Sonya Paterson Asks Township Council 'Six-Pack' Where are the 'Tens of Thousands'?

Fort Langley May Day Parade LFP-YouTube of Langley Politicians

Our LFP photographer attended the Fort Langley May Day parade and captured the following LFP/YouTube videos of parts of the parade. The first video showed some of the local politicians early on in the parade including Councillor Kim Richter and the second video shows her on the sidelines after, looking on to the continuing parade participants.

Stephany's Langley NDP Press Release Supports Mayor Green's Protection Of Passenger Rail Corridor Through Langley

Township Mayor Rick Green at Monday's council meeting informed his Council of:

"Today, May 4,2009, I am providing Council with the following information relating to the history and protection of our old Interurban Passenger and freight Rail Corridor through the Township and City of Langley."

He further told Council:

"This agreement expires on August 29,2009. Therefore, in order to preserve the rights of BC Hydro and the public I am requesting the support of the Township Council to send a letter to B.C. Hydro requesting their immediate response and assurance that they will renew the Agreement in question prior to August 29,2009."

KUDOS especially to Mayor Rick Green and his Council for supporting their Mayor and endorsing his request on Monday's council meeting to renew the agreement to protect the old Interurban Passenger Rail agreement through the Langley's!

After asking the local MLA election candidates for their support too: "We are asking for

First Ever BOTH Langley Riding's All Candidates BC MLA Election Debate Boycotted By Coleman & Polak

From 7pm to 10 pm last night April 27th at the Fort Langley Fine Arts School Chief Sepass Theatre the first ever 'All Candidate Debates' for BOTH Langley Ridings of all the candidates took place. Many people including guest host Rafe Mair commented that it was 'despicable' that two candidates refused to attend. Specifically both Langley Liberal MLAs and Ministers Rich Coleman & Mary Polak chose to boycott the debate. The debate was sponsored by the Langley Teacher's Association and curiously less than 5% of the agenda covered education!

Many people including Rafe commented very negatively on the absence of both Liberal candidates. Some of the words used to describe their boycott were arrogant, despicable, smug and snubbing. It's curious to note that even our local Langley municipal election candidates attend CUPE and International Association of Firefighters sponsored debates for municipal elections. So why won't out Langley MLAs/Ministers?

So it is indeed a very controversial and questionable decision not to attend the debate. Rafe Mair even commented that if he had boycotted an election debate when he was a cabinet minister in the then ruling Socred government, the Premier then would have been furious. He also pointed out that this was another reason that he recommended the public also vote YES for the STV because he bet the two Liberal cabinet ministers would most likely have certainly attended if we had STV! See the Langley Times news report here with more details.

Rail For The Valley Protests Along Highway #1 Overpasses & Stephany Interviewed

Double click Videos to enlarge videos.

Township Council Votes For 5% Tax Hike AGAIN for Each Year of next 5 years! & Our LFP Cartoonist, Prost's Perspective

April 8/09 Langley Times:"Township taxes jump five per cent" by Al Irwin
April 9/09 Langley Times: "The tone for tax increases is set" by Editor Frank Bucholtz
April 10/09 Langley Advance: "Add five per cent more to taxes" by Heather Colpitts

The Gold-Plated “Era of Entitlement” Has to End - And A Current Case Study Example

Note to Langley Township Council: In case you haven’t noticed, there is a recession out there and it’s now being felt in Langley as shown previously in LFP. When are you politicos going to realize this?

We know that the majority of the current Township councillors derive most of their personal income from the public teat (i.e. Councillors Bateman, Fox, Ward, Ferguson, etc.) but this is no excuse to ignore the financial pain
being felt by many Langley Township taxpayers who don’t have the same luxury of a guaranteed annual income compliments of the taxpayers.

On March 24, 2009, Councillors Bateman, Ward, Ferguson, Long and Dornan agreed to send a preliminary budget increase of 5% out to the public.

Since then, the firefighter's and sports group's “partisan political enforcers” have again been whipped into an overtime frenzy. They have sent many letters/emails to the local papers and council saying: “YES! WE WANT A 5% TAX INCREASE”. One has to wonder why.

Have you ever seen anyone in Langley purposely asking for a tax increase unless there was some hidden agenda?

What garbage and misinformation have these well-meaning citizens been fed? By whom? And for what ulterior motives? Do these groups even realize that they are being politically manipulated? (Or do they even care as long as they think they have political power?)

Mayor Rick Green was elected on a platform to control and restrain taxes. Shortly after he was sworn in as Mayor, he appointed a Finance Committee. This committee was comprised of very qualified members of the public who spent 7 weeks (in between childish outbursts from Councillors Ward and Ferguson) reviewing Township financial records.

The Finance Committee recommended that a .93% tax increase was feasible and obtainable this year with NO CUTS to current Township service levels.

Councillors Bateman, Ward, Ferguson, Long and Dornan have purposely chosen to ignore the Finance Committee’s advice. They did not once raise any of the recommendations put forward by the Mayor’s Finance Committee before they voted to send a 5% tax increase to the public. Why?

Also interesting to note is how the Mayor’s Finance Committee spent 7 weeks reviewing the budget in detail (and recommended a .93% property tax increase) yet Township Council spent less than 6 hours before deciding that a 5% property tax increase was OK to send to the public.

So who really controls Langley Township Council? Is it the public? Or is it Township Administration and its [provincial Liberal] lackeys on Council?

You decide but here’s one last example for you to consider.

On March 23, 2009, Langley Township Council received a report from Township staff recommending that Council approve a Mowing Maintenance contract for 2009 to 2011 for $1,075,839 (the “Gold Medalist”). The “Silver Medalist” price was $811,388. Staff recommended the “Gold Medalist” (a $1+ Million price package). The Langley Times this week reported about this very contract debate between Councillor's Richter & Fox and is scheduled to be finally considered again on this Monday's council meeting again.

The difference between these two price packages (on grass cutting alone) is equivalent to a ½ percent annual Township tax increase. This cost difference alone could be applied to much needed service enhancements in other areas like better snow removal or more full time firefighters.

So why are we, the taxpayers, paying more for a service we already have when we could get the same service for less price and still have money left over for other services we really need (like better snow removal)?

This is just one more example of why the Township is well renowned for its gold plated “Culture of Entitlement” and one more example of why we need a Council that works for the people who elected it instead of those arrogant back room BC Liberal lackeys who think they run it all.

