by airing his party’s dirty laundry, is hugh macdonald hurting the liberal party?

You do have to feel a little bad for Hugh and Laurie. They have stood with the party through thick and thin (mostly thin!) but the leadership will essentially be decided by a bunch of people who have no connection to the party. They aren’t even willing to drop a few dollars to buy a membership!

Obviously Raj Sherman will pull off a massive victory but I believe a lot of long time Liberals won’t be celebrating.

The simple answer is yes.

The more complicated one is that MacDonald is correct in his reasoning and questioning of the process, and should be speaking his mind on this. To me, based on my experience with Sherman, there is a dissonance being created in the party that will be hard to fix. Popularity vs. Authenticity. You can have both, but you must have the latter first.

Sherman is a take no prisoners self-promoter and that includes putting self before party. Late last fall according to Sherman himself, he was “days away” from announcing he was joining any one of the Alberta Party, NDP and WRP. His ego and desire to extract revenge on the Tory’s is what drove his decision. It may have been difficult to refuse him for any opposition party, and my guess is that each is quietly grateful that Sherman did not end up with them.

Sadly, the Liberals may not have dodged that same bullet, and now they will have to suffer the consequences of not only welcoming Dr. Sherman to their ranks, but also creating a questionable leadership-voting model that will almost certainly assure his victory.

I don’t have a horse in this race, but I must admit, this sure looks to me like a case of the Party abandoning some of their values for a chance at some public awareness. It certainly may work, and Dr. Sherman is very good at making noise… but is he good at leading with a team and sharing the spotlight? I have my doubts.

If being correct in his criticism of his own party hurts it, maybe that’s a good thing. Standing up for something solely for partisan reasons hasn’t done much good for any of us. Good for Hugh.

Thinking about him after Jack Layton’s death, Hugh MacDonald has quite a lot of the same dogged, loyal qualities, doesn’t he? Well, maybe without the self-deprecating humour I liked in Mr. Layton.

Hi All,

The Alberta Liberal Party “Supporter System” involves significantly more crosschecks than a standard membership system.

Because supporters have to be eligible electors, all supporters must either be matched to a voter on the Alberta list of electors or provide ID to the Elections Alberta standard to be enumerated by the Alberta Liberal Party.

24,000 people hit this high bar and joined our 3500 members as voters. Another 1500 did not, but will be able to vote in person at one of our seven stations if they show ID.

If there are cats or children on the list of voting supporters, that would mean there are cats or children on the list of electors – a bigger problem I’m sure we can all agree.

I think it’s interesting to that while the Alberta Liberals have 20,000 “supporters” at the tail end of a leadership election the NDP has just over 9,000 members in Alberta according to today’s national media reports – years after the last leadership race. It will be interesting to see where these numbers are once the federal leadership campaign gets underway.

Only Hugh MacDonald would ever describe Hugh MacDonald as consistent or loyal, let alone both.

The man is so loyal to liberalism that he’s trying to overturn a system passed by 95% of it’s members. And as for consistent, you couldn’t even get Hugh to agree on what the colour blue was two days in a row.

Broken Winged Swann, I’ve assumed you were Hugh for a while but now I’m sure. I’m calling you out.

Congratulations, Chris, you just scared away anybody that would want to join your party.

The biggest problem I have with Hugh is not his resistance to change (why NOT have Registered Supporters that pay nothing – as Corey has noted the Registered Supporter has to jump thru a more rigorous review than a Member? and under Lawrence Decore Memberships to the ALP were FREE!) No, Hugh’s biggest problem in my eyes is his contrary nature and the hard time he has given ever Leader – going back to Ken Nichol, through Kevin Taft and most especially David Swann. Now these are all incedental stories, as I have never actually witnessed Hugh’s resistence to the Party Leader – it’s always by inuendo and stories leaking outside of caucus. There is always a guy in the room who challenges authority – sometimes just for the sake of being a bit contrary. It can be a healthy thing, but in this instance, Swann is stepping down so Hugh seems to have focussed on the Party’s Membership and Directors who voted in these Leadership Rules. Seems like Raj and Bruce Paine are the only adults in the room sometimes at these ALP Leadership debates! I’m supporting Payne – but Raj Sherman would be totally acceptable in my mind. Two weeks ago I thought the same of the others, but Harvey just keeps getting more Bizarro, Laurie has done a pile on against Raj with Hugh (why isn’t she gong after Harvey?) – Raj is handling it quite well, and Bruce keeps trying to focus everