Lots of Thank You's - Very Light on Platforms & Vision - New Council Inauguration Speeches

The Langley Township Council's new term was kicked off with this past Monday's Inaugural Mayor & Council swearing in ceremony. This LFP Editor was quite surprised and frankly quite disappointed overall with the speeches made at this first new council meeting of Township Council.

Yesterday I expressed this very concern with our LFP Publisher, Kim Richter, who suggested I give this new council some slack, which I will. We should not forget, that as Times Journalist Natasha Jones says in her article: "In sharp contrast to the hostile atmosphere that dominated Langley Township politics for the past three years, Monday’s inaugural meeting of Township council was an exercise in civility." Very much so. How very refreshing.

I did congratulate Richter on her speech as I also equally do for Councillor Charlie Fox and our new Mayor Jack Froese. These three were the only ones on council who expressed what they each hope to champion in their new 3 year term in office. And only Richter & Froese spoke about the visions that they each had for Langley Township.

I mentioned to Richter that the swearing in ceremony was certainly a great event for the Council members as always, especially for the newest council members and their families, friends and supporters. But it was sadly lacking, in my opinion, in any commitments or vision from  most of Council to the Township taxpayers and voters that elected them!  This lack of commitment and especially any common vision was the single greatest tragic failure of the previous Green Council. So where was the promise of meat, especially for us Township taxpayers who elected this council?

Upon reading the Langley Advance's Mathew Claxton Langley Advance article, it struck me that he too was perhaps indirectly highlighting the same lack of promise and commitments as well. One reasonably should have expected that three points would have been included in the individual council members speeches:

• A brief re-cap of their past accomplishments (especially incumbent Councillors) 
• Generous thanks to all that supported and helped them get elected 
• But most importantly to provide an outline, summary and hopefully a vision of what they hope to champion and accomplish in their upcoming three year new term.

As I said the 2nd was overwhelmingly exacted with tons of thank you's and the third was totally absent in this Editor's opinion except for Richter, Fox & Froese. Kudos to those three for that and talking about the future and their concrete commitments to us the taxpayers.

Judge for yourself and watch my edited video with all the council's platforms/promises that I could find and scrape together. I reviewed and edited in as many and all references to ANY visions, promises or commitments made by each and all members of this new council. Quite frankly I had to stretch it to find and to include any promises or commitments from most of this new council. Watch the relevant Council member's  promises in this video and Richter's speech/promises can be viewed separately at the top of this posting.

The next and final  two LFP videos are just ceremonial footage that shows the new council's entrance and oath signing ceremony highlights and the last shows both Pastor Brent Cantelon's invocation and the Kwantlen First Nation's blessing ceremony.


After Watching the videos in detail, this Editor has eight unsoliticed suggestions to Township Council that could help make this Council a success:

1. Drop past affiliations/IOU's with the defeated VLN & the so-called 6 pack.
2. Get a quick grip on any power tripping, personal egos & agendas. There is no "I" in team!
3. Share the information wealth and duties equally and leave no council member behind. 
4. Use your individual council member's strengths. Never fear or shun them.
5. Immediately work towards a joint council list of reasonable and doable common goals for this 3 year term and a consensus for a longer term vision for Langley Township
6. Get taxpayers input and buy in to this council's goals & vision. 
7. Make the 3 year goals a reality and start building on the long term vision.
8. Always, always, ALWAYS listen to the taxpayers! 

P.S. Let's be very clear here. This is the Editor's opinion. Not the Publisher's. This Editor simply wishes there had been more meat and commitment to action  in the speeches. It is not a criticism of anyone on the new Council. But it is a criticism of content. I am as thrilled as everyone else is with this new council and I am very hopeful for this new Council's future progress and achievement. But I will always hold any council's feet to the fire. So enough of the fluff. Now get on with the substance of governing. >>>>LFP EDITOR<<<<

LFP Publisher Kim Richter's Son, Sterling Does Street Wrap Art On Granville & Nelson St.

Municipal Election Results - Nov 19, 2011 Township of Langley Municipal Election

Below is  the Summary Election Results of the Nov 19th 2011 Township of Langley Election

Election Summary Report Nov 19, 2011 Township of Langley Municipal Election

Below is the Poll by Poll Election Results of the Nov 19th 2011 Township of Langley Election

Nov 19 2011 Election Summary by Poll

Mayor Green and his Vote Langley Now Slate Decimated! 3 New Members On Township Council

Preliminary Final results to Langley Township Council Election

Kim Richter Re-Elected with her very happy three children

More info coming tomorrow. Thank you to Joe Zaccaria for sending the photo of the final election results above.