P.S. Monday we will see what Council votes on this mowing contract. Bet the Gold plated Group of Six votes for it? We have asked an expert for his comments on this bid process and the above bid summary document about the above Mowing Maintenance RFQ 3PRE09-302 that the Township of Langley requested and got bids for. He pointed out a few interesting things.

1. He first found it curious that the two Township Evaluators had different points given under the price evaluation column for only the last 4 high bidders and the exactly same points given for the 3 low bidders. How can that be? After all bid price is bid price isn’t it?
2. Secondly he was concerned that it would seem that the actual bid price was far less than 20% or at best one fifth of the DECIDING criteria ranking of the whole bid consideration as to who got the work! In other words price is not an object or criteria that ranks in importance with the Township of Langley it would seem! And why not? After all they can every year go back to the taxpayers for another 5% tax hike!
3. Third it obviously seemed that experience with the Township gave what would seem a very unfair advantage to only one bidder because it appears only one bidder has had Township experience. Our expert said imagine if all Township contracts were awarded with this criteria. We would most likely always have premium prices and ever less competitive bids coming in and invariably always use the same contractor . He also pointed out that in other than Langley's jurisdictional government bids this was proven often as an easy way to take care of close friends at times.
4. Fourth he questioned how the point evaluation scheme had the exact same points given to all the bidders for experience and references yet the two evaluators had big variances in Equipment evaluations. Why the difference here?
5. Fifth who were the evaluators and did they clearly before receiving bids specify their evaluation formula and specific points awarding details to all the bidders?
6. Finally our expert says that there has been a long documented history especially in Governments that have led to very questionable biases and much worse allegations of corruption around these similar subjective bid evaluation methods. Many of which have gone to court for both civil and criminal reasons. Use of only two evaluators he frankly says is ludicrous and dangerous and puts an inordinate amount of pressure and stress and unfortunately perhaps opportunity on these two public servants.

In a summary our expert says that especially in government public bids he would never recommend this process. Low price bid should always be the only final criteria. He suggests if concerns about service levels are feared that instead a clearly articulated penalty process be established to handle those in default that would return money or exact appropriate penalties for gaps in promised service. Or he suggests that a performance bond perhaps be part of the bid to recompense for contract breaches.

Another suggestion is that perhaps the Township split the service area into 2, 3 or even four zones to then have better future comparisons and alternate ready emergency back ups and this would certainly require far less equipment by any one super mowing contractor while spreading the wealth around as well and staying away from any real or perceived bias. At worst case, he says if absolutely necessary, that all bidders be invited to first pre-qualify to bid and that they be weeded out (forgive the pun) in this process first and then the contract goes to the low bidder. But again our expert says that this process is also fraught with questionable risks and issues as well, but it is a better compromise.

The bottom line is that this case clearly documents that The Gold-Plated “Era of Entitlement” Has to End and that it is NOT and never has been about cutting the essentials like Fire and Police portions of the Township budget. There is obviously lots of fat or grease that can be skimmed out of the constant 5% annual tax increases other than in protective services! It's time to stop looking and pointing at the must haves like Fire & Police and start looking at the nice to have as demonstrated in this mowing contract case study....

Ribbons fly in fight to save fertile farmland (The Province, 05 Apr 2009, Page A13)

The final battle looms. Will ALC give final Approval to the Bateman/Falcon Liberal Overpass to Nowhere? Kudos to Elisabeth Robson and her green ribbons!

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Ribbons fly in fight to save fertile farmland
Brian Lewis
The Province
05 Apr 2009

Ask long-time Langley Township resident Elisabeth Robson about the quality of farmland in her neighbourhood that the proposed Mufford/Glover Road overpass will destroy, and she opens the family photo album. “Look at this,” she says, showing a...read more...

Tech Tags: The Province newspaper News

KUDOS to Langley Times For Asking Tough Questions About 'Perceived' ALC Conflicts of Interest RE: Mufford Overpass Decision

KUDOS to Rachel McHollister of the Langley Times, the TIMES EDITOR and the Langley Times for their article today (probably Friday in Print) on this very significant topic we also posted about on LFP. Stick to it Rachel & Frank until you get proper answers!

The Times specifically reports; "The Times contacted the executive director of the Agricultural Land Commission, Brian Underhill, on Monday." about his comments on appearance of a possible conflict of interest regarding the Mufford Overpass ALC decision that Commissioner Tomlinson ruled on in light of his campaign donations to the B.C. Liberals including Councillor Bateman and Ferguson who both supported the overpass too.

The Langley Times reporter is referring to the Dec. 16, 2008 B.C. Supreme Court ruling that laid down new guidelines for conflict of interest of commissioners of the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC). See more about this in our previous posting here.

The Times reporter goes on to say that despite saying he would respond to her questions immediately that instead: "Since then, The Times has tried to contact Underhill three times, but he has not responded to the messages nor has he been available."

See the whole Rachel McHollister Langley Times article here.

Well done. Journalism to be proud of! Reads just like big time Globe & Mail & Vancouver Sun investigative and probing journalism of questionable pertinent issues that taxpayers should get answers to!

P.S. See here for Elections B.C. Political contributions System search result re: any Tomlinson donations. Any names can be entered and searched at this site....

Should Langley Township Council Keep Hitting Taxpayers with big ~5 % Annual Tax Hikes ?

Canada has lost nearly 300,000 jobs in the last four months, including 82,600 jobs in February according to Statistics Canada!
As you all know Langley Township Council majority decided to once again approve a 5% tax hike for public input and this will likely be ratified at their April 20th meeting as previously reported here in LFP.

We think that this LFP spreadsheet which reflects the dismal outlook of our economy insofar as job loss announcements may be of help to this council in their final decision of whether they stick to a 5% tax increase that they approved for public input.

Remember that this council also said that the Mufford overpass plan was just "preliminary ' too for input as well and even despite overwhelming opposition to it, essentially the same majority of 6 councillors voted for the 'preliminary' design anyhow! So how different will this be for the 5% tax increase proposed by majority of Township Council for public input?

This Editor is betting that they will most likely stay somewhere between Councillor Fox's proposed 3.95% to the 5.00% sent to the open houses. This range will be way above the cost of living increase and way above the Mayor's Finance committee proposed 0.93% tax increase! Another Langley consecutive historically high cumulative tax increase!

So for assistance to the 6 on council who in this Editor's opinion seem to have no limits to their constant tax & debt increases and their constant flamboyant spending spree, we have the following 'Reality Check' resource guide that we hope will help these 6 on council realize what economical times we live in! Maybe, just maybe, this reality check will help keep in check their constant spending spree and tax & borrowing hikes! Not just for this budget but for every few thousands of $ they spend and throw around at every council meeting seemingly too!

