carr wants (she suggests a low 5% threshold).

Update: Jayun McDowell didn't just work on Adriane Carr's Free Your Vote website. Jayun McDowell actively volunteered to work on Adriane Carr's Free Your Vote initiative:

Free Your Vote Events

Greetings everyone,

Events this week include:
Tuesday May 28: North Vancouver, Edgemont Village, 6-9
Tuesday May 28: Crescent Beach, Camp Alexandra, 7:30-9
June 1: Courtenay Town Hall Meeting, The Filberg Centre, 1-3
June 1: West Van Ferry Building, 10-2

Please see the website for further information about the above and other upcoming events.

Thank you to everyone who attended the Rally in Vancouver on Saturday and the event in Victoria on Sunday. We appreciate your support and your signatures. I believe even Queen Victoria had some great things to say about Pro Rep!

We are up to 2,758 Canvassers and new canvasser applications are arriving daily. It's not too late to become a canvasser and collect signatures. Remember even if you can only collect a few signatures - every one brings us closer to Pro Rep in BC!

jayun mcdowell
Free Your Vote Web
web@freeyourvote.bc.ca

I think the weight of the evidence suggests that Jayun McDowell is not a Liberal Party supporter and not a supporter of Hedy Fry. He might indeed be a Green Party supporter.

So why would he register the domain that mocks Green Party candidate Adriane Carr and advocates for Liberal Party incumbent Hedy Fry?

Maybe, despite the protestations to the contrary, Jim Harris is right and someone in the Hedy Fry campaign is playing games in an attempt to weaken a potentially dangerous opponent.

Maybe, as twisted as it seems, Jayun did register the domain and did construct the site, and this is a elaborate game to embarass the Liberals by denying everything and blaming the Liberals for doing it. Or maybe someone else is targeting the Liberals with this complicated plan, and is using Jayun's name without permission.

Maybe Jayun has had a falling out with the Green Party in general, or with Adriane Carr in particular, and this is really his domain and his website, and he really means to embarass Adriane Carr and the Green Party as some sort of revenge.

Maybe the Conservatives did it to set the Liberals and the Greens against each other. I've checked with folks I know, though, and they say they had nothing to do with it.

Maybe the NDP did it, and are hoping people will blame the Conservatives for doing it.

If I keep working at it, I bet I can work in Karl Rove into a theory.

Or maybe someone is pulling Jayun's leg, and this has nothing to do with politics.

Addendum: I missed the most obvious, and least likely, possibility. Another Liberal-Green deal has been struck, but someone jumped the gun with the website before the official announcement. Even I don't believe that!