Mel Kositsky's Advertorial Truth Re Nov 19th Election

Mel Kositsky's Advertorial Truth Re Nov 19th Election

For FULLSCREEN select bottom left button above & to SHARE select button to it's left. PLEASE SHARE!

Last Langley Township Council All Candidates Meeting at Langley Event Center

Langley Township Council Election Candidates

This LFP Editor has just had enough of the Green VLN slate-mates in unison parroting their ridiculous deception attempt trying to convince us that  they are Independents yet also a Slate! It becomes even more ludicrous when they line up and repeat this one after another at every debate. So I decided to finally highlight and point out this inane Green VLN slate attempt to word craft and word weave this B.S. to us, the Langley Township voters, in the above very short 47 second video. I hope you find it as amusing as I did.

Banquet Hall at Langley Events Ctre.

At last night's last election event at the Langley Event Center which by-the-way the Green VLN Slate and slate-mates continually criticize, the Langley Township Election candidates had their final public hurrah before this Saturday's election. One by one they introduced themselves and there after mingled with the audience answering individual questions. This event was organized by an election candidate herself, Sonya Paterson. Good job Sonya. Unfortunately there were far too many empty audience seats.  I'm told that the poor weather may have been the issue.

Murray Jones, Suhki Dhami and Kim Richter

There was even a Gang-Green anti-slate protester in attendance who parodied the Gang-Green slate's red stop sign ads. Well known anti Gang-Green VLN slate critic Suhki Dhami wore a  sandwich board imprinted with our own LFP designed Rick Green anti-slate stop sign. He downloaded this from LFP and had it blown up onto the sandwich boards. Very creative Suhki.

This picture of Suhki wearing the sandwich boards almost brought tears to this Editor's eyes! One can only Imagine what emotions Gang-Green must have had tonight upon first seeing Suhki wearing the sandwich boards at the all candidates meet and greet tonight. Pictured wearing the sandwich board is the frequent Green VLN slate critic Suhki Dhami flanked on both sides by two election candidates, Murray Jones and our very own Publisher and Langley Township Council re-election candidate Kim Richter.      By LFP EDITOR

Get your Own "I Don't Want Slates in Langley" Poster/Sign

Share your opposition to Municipal slates, especially Langley Township's Rick Green Slate!  Print, Share or Email this posting to your own lists of Email, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, etc. friends.

At the bottom left side of this LFP Posting are convenient and simple buttons to automatically Email, Blog, Facebook and Twitter to your friends to more easily share this LFP Posting.  Anyone & everyone can then get their own copy of this Langley Anti-Slate Poster to proudly display where you stand on slates.

Get your own poster by clicking on this following link: "I Don't Want Slates In Langley!"  Then simply print it out (use keyboard Ctrl & P to print it out after clicking the link). Print it in either colour or B&W. This same poster link is also available on this LFP sidebar on the upper left sidebar by clicking the STOP SIGN and then keyboard Ctrl & P to print it out. This poster/flyer prints out on a full 8.5 x 11 inch standard sheet of paper. If you want, maybe even consider a local printer to get hundreds of flyers or posters!

Keep in mind that the deadline is election day this Saturday & the last candidates meet & greet debate is tomorrow night at Langley Events Center! Bring lots of flyers!

You can then tape these posters to the inside of your windows, car windows, any wall, or just share or hand them out at least to your immediate neighbours, friends, etc. If you wish, Email this link or deliver this link to any T-Shirt provider like Dogs Ear in Willowbrook mall and get a T-shirt, mug, etc., printed!  Enjoy and help Langley stay truly independent by going Viral with "I Don't Want Slates In Langley!"  by LFP Editor

Langley Township School Trustee Candidate Megan Dykeman Featured On CBC National News: "Putting on the Glitz"

Langley beauty pageant makes the national news!  Watch Langley Township School Trustee Candidate Megan Dykeman (running for election this Saturday) who was featured on last night's CBC National News (November 13, 2011) : "Putting on the Glitz" .  Mouse Clik "Putting on the Glitz"  to view it.

(P.S. On another topic this Editor thanks you the LFP readers, as Langley Free Press celebrated  a  new high yesterday of over 800 views in one 24 hour period alone! That's about 25000 a month. Thank you!)

Langley Firefighters Support Mel Kositsky for Mayor & Kim Richter as one of the 8 for Council

The Langley Township Firefighters after extensive research officially published their list that they support for council in Langley Township.Their 4'x8' signs pictured here were sprouting up throughout the Township.