Check back here often, because we at LFP will constantly be upgrading the spreadsheet's "Running Job Loss" figures. We will also post the same spreadsheet link on LFP's sidebar too. So tell your taxpaying neighbours to check this spreadsheet to see how many more are losing their jobs and how many of us are forced to tighten our belts. Yet this Langley Township Council in spite of this continues to raise our taxes, increase our debt and spend like there is no tomorrow!...

$1 Billion B.C. Rail Sale To C.N. By B.C. Libs - Lawyers Say Premier Met With Kinsella & C.N. Rail Chair Prior To Sale!

The Globe & Mail reports that "Mr. Kinsella was paid $297,000 by BC Rail between 2002 and a 2003. There is also reference to a bonus of $201,512 to Progressive Holdings (Kinsella's firm), but it was not clear if that was an additional payment." They also report that "Mr. Kinsella got a call from David McLean, head of CN, saying "the deal was at risk" and asking for help." Mr. Patrick Kinsella was former BC Liberal Party 2001 & 2005 campaign co-chair and B.C. Liberal insider.

Journalist and commentator Bill Tieleman on his blog in detail says, "Defence lawyers in the B.C. Legislature raid case made a bombshell allegation Thursday that Premier Gordon Campbell met with BC Liberal 2001 election campaign co-chair Patrick Kinsella and David McLean, CN Rail's Chair, to discuss the $1 billion B. C. Rail deal before CN was announced the winning bidder." Bill also plays 20 questions on his blog as well here with "What did BC Liberal Party insider Patrick Kinsella do for BC Rail for $297,000 - let's play 20 questions".

Meanwhile according to Bill Tieleman , "Premier Gordon Campbell, Attorney General Wally Oppal and Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon state they can't say anything about Kinsella's B.C. Rail role because it is "before the courts" when B.C. Rail and Kinsella released statements and Kinsella is not under any investigation related to the David Basi and Bob Virk trial, the two government aides facing corruption charges."

LFP previously reported on this with links to the Province Michael Smyth editorial and Vancouver Sun Vaughn Palmer editorial. All the links and stories in this posting are an excellent primer on this whole affair and highly recommended reading....

Land commission, pushed by court, has new rules (Times Colonist, 24 Mar 2009, Page A1)

ALC Commissioners MUST "recuse themselves from any decision that involves their neighbours,relatives or business associates, according to new conduct rules." ! "Colin Fry, commission executive director said, “We believe it’s a lesson learned on the appearance of bias and how it’s defined.” He further says, "It will be up to individual commissioners to declare their conflicts, said Fry, who added he’s “very confident” they will do so because of a recent “refresher course” on the subject."

So should ALC Commissioner Mr. Tomlinson recuse himself from his previous and and future decisions on the Bateman/Falcon Liberal Overpass To Nowhere now based at least on 'appearance' especially after the refresher course? Many thanks to LFP reader Mr. Holcombe for this lead. Thanks! See full Times Colonist article below. Click either picture of newspaper or read more for full content.

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Land commission, pushed by court, has new rules
ROB SHAW and LINDSAY KINES
Times Colonist
24 Mar 2009

Agricultural land commissioners, who decide the fate of farmland across B.C. and Vancouver Island, must now recuse themselves from any decision that involves their neighbours, relatives or business associates, according to new conduct rules. The...read more...

Tech Tags: Times Colonist newspaper Front Page

Lfp's Poetry Spot - Featuring "bad poet" - WE ALL GOT SCREWED

WE ALL GOT SCREWED - by 'bad poet'

We went to a meeting-many hundreds and I
Looking for changes-oh how we did try

But there was no way of changing the minds of those six
Cause those councilors there were all up to their tricks

A number of people- there must have been eight
All had enough gumption to step up to the plate

To try and persuade the powers that be
This is not a good project-oh why can’t you see

The good people of Milner will suffer I’m sure
And the rest of us surely will wind up as poor

But Bateman and Ward and Foxy don’t care
As long as Mayor Green looks foolish up there

Thery’d vote for the devil if they though it would help
Its all Mayor Green’s fault they constantly yelp

As Ferguson said in the paper today
We’ll teach him a lesson and keep him at bay

So they voted the same with a smirk and some chatter
To teach all us people our opinions don’t matter

So in summing this up I’d never beleived
The utter contempt Jordan Bateman received

While our good Mayor Rick Green got a standing ovation
And it looks like to me a good election foundation

bad poet

Editor's Note: 'bad poet' is a satirical political poet very welcome here on LFP! Hey LFP readers, CLUE - read Bad Poet poems slowly, one line at a time for the best rhyming lyrical poetry effect! Hilarious and all meant in jest as satirical political comedy/commentary! Anyone else want to tryout for LFP's poetry spot? Submit yours too!...

Langley Township Council Approves For Public Input Another Record Breaking 5% Tax Hike !

Langley Township Council this afternoon in their budget deliberations meeting ignored the Mayor's finance committee 0.93% tax hike recommendation and barreled ahead with a 5% tax increase that will be going to the public at open houses April 1st & 2nd before they ratify the tax increase at the April 20th council meeting after getting the public's input.

The 5% tax increase was moved by Councillor Bob Long and seconded by Councillor Grant Ward. Voting for the 5% tax increase as well were Councillors Jordan Bateman, Steve Ferguson, & Bev Dornan. Voting against the 5% tax hike were Mayor Rick Green & Councillor Kim Richter. Councillor Charlie Fox voted against the 5% because he only wanted a 3.95% tax hike! Councillor Mel Kositsky was absent from the meeting.

See the attached Council time lines and LFP commentary to the right in the attached document for more details and clarification. Double mouse click on document to better view it.

Letter To LFP From Wally Martin Re: ALC Commisioner Donation to Clr. Bateman's Election Campaign - A Conflict of Interest?

Dear Editor

Do political campaign contributions come with strings attached?

Does John Tomlinson own a condo in Whistler?

The recent disclosure that John Tomlinson of the Agricultural Land Commission provided a large donation to Councillor Jordan Bateman in the last election is very disturbing.

Jordan Bateman has clearly stated his views on the agricultural land in the Milner valley and it would appear that it is going to push the Bateman/Falcon agenda through in spite of fierce opposition from the farmers in the area. Why is it that Tomlinson refuses to stand up for the farmers? It would appear to be a serious conflict.

The timing of the Tomlinson donation, November 23 2007, is when Councillor Jordan Bateman held his fund raising raffle. Was the Tomlinson donation one of the "raffle prizes"?

I did file a written complaint with the Gaming Enforcement Branch in regards to this "raffle prizes" matter and I am still waiting for a written reply. I did receive a phone call from the Gaming Enforcement Branch and I was told that they did not want to embarrass MLA Rich Coleman since Coleman was attending the raffle as a special guest. I will again demand that the Gaming Enforcement Branch deal with this matter in the light of this new disclosure of information.

One would almost assume that if you are closely aligned with Rich Coleman, Jordan Bateman, Gordon Campbell, and the BC Liberals that you can ignore the rules. I recall Bateman describing some of these people as "heavy hitters".

The fact is that John Tomlinson will be instrumental in deciding the fate of Langley farmland by building a road through the middle of the Milner valley, a proposal supported by Councillor Bateman, that is being forced upon the residents and farmers in Langley by the BC government.

Councillor Ferguson and the previous Mayor Alberts also both received Tomlinson donations. Ferguson seems to be arguing that the truckers are more important than the farmers.

All this has generated a great amount opposition in the community. This will be remembered as a dark day in the history of Langley.

Wally Martin ...

Overpass Opponents Take Protest To MLA Mary Polak's Office Against The Bateman/Falcon Liberal Overpass To Nowhere

Monday evening at 7 PM March 23 at Township council meeting (4th floor Presentation Center) they will again debate the motion to reconsider the Langley Township's previous 6 to 3 VOTE to build the Overpass that clearly the vast majority of the Langley taxpayers disagree with! BE THERE TO SUPPORT the reconsideration!

And now a Message from those that were at the protest:

Please forward to your friends.
Please pass the following link on to your family and friends regarding the news story that appeared on CTV last night. Langley citizens and farmers held a protest at MLA Mary Polak's office Friday, March 20th

See this link to CTV news and select Friday March 20th news and then move to time to the start of the story about Langley, it starts out with the general story about organizations promoting their message at 11:50 minutes into the broadcast, our Langley protest story starts at 12:56. The whole news clip is about 18 minutes long.

Wally Martin says " They are talking about building a highway and overpass through British Columbia's best farmland!"

Sonya Paterson says "We personally believe Mary Polak can lose her riding."

Watch the news broadcast, but more importantly send it on to your friends.

IF you have not signed the letter to Tony Pellet, please do. Print it out, sign it, mail it yourself or bring it to Council meeting on Monday March 23, 2008 when the 64th Ave/ Mufford Crescent overpass motion is brought back to the table. Please come out to show your support.

Please consider printing out the Petition and having your family and friends sign it. All you need is 15 signatures on one page. We need your help.

Thank you,
Sonya Paterson
604-888-2066

Wally Martin
Princess and the Pea B&B
604-533-5569...

Lfp's Poetry Spot - Featuring "bad poet" - 5 DAYS TO GO

5 DAYS TO GO - by 'bad poet'

There’s 5 days to go till the next council meeting
The crowd will be huge- will there be enough seating
The debate on this issue gets hotter than hell
And that old Blog to Nowhere’s not going so well
As Bateman and Charlie and Dornan will find
Their support of this issue we will all keep in mind
We won’t forget Stevie he’s not off the hook
And Sir Councillor Ward and Long we will cook
Mayor Green and Ms. Richter and then there is Mel
They did the right thing-we all think the’re swell

So lets recap all that’s happened last week
It looked for awhile like things were real bleak
But there’s lots of support from near and afar
As people get ready with feathers and tar
The township’s abuzz with talk of support
From the Otter Co-op I’m pleased to report

There’s T-shirts for sale that say save our land
For those to wear proudly who will take a stand
At the meeting of council next week at the hall
So bring your best friend we’ll all have a ball
And the best part for me will be watching Mayor Green
And maybe that Ward guy won’t cause a big scene.

bad poet

Editor's Note: 'bad poet' is a satirical political poet very welcome here on LFP! Hey LFP readers, CLUE - read Bad Poet poems slowly, one line at a time for the best rhyming lyrical poetry effect! Hilarious and all meant in jest as satirical political comedy/commentary! Anyone else want to tryout for LFP's poetry spot? Submit yours too!...

Horny Toad Sources The Township Engineering Poll That Cost Us $9500.00 ! Re: The "Bateman/Falcon Liberal Overpass To Nowhere"

The Langley Township Taxpayers paid $9500.00 for this poll commissioned by (poll can be read and printed out from this LINK) The Township of Langley Engineering Department. Our Guest Columnist, Horny Toad, in his previous posting right here on LFP, said that his neighbor, who has a PHD in statistics, polls etc. from UBC said that in his opinion, the poll is basically “sh*t". Thanks once again to H. Toad for getting the poll to LFP and we definitely owe you a much coveted LangleyFreePress.com hat for your efforts. As said before citizen journalism at it's best by H. Toad! So was your $9500 of Township taxpayer money well spent, Mr & Mrs Langley Taxpayer?

LFP's Langley Municipal Elections $ Versus Votes Analysis

To Better View Above
DOUBLE MOUSE CLICK ABOVE SPREAD SHEET TO ENLARGE IT
and Then Your Also Able to Print it out as well
More detailed analysis of City & School Board & special Interest Group financials to come,
RIGHT HERE.
(Preliminary Spreadsheet replaced with Final version above. If any further errors are found please advise us about specific error.
Thanks. --- LFP ---)

Wear "Save Our Farmland" T-Shirt To March 23rd 7pm Langley Township Council Meeting

This is YOUR final opportunity to keep the Langley we love and say NO to destroying farmland, NO to the overpass and NO to the heavy rail traffic cutting through the heart of Langley!The council meeting is in the Council presentation theater on the 4th floor at 20338 65 Ave.

By the Way, I guess to be fair Wally says he is also offering this "Pave Our Farmland" T-Shirt for those who I guess want more frequent & longer heavy trains and overpasses and long term Township Taxpayer debt to accommodate these trains. Again call Wally for these too.

Taxpayers Line Up Outside Otter Co-Op To Sign Up Saying NO To The Bateman/Falcon Liberal Overpass To Nowhere

UPDATE Mar15 @ 9:30pm - Sonya Paterson has informed LFP that at their booth outside the Otter Co-Op yesterday and today in only 10 hours produced the following amazing results. How can this Council ignore the overwhelming evidence AGAINST the overpass?