In addition the Firefighters are expected to advertise in the local newspapers as well as drop literature throughout the Township. Before they came to their conclusion the Firefighters had questionnaires that all candidates answered. They also hosted a debate where all the candidates were able to provide their credentials/policies and they also answered  pre-prepared questions that they all got in advance. No ambush there unlike at the three community group's so-called pro Green VLN debate. In addition all the candidates were able to mingle-meet-greet the firefighters and guests at that debate. All the council incumbents except for Councillor Bev Dornan and incumbent Mayor Rick green were endorsed. The Firefighters instead endorsed Mel Kositsky for the Mayor position. New candidates Rebecca Darnell, Michelle Sparrow & Dan Sheel were also endorsed.

Who's Really Playing Dirty Politics? Inappropriate & a Totally Rick Green VLN Partisan Candidate Ambush At Tonight's Mayor Debate By Debate Organizers!

Last night's debate was hosted by three groups: Salmon River Enhancement Society, The Fort Langley Community Association and the new Yorkson Community Association.

There are no words to adequately describe this Editor's disgust at the travesty pretending to be a genuine and legitimate Mayor's Candidate debate held at the Brookswood Secondary school gym. The debate was promoted as a non partisan forum to hear the views of the three Langley Township Mayor candidates on legitimate community concerns: the environment, development and community input to council decisions. The reality was far removed from this description. The event was not a debate but a "Rick Green VLN love-in" by very partisan debate organizers.

While the beginning was innocuous enough with opening statements from the three Mayor candidates, it rapidly disintegrated into a "bash Mel Kositsky and Jack Froese" session as evidenced by the questions posed by the event organizers themselves and their partisan supporters. Every question asked was designed to showcase Rick Green at the expense of Mel and Jack. How sad that legitimate community groups would allow their credibility to be so badly damaged. As a small sample watch the following video.



Discussion by many during the break and after the so-called debate expressed

Langley Advance Editor Bob Groeneveld's Take on the Three Township Mayor Candidates

None Are So Blind As Those Who Will Not See

What amazes this LFP Editor is that formerly rational people, respected people, old friends and political pundits in the Township (who now fervently write in comments to LFP, the Times, etc.) still desperately cling to a seemingly messianic devotion to a Mayor whose true personality and attributes have been revealed time and again over the past three years by several independent consultants,  lawyers and others. Yet these pundits are still willing to throw out the

Kim Richter Hopes Taxpayers Vote Zero-Tolerance on Nov 19th for any Politician Lying while in Public Office

Watch all 3 Videos of Councillors Richter, Fox & Ferguson below here in this LFP posting. These three Councillors had the most significant Council responses to Cllr. Grant Ward's Motion calling for a formal Committee of Inquiry into the complete Mayor Green Brownshack Affair. Mayor Green's response was his standard deflection and attempts to ignore the facts.

At tonight's last council meeting of this Langley Township Council before the election on Nov 19th, Councillor Kim Richter voted against any more money being spent by taxpayers for an inquiry as proposed by Councillor Grant Ward to inquire into the Mayor Green Brownshack fiasco. Council voted 6-2 to defer the decision to the new council to decide on an inquiry. Only Richter & Green voted against the motion. Obviously not for the very same motives! Richter essentially said that the Township taxpayers should be the court of final opinion on Election day November 19th . See her video above and a complete transcript of her speech also below where she specifically said:

"The Lidstone Report concluded the Mayor misled several times. 

The Mayor misrepresented and his actions were dishonest.

The Mayor was caught.

He was punished.

It’s over."

Richter continued:

"Had the Mayor been honest from the outset, not one dime and not one minute of legal time would have been spent on this matter.  ...This matter needs to be left with the electorate for final resolution."

Richter concluded her brief remarks by saying the following:

Why is Mayor Green & his VLN Slate attacking the Langley Events Center?

Staying true to form, Mayor Rick Green continues to promote “misleading information”. Over the past week, he has been running a series of political advertisements in all the local newspapers in support of himself and his Vote Langley Now (“VLN”) Slate. These political ads definitely contain “misleading

Mel Kositsky Kicks Off Mayoralty Campaign - Says: "This election is all about trust. The trust... has been broken. It can never be repaired."

Sunday Oct 30Th at 1 PM and for the rest of the afternoon many people wandered in and out of Councillor Mel Kositsky's new Walnut Grove campaign office on it's grand opening to which the public and politicians at large were invited to. Mel is hoping to beat the rookie Incumbent Mayor Rick Green and the political newcomer/challenger Jack Froese to become the next Mayor of Langley Township in what could well be a tight 3 way race.