• 527 Petition signatures against the Overpass
  
• 417 Letters addressed to the ALC Against the Overpass
• 483 Overpass Surveys completed
  

Since 10 am , Saturday March 14, as well as Sunday till 3 pm at the Otter Co-Op at a booth outside the store, Langley taxpayers have been lining up non stop to either sign a petition against the overpass or sign a letter against it addressed to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) . People are also filling out a survey on their thoughts on the overpass. Also See this other 2:51 minute video of the event.

The organizer, Sonya Paterson says that they will be there until 3 PM today. The Otter Co-Op is just south on 248 th Street at the Fraser Highway intersection. Among the many people helping her man the booth and answering questions are Wally Martin, Darlene Jonnston ,the Blackhall's from Fort Langley, the Omelaniec's , members of the Davis & Mufford (generational Langley farming families), Irene McKaig and more.

The ALC admits the overpass negatively affects prime farmland and the Otter Co-Op client base serves Langley's agricultural community more so than any other and the response there so far today has been phenomenal. On Monday night, March 23rd the Township council will be asked to reconsider it's decision to proceed on the overpass. The Township Council voted last Monday 6 to 3 in favour of the overpass with only Mayor Green and Councillors Richter and Kositsky opposing the overpass.

Sonya Paterson is encouraging all of the taxpayers to attend the Monday March 23rd evening Langley Township council meeting at 7 PM to support the Mayor Green motion to reconsider the overpass. This is a the final opportunity to keep the Langley we love and say NO to the overpass and NO to the heavy rail traffic cutting through the heart of Langley!The council meeting is in the Council presentation theatre on the 4th floor at 20338 65 Ave. ...

ALC Says: Bateman/Falcon Liberal Overpass To Nowhere "Will Adversely Impact Agriculture" - (P.S. 10 Fold Debt Cost Increase Coming!)

The Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) in its November 26, 2008 ruling letter admits right from the start of its conclusion that the Bateman/Falcon Liberal Overpass To Nowhere,

"..will adversely impact agriculture..." !

See, the actual 5 pages of the ALC decision further below. Also it specifies the seven (7) ALC terms and conditions that MUST be met for this agricultural land use application to go forward. The key question in the ALC conditions is how does this proposal " enable agriculture in the area affected in the road project to be more agriculturally productive following the project than it now is prior to the project." ? In addition what penalties are there if not met, and at what cost to meet them (are they at all presently budgeted for in the $51 million or is this another cost overun?) and what cost implications are there as well (i.e. The additional eight (8) conditions that Township Council put on this prior to approving it) ?

It is curious to note who moved the ALC motion (shown on Page 3 below). It would also be curious to ask whether or not this individual has current or past political connections to Councillor Jordan Bateman, President of the Fort Langley/Aldergrove provincial Liberal constituency association, MLA Rich Coleman, MLA Mary Polak and MLA/Minister of Transportation Kevin Falcon who recently vetoed any other overpass plan but this one (See Falcon's "build it or lose it" letter here).

To view or print the complete 5 page ALC decision double mouse click each of the following page links. (Some may take a few minutes to upload especially the context map).

• Page 1 ALC Cover Page
• Page 2 ALC Context Map
  
• Page 3 ALC Conclusion
• Page 4 ALC Minutes
• Page 5 ALC Minutes continued

10 Fold Increase In Annual DEBT COSTS
Coming Next Year !

In 2009 the annual Langley Township debt servicing cost will be $223,000 per year. In 2010 thanks to the addition of this "Bateman/Falcon Liberal Overpass To Nowhere" project among others the annual Langley Township debt servicing cost will increase by more than 10 fold to $2,486,000 per year! Thank you to all those good spendthrift B.C. Liberals who made this historic debt increase happen in Langley Township. Surely there must be some Liberals in Langley and Victoria who don't like to increase spending, taxation and debt!....

Guest Columnist: Horny Toad - Researcher Extraordinaire On Township Overpass B***S*** Poll!

And speaking of the questions on the telephone poll conducted by Synovate I now have a copy of the polling questions and results as commissioned by the engineering dept. I emailed the mayor last night at about 8.30, he got back to me at 9.30 , I phoned his secretary this morning and had a copy by email this afternoon. (as an aside, I emailed Clr. Bev Dornan 2 days ago and got no reply at all)

I read this poll and had some questions so I took it to my neighbor who has a PHD in statistics, polls etc. from UBC. His comment was that the poll is basically “sh*t". I said OK, but can you be more specific.

In fairness to the mayor or anyone else who is not an expert in polling (including myself) knowing the questions and agreeing to them is irrelevant if you don't understand the intracasies of polling..

First of all 401 household heads were called.

The first question was:

“Are you aware of the proposal to build a new road and overpass at 64th Ave/Mufford and Highway 10 to allow car traffic to be routed over the railway track.”

64% (256) said yes and 36%(144) said they were not aware. My expert neighbor says those 144 who knew nothing of the overpass should have been told “thank you” and disregarded. But they were allowed to continue on in the questions asked in the poll. This becomes important later on. Also this question is somewhat misleading because the overpass in nowhere near Highway 10, in fact it will be almost ½ mile north.

The next question was:

“Overall, do you support or oppose the plan to build the overpass or do you not have an opinion either way?”

49% said they supported it.

My question here is “how many of the 36% who said they knew nothing of this overpass were included in the 49%?”

They then went on to ask various questions as to why or why not you support or oppose it.

Question number 5 then asks:

“Now that you’ve heard some of the reasons for and against the overpass, would you prefer to see the project go ahead or be canceled.”

So they took the 36% who said they knew nothing about the overpass and told them the pros and cons( at least that they decided were cons) and then asked them to make an informed decision. This is ludicrous. How can you take someone who has not even heard about the overpass and ask them "do you think it will use too much farmland" and expect an intelligent answer.

One of the other reasons my friend condemned this poll is because of the use of "double barreled" questions.

For example one question says do you agree:

"the overpass will improve safety by separating rail trafffic from car traffic AND enhance emergency service response times".

There are really two questions but you may not agree with both yet you can't say yes to one and no to the other".

If you take the people who were polled (401) and look at the 49% in favor (196) compare that to the number of questionnaires collected at the open house(I THINK the number is between 3-400 but not sure) and take Jordan's figure of 75% against that works out to 225-300 against.

The other thing to keep in mind is that of the 64% who indicated they were aware of the overpass there would be varying degrees of knowledge ranging from “they heard about it” to “they were very informed”.

On the other hand those who went to the open house, if they weren’t real interested and informed before would certainly be very knowledgeable when they filled out the questionnaire.

So you tell me which group represents the citizens of the township.

Mayor Green was right when he called this a sham!

Researched and submitted by
Horny Toad - 03.12.09 at 10:36 pm...

B.C. Rail paid Liberal insider (The Province, 12 Mar 2009, Page A9)

Does something stink here folks? See also the Victoria Times Colonist story and the Vancouver Sun Vaughn Palmer editorial all on the same story. Remember the RCMP legislature raids and the now famous so called 'Basi Gate' court case that in this Editor's opinion has been stymied at every junction with on going procedural wrangling that has delayed this whole case for what seems like ages so far with considerable assistance it would seem from the provincial government. What are they trying to hide? What and when is the stink going to reveal itself and it's sources? Note the desperation to keep a lid on all of this until the election is over.

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B.C. Rail paid Liberal insider
Michael Smyth
The Province
12 Mar 2009

Patrick Kinsella, a friend of Premier Gordon Campbell and one of the most powerful string-pullers in the B.C. Liberal party, has made a killing on government contracts since guiding his pals to power in 2001. Kinsella was co-chairman of the Liberal...read more...

Related:
Stonewally to the fore as NDP pounds Kinsella connection
Stonewally to the fore as NDP pounds Kinsella connection
B.C. Liberals silent on payments to party official
B.C. Liberals silent on payments to party official

Tech Tags: The Province newspaper News

Lfp's Poetry Spot - Featuring "bad poet" - THE FINANCIAL WIZZARDS

THE FINANCIAL WIZZARDS

Bateman never met a dollar he didn’t like to spend
Especially when directed by coleman his friend

No matter the interest and all of the rest
If his name can be on it that’s really the best

Now fergie the teacher, a misnomer of sorts
His whining and crying when giving reports

Says mayor is a meanie and tells him a lie
So he can’t make the meeting oh how he can cry

A real piece of work is councilor Ward
Don’t call me Grant just call me “my lord”

So they passed the rail thingy I’ll bet they are proud
Cost overruns,who cares, don’t say it out loud

Its not a P3, a financial disaster
But the’re spending the money it seems a lot faster.

5 million-9 million, gee it seems kinda funny
First thing you know it will seem like real money

While we’re scratching and clawing to save a few bucks
The 4 big time spenders shovel it off of the trucks

bad poet

Editor's Note: 'bad poet' is a satirical political poet very welcome here on LFP! Hey LFP readers, CLUE - read Bad Poet poems slowly, one line at a time for the best rhyming lyrical poetry effect! Hilarious and all meant in jest as satirical political comedy/commentary! Anyone else want to tryout for LFP's poetry spot? Submit yours too!...

Lfp's Poetry Spot - Featuring "bad poet" - THE FOUR STOOGES

THE FOUR STOOGES

We had an election in two thousand and eight
After years of more taxes that wasn’t so great

A man named Rick Green promised much more for less
Most people sure liked him especially the press

He won the election, that man named Rick Green
His election committee- a well oiled machine

But alas and alak joy was cut short
As councilor Ward showed his lack of support

For within a few day of the election results
Concilor Ward started hurling nasty insults

He told our new mayor- hey listen up bub
You’d best not be going against our old club

We had it real cozy with the mayor from the fort
And were not fond of changes-we’ll cut you off short

So with fergie and foxy and Bateman on board
They set out to stir up a lot of discord

The financial committee –now the Mufford rail thing
Four financial blind mice –what next will they bring

Will they vote for the people for whom they should act
Because if they don’t next time they’ll be sacked

bad poet

Editor's Note: Wow! Great! A satirical political poet on LFP! How innovative! Can we expect more Bad Poet? Very creative though, thanks for the chuckle! Hey LFP readers, CLUE - read Bad Poet poem slowly one line at a time for the rhyming lyrical poetry effect! Hilarious and all meant in jest I'm sure as satirical political comedy/commentary! Anyone else want to tryout for LFP's poetry spot? Submit yours too!...

Bateman/Falcon Overpass To Nowhere And Gateway mega-projects running into opposition (The Province, 08 Mar 2009, Page A12)

The public is overwhelmingly anti BATEMAN/FALCON's Langley Overpass. Even our Langley Times Editor (Kudos - he also now points his finger clearly to Clr. Bateman's symbiotic Liberal/Coleman relationship that pretty much guarantees his compliance with anything Provincial Liberal!) is not enthralled with the decision that council has to make.

And Minister Falcon is absolutely WRONG & INCORRECT (I'm being polite and not using the words, big fat lie!) when he strongly infers on this Friday's Bill Good radio show that the previous Township Mayor spent 2 and a half years of "consultative process" before our new Mayor Green supposedly 'AGAIN' wants to "go back to starting the consultative process over" ! There was no consultative public process in the whole two and half years! See the CKNW audio vaults for Falcon's erroneous and/or misleading answer to a taxpayer questioning his Langley overpass tactics and decision. Again there was NO public input in the past 2 and a half years! NOT until way after the election! The only open houses and real public debate was initiated finally under Mayor Green's council and NEVER, EVER by the previous Mayor's council! Is this the democracy, consultative process and transparency that Minister Falcon and his desperately wannabee Mayor or MLA or whatever, Clr. Jordan Bateman espouse as "consultative"? Or do they mean secretive behind closed door "consultative" with a final ultimatum financial gun pointed to the Langley Taxpayer's head?

What people don't understand is that the Clr. Bateman's 'Gang of 4' led council's run away financial fiasco train (forgive the pun) is still hurtling towards even more out of control financial decisions. His 'Gang of 4' have still not come to grips with the world wide recession, scratch that, depression! As proof, watch the, I predict, continuing Bateman's 'Gang of 4' sabotaging and hijacking of the Township budget process with I again confidently predict they will forcibly be trying to push the Township budget again to at least the standard Bateman annual 5%+ (oops-- 4.99%--lol) annual compounded increases! Just spend, spend, tax & borrow! Bateman's 'Gang of 4' ever increasing Taxpayer's past hit list consists of, to name just a few, moving record high tax increases, record project cost overruns like the Grandstand, driving the LEC at least $5 million over it's initial budget without even a proper P3 contract, taking Langley into higher & higher levels of debt and now pushing for an overpass to nowhere, that we must again go into massive debt for. Adding insult to injury this overpass still leaves the Langley bypass plugged with the increasingly massive long heavy trains to come FOREVER I might add while bisecting the heart of the Langley's with a ribbon of dirty, loud and increasingly longer and frequent steel heavy trains!