Ironically Mayor Green praised Councillor Kositsky before Mel himself announced his intention to challenge Mayor Green. Green said he was running a slate against all the incumbent council except for Mel because he essentially only endorsed and

Mayor Election Sign Wars - the Good, the Bad, the Ugly & the VERY Tacky

The Sign Wars of 2011 have started and obviously as of midnight last night the three Langley Township Mayor candidates were off and running to garner the choice locations in the dark of the night. When it comes to the best sign of any of the contending Mayors the hands down winner is Mel Kositsky. His name is prominent, his web site is clear & prominent. His picture stands out large and in fact is the only one of the three that

Vancouver Sun B.C. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS 2011 - Candidates Listing

To see a listing of all municipal election candidates go to the special online Van Sun Candidates Listing. When you get there hit the tab with the heading "Langley T'Ship" to view a drop down list of the candidates. You can scroll through candidates names and see their profiles and on each profile you can then select the blue button "VANCOUVERSUN SURVEY" to see the info the candidates provided.


After only a cursory view this Editor noted that Councillor Kim Richter filled it out completely. I did not yet check out the other truly independent candidates' profiles. But Mayor Rick Green and his slate-mates continue to attempt their now well known trademark word weaseling and baffle-gabbing  political sham-scam. On the profile page under each slate-mates name it lists party and each slate-mate shows the Vote Langley Now party. But  in the latter Sun's question: "Are you running with a municipal party or slate? Mayor Rick Green does not answer and his slate-mate Tony Malyk does answer and he says NO! In answer to the very  next question : " If 'Yes', which party or slate?" Mayor Rick Green answers: "A Team of Independents not a slate." and to this same question his slate-mate Tony Malyk's answer is blank. Meanwhile the other slate-mates don't answer anything, anywhere.

Plain and simple they are a slate and a party because they are officially  registered as such. To try to say they are not is simply not true at all in this editor's opinion and here's that magic word again misleading!

Also interesting is that when the Van Sun asks the question: "How much money do you expect to spend on your election campaign?" , Mayor Rick Green says "$50,000.00" and his slate-mate Tony Malyk answers: "N/A". Of course!  It is generally known that the slate-mates are being primarily and largely centrally funded by the behind the scenes REAL MAYOR - Mr. DADDY WARBUCKS!

Rick Green is the Most Expensive Mayor Ever in the History of Langley Township

Not only has Langley Township Mayor Rick Green been the highest paid mayor in Langley Township history, but he has also had the highest expenses ever by any Mayor in Langley Township. See the below Scribd document on "Mayor Remuneration & Expenses - 1997 to 2010" . We also understand that he often has Langley Township (Taxpayers) buy tickets to events he never even showed up for. One of them where he was a no-show was a very recent Gala event that cost Township taxpayers $150 a ticket to which he got 2 tickets for $300. This apparently is not unusual.

When Councillor Richter put a motion forward to roll back the Council's and the Mayor's ~50%  salary increase in this past term, no one seconded her motion including Mayor Green whose own salary increased from the previous Mayor's salary of $64,922 to $93,722. The Mayor's silence on Richter's motion was deafening especially from someone who talks about 0-0-0 tax increases, but doesn't hesitate to

With Sincere Sympathy To Kim and the Edey Family

Langley Free Press's Publisher is Kim Richter. LFP will be taking a temporary hiatus out of respect for the loss of Councillor Kim Richter's mother who suddenly passed away in Ottawa  just after 7 PM tonight. Kim was called away during the Township council meeting and advised of the tragedy.

This Editor can confirm that Kim was extremely close to both her parents and most especially with her Mother Mary since her father passed away  5 years ago in November. Kim has every year spent her summer holidays with her Mother in Ottawa and the attached picture of her with her mother was taken at the end of August this year. This picture was taken  at the Ottawa Airport when Kim was returning to Vancouver and is the last time she saw her Mother. Mary Mabel MacLeod Edey is survived by her sister, her 5 children and seven grand children. She was born in Milestone Saskatchewan on December 1st 1928. She shares the same December 1st birthday with her daughter Kim and Kim's daughter Graecen. We extend our deepest sympathy to the Edey family.
By LFP EDITOR.

Langley Township Municipal Election Candidates (Mayor/Council & Trustees) List in Ballot Order

Langley Township Election Candidates Ballot Order

Initial curious comments are that Steve Burton is not running for re-election for School Board and that a Mr Douglas Smuland is the only candidate that says he lives outside of Langley, in the City of Surrey.

27 Council candidates running for 8 seats - 3 Mayor candidates running for a single seat - 11 School Trustee candidates running for 5 seats. Let the games begin!

Go to this link to see all the candidates actual nomination papers to see who they got to nominate them.

Langley City Mayor, Council & Trustees can be seen here and the Ballot order is in alphabetical order.

by LFP EDITOR

The Last 2008 Langley's Municipal Election Results in Retrospect F.Y.I.

Langley Township Councillor - Votes

Jordan Bateman - 9273     
Charlie Fox - 7956            
Kim Richter - 7906
Bev Dornan - 7663
Bob Long - 7433
Steve Ferguson - 7155
Mel Kositsky - 6935
Grant Ward - 6402
Sonya Paterson - 5934
Dan Sheel - 5331
Glen Tomblin - 4701
Murray Jones - 2908
Janet Megahy - 2759
Sukhi Dhami - 2746


Langley Township Mayor - Votes

Aren’t you fed up yet with word weaselling & baffle-gab politics by Mayor Green & His Slate-Mates?

The key item of importance at this past Monday night’s Council meeting was how Mayor Rick Green was once again busy word weaselling and baffle-gabbing his way out, as only he can, of his July 2011 decision to support a proposed Translink 2 cents per litre gas tax increase. One has to ask: Just how much more of Rick Green’s political weasel words can this community afford and believe? And what exactly will be the total tax cost to us, the Langley Township taxpayers, if Green and his slate get elected?  A 2 cent a litre gas tax for starters unless he changes his mind on Friday at the Translink meeting which this Editor predicts he will most likely flip-flop on and vote against. Quite frankly we hope he does. But he could just as easily flip-flop on this again given any opportunity after the November election!

Just to show you Green’s baffle-gab politics in action, we have 2 videos for you to watch. The first is from Monday night’s Council meeting (October 3, 2011) and the second is from the July 25, 2011 Council meeting.

The first video is a classic politics 101 primer in the slick US-style political technique of back-tracking and butt-covering. In just under 1 minute, Mayor Green delivers an amazing line of political BS reversing his July 25, 2011 stance on the 2 cents per litre gas tax hike all the while managing to keep a straight face. He loses points though because his level of concern is not delivered genuinely ad lib but is instead read verbatim. It makes one wonder if he really believes what he’s reading! 

As usual, Mayor Green tries to fool Township taxpaying voters by constantly blaming others for his own lack of good judgement.  In July 2011, Green voted with the

Green and his Slate-Mates have not only moved into Township Hall – They are now picking their seats!

Following up on LFP’s  previous editorial  and  today’s Langley Times article on the Mayor’s slate signing their nomination papers in Township’s Council chambers first thing this morning, this editor can only state the obvious. The Rick Green slate has clearly moved from choosing wallpaper last week to choosing their preferred chairs in Council chambers this week.

Too bad neither of the mayor challengers, Jack Froese nor Mel Kositsky, had the opportunity to beat Mayor Green’s slate to the punch of using the Council Chambers for their political gain.  We understand Jack Froese also handed his papers in today but obviously he didn’t have the advantage of early-bird timing, exclusive favourable slate media coverage, or of reserving Council chambers for his supporters like the current Mayor did.  Or maybe Jack just thought, like this Editor thinks, it would have been as tacky and presumptuous as holding regular campaign meetings in

Mayor Green Moves His Slate-Mates into Township Hall BEFORE the Election

Wednesday evening Councillor Kim Richter was attending a regular Township monthly commission meeting on the 4th floor of the Langley Township municipal Hall building when she was surprised to hear the Mayor's loud voice addressing a group of people in the Murray Creek meeting room.

This was not especially interesting until she noticed that he was addressing all of his election slate-mates candidates, his election campaign team/organizers, his

End "Blame and Shame Politics" Says Township Mayor Candidate Jack Froese

Last Saturday September 17/11, Debbie & Jack Froese hosted their 4th Annual Fall Festival at their JD Farms location on the corner of 248th St & 52nd Ave in Langley Township. The event MC was Gary Johnson best known for championing the Salvation Army campaign to fund & build the Gateway of Hope homeless shelter in Langley. All of Township Council attended Jack's event except for Mel Kositsky & Mayor Rick Green (no surprise there!). Also attending were MP Mark Warawa, MLA Mary Polak and at least 200+ other people (with many more coming later in the afternoon after the speeches). Polak formally congratulated the Froeses for their contributions to Langley Agriculture as did Deputy Mayor Kim Richter on behalf of Council.

Round one goes to Jack who got all the dignitaries out to his event including 2 local editors. The only dignitary at Green's event was Green (and many would even question that!)

Mayor Candidate Jack Froese's first major campaign speech

In Jack's speech, he said he would end the "blame and shame politics" of the current Mayor if he was elected. He made no bones about the lack of leadership on