Maybe our expensive Tourism Langley can figure out how to make this a tourist attraction like building another Bateman Grandstand to view the colourful train graffiti perhaps as they go by every 20 minutes for 20 minutes?

Finally and most importantly, the Township is going to borrow an additional $9 million for our share of the BATEMAN/FALCON overpass that we are FORCED to borrow (due to the sponsered Clr. Bateman continued year after year spending spree) at an annual debt repayment burden of $767, 000.00 for each and every year for the next 20 years for a grand total of $15,344,000.00 NOT the original $9 million! Did you know that the $767,000.00 annual debt repayment for the BATEMAN/FALCON overpass is equal to well over to an annual 1% tax increase to Langley Taxpayers! Can we really afford the Bateman 'Gang of 4' council any more?

And Folks, we have yet to be told the details of what the Liberal gifted Langley Events Centre annual operating cost that WE the Township taxpayers will be paying for each & every year too! I can hardly wait for this secret to get out of the bag and the political spin from the financial fiasco Clr. Bateman's 'Gang of 4' financial wizards!

In any event this Editor NOW predicts this vote:

The YES Side: Bateman, Fox, Ward, Long, Dornan
(Dornan the only remote possible swing vote? Meanwhile watch the 'Gang of 4' try to mitigate their decision in the voter's perception that they will still lobby to reroute heavy trains out of the Langleys (Fox's B.S. Motion!) ! Watch for Them all say we can't turn down $40 million but we will valiantly fight to reroute heavy rail! Yeah right, B.S.! What a joke because this is just a smokescreen to mitigate compliance to the Bateman/Falcon overpass to nowhere when they know full well that approving the overpass even more so guarantees NO CHANGE to heavy rail routing! What a scam)

The NO Side: Green,Kositsky,Richter,Ferguson
(Ferguson the only remote possible swing vote? Remember Fergie was pretty low on the last election tally and the long list of historical Langley families and their contacts, not to mention 600 petitioners, is enough of a serious concern to force Fergie breaking temporarily from his Gang of 4? But just temporarily! Gee, How do you spell political expediency or survival? )

LFP Prediction is 5 - 4 YES to the Overpass!

ENJOY THE OVERPASS TO NOWHERE !

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Gateway mega-projects running into opposition
Brian Lewis
The Province
08 Mar 2009
The full impacts from two proposed Gateway-related mega-projects directly linked to Deltaport’s expansion are beginning to register at street level. As of Friday afternoon, for example, a small group of protesters were on their fifth day of a...read more...

Tech Tags: The Province newspaper News

Langley divided over increased rail traffic (The Province, 01 Mar 2009, Page A17)

LFP Prediction is that the Councillor Jordan Bateman's Liberal influence will force ahead with the overpass as submitted. Vote will be 6-3 to build it. Guess who the 3 are and who the 6 are!

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Langley divided over increased rail traffic
Brian Lewis
The Province
01 Mar 2009

When the Township of Langley’s eight councillors and Mayor Rick Green hold their regular meeting tomorrow, they’ll face a highly irregular challenge. It’s not every day that a single council meeting has such potential to impact the community for...read more...

Tech Tags: The Province newspaper News

Letter To The Editor : Pam Omelaniec's Open Letter To Councillors Ferguson & Ward

I sent the following letter to all of the local media. As yet it has not appeared in print.

" You all know me and I know you. In fact Sam and I have supported you all, in particular you Councillor Ferguson. Steve we were on your Campaign Team when you ran for Mayor so I am more than just a passing acquaintance and Councillor Ward, Sam and I have known and respected you for years.

You all know we were members of Rick Green's Campaign Team but I am not flag-waving for Mayor Green I am saying that I, together with hundreds of Langley Township residents are bitterly disappointed in the way you have been conducting yourselves and representing, we, the Langley Township electorate.

The idea of an in-your-face confrontation with an elected official with the Press primed at your side and armed with a tape recorder is abhorrent. If you try to tape a phone conversation to be used later it is not legal to do so unless you have informed the speaker of your intent and received permission to do so.

Did you tape conversations when you were planning to spend millions of our tax dollars behind closed doors. I think not.

You cannot change the November election result. In fact you are insulting everyone who voted for change in Langley by acting like we don't count. If it is your intention to carry on political sniping and causing a furor at every opportunity to score personal brownie points, I suggest you think again.

Langley needs strong united leadership with constructive criticism not a pack mentality of hyenas. How can we believe in your good judgment on issues like the one you are making on the Mufford overpass?

I urge you to have a good look at your behaviors. You may not like what you see because we the Electorate sure don't. I thought we were all pretty good judges of character but you have really let Langley taxpayers down."

Pam Omelaniec

Edited By LFP EDITOR...

Langley Free Press Editorial Rebuttal To Langley Advance Editor's Unbalanced View.

Bob Groeneveld: I, the LFP Editor, disagree completely with your editorial in today's Langley Advance.

My rebuttal to your editorial consists of 5 points. I hope you will give them some consideration. They are as follows:

1. The people elected Mayor Green for his message of financial responsibility and change, yet you seem to want him to just become a simple traffic cop of the council meetings. Why? If the Mayor is not permitted to drive the agenda against an obviously hostile group on council, how can this community ever hope to move forward in the next 3 years?
2. Why did you rub the former Mayor's central campaign slogan: "...through cooperation and working together" in Mayor Green's face? Rick Green was elected. Kurt Alberts wasn't. Questionable ethics here? Or did you miss the message?
3. Why aren't your editorials EVER equally chastising of what the "gang of four" is doing? Can you not see it? Aren't their sabotaging efforts worthy of an editorial? Or is your view clouded because of affiliations?
4. Some are quick to say that the political and municipal advertising has nothing to do with the editorial comment. Should we believe this?
5. Are you doing this simply to "sell" more controversy/papers? Shame on you if you are because all you are really doing is feeding the dysfunctionality. But then again you have had 9 years of pablum fed to you so maybe you are just doing this to shake things up a bit. Too bad the new Mayor is your scape goat. I could have easily thought of others on council.

Mayor Green isn't perfect but then again neither was Mayor Alberts. You gave Mayor Alberts more than a fair chance (like 9 years worth). Why won't you extend the same courtesy to Mayor Green who has only been in office for 3 months?

Are you paying attention, Editor Groeneveld?...

Langley Advance Editor Slaps Mayor Rick Green's Knuckles!

Langley Advance Editor Slaps Mayor Rick Green's knuckles! As well as the two councillors, Grant Ward and Steve Ferguson, all for squabbling in public. Advance Editor Bob Groeneveld is quoted in the Langley Advance saying:

"Now we've got a mayor and a couple of councillors playing Petulant Patty over the public purse. While the two councillors involved in this latest bout of bickering need to stand in the corner and think about how they might have handled the situation differently, the chief responsibility for this one falls squarely on the shoulders of Mayor Rick Green."

View the full Editorial titled "Quit Squabbling" by Langley Advance Editor Bob Groeneveld. He further essentially admonishes them for squabbling when fiscal concerns world wide and in Langley certainly call for better behavior and focus on the taxpayers business.

Meanwhile former school trustee and Township Councilor candidate Sonia Paterson, in the same Advance newspaper essentially encourages Councillor Ward & Ferguson to get counseling on how to conduct themselves in public meetings!

Funny I don't remember the previous Mayor having such a short honeymoon. A sign perhaps of things to come?

The Mayor & two Councillors won't be very happy with this Advance editorial!!!!!
I guess the media bloom for Mayor Green is now really over. Gee, its not even been the end of the first 100 days in office yet for the new Mayor!...

The "Langley Politics Foursome" (4-Sum) Think They Drove A Hole In One! LOL!

We will henceforth be regularly posting the latest Langley politics game in town. It's the hottest and newest political mind game in Looney Langley and is very loosely based on a political version of golf. The star players of the group we will be highlighting regularly henceforth are the "Langley Politics Foursome" (4-Sum). They are none other than Councillors Grant Ward, Steve Ferguson, Charlie Fox and their political wannabee Foursome's strategic team captain, mentor and scorecard keeper, Councilor Jordan Bateman.

The games duration is a tournament of 36 holes and since November, we are still not yet even on the 4th hole so far a little over 3 months after this term's Tournament began! But that has not stopped the games being played by the "Langley Politics Foursome" (4-Sum) . No Sirree! In fact Clr. Ward was first off the tee essentially throwing the rule book out just days after the game started in November crying foul and jumping up and down on the fairway because he could never fathom how his favorite previous golfing buddy, his former golf slate team captain and the previous 36 hole Tournament Chairman was ever booted from the tournament by the onlooking gallery of voting spectators last November! On November 15th, 2008, all the Langley Township Tournament gallery taxpaying spectators elected their club's newest roster of players including the tournament's new chairman and independent player, Mayor Rick Green.

Clr. Bateman though was not far behind Clr. Ward's Golf Game Chairman rules protest when he boldly called the newest player and Tournament Chair, Mayor Green, for so called illegal public airing of the contract details of their newest ~$50 million sports club building! After Mayor Green corrected and chided him, Bateman promptly made sure to correct that statement by telling everyone he did not say that at all. Rather rookie political sports commentator, Langley Advance reporter Claxton, misunderstood what he had really said. Wow.... glad Bateman cleared that up so that we will always now have to question any other written word by the political Golf game commentator in question. I guess because it was never refuted to the best of my knowledge. But then again Claxton and the Langley Advance never officially renounced their statement either to the best of my knowledge!

Last week while still on the 3rd fairway two more 4-Sum team/slate players revealed themselves when they spent well over an hour going over whether a report from a competing player would be submitted on the 2nd or 3rd of March. Yes folks, Clr. Charlie Fox and Clr. Steve Ferguson (student of Political Golf I guess?) essentially officially added their names on the same 4-Sum scorecard as their teammates, Clrs. Ward and scorecard keeper and team leader, Clr. Bateman! Believe it or not they then argued for over an HOUR about this ONE day's difference in providing a report on the Langley Club's finance's and budget committee . At the same time 4-Sum team member Clr. Ferguson argued with player Green about being left out of supposed private clubhouse get togethers. This of course was argued over by the two players for what again seemed an eternity.

Meanwhile, Clr. Fox at this very same meeting seemed to be angry because of 24 inches of information!??? Many said this was just another challenge to gauge the strength of the golf game's Tournament Chair and his rules, but Fox even insisted on distributing the picture of the 24 inches of documents that hearkened this commentator back to the famous photos that George W. Bush publicly as well pointed to as proof positive by illustrating pictures of Weapons of mass destruction in his ill fated attempt to sell his story with his CIA satellite photos. Good one Charlie I can now absolutely relate to the message you were trying to get across!!!

Suddenly yesterday another fracas over the political golf game rules exploded once again. You guessed it, Clrs. Ferguson & Ward again challenging the tournament chair,Mayor Green, with a tag team approach so aggressive indeed, that many thought that perhaps these two forgot that this was political golf, not political tag team wrestling! Even their scorekeeper made sure to distance himself when his blog sit in said he was far away and essentially not involved in this game diversion! Yeah right! This time they again argued loudly over their attempt to say the rules are not being followed by Tournament Chair and Player Mayor Rick Green. Clr. Ferguson again says he is being left in the dark which makes this writer wonder out loud how long it would take him indeed to find the light switch in any dark room? Heck even Clr. Ward is heard to be so inconsolable that he even insists that Mayor Green not use his first name at all but address him as "Councillor"! Remember he is still probably not at all over the fact that his previous team captain and tournament chair is no longer there! Probably never will be either!

The "Langley Politics Foursome" (4-Sum) are also always accompanied by at latest count 3 caddies who are very reticent to be identified and prefer to avoid the limelight for obvious legal & political reasons. One, a failed wannabee politico is working the Langley Politics Golf Course Fire & Sports lobby control angle, the second is their recorder and documenter, and the third is their technical guru in charge of internet technology and video audio conversions. So successful in fact that he seems to be beaming with pride over his recent technical conversion success vociferously promoting his accomplishments!

The 4-Sum so far have focused their gaming skills against only two other competing players who are, to the 4-Sum's chagrin, constantly at par, often have successful birdies and definitely more than one hole in one in the early part of this game so far. It's only three holes after all into this term's game after all. With 33 holes remaining to be played in this unique Langley Politics game before the viewing gallery public audience votes in and out a new roster of players, we look forward to providing our continuing tournament coverage and will specifically continue highlighting the "Langley Politics Foursome" (4-Sum) because frankly they need the EXPOSURE along with their trusted caddies. It's clear that the hidden and secretive back room caddies combined with their obvious lack of political gaming talent remains their handicap. Stay tuned for the continuing 'as your stomach turns' saga of the infamous "Langley Politics Foursome" (4-Sum)! Only available here on Langley Free Press - your only reliable source of "Langley Politics Foursome" (4-Sum) Gaming Center coverage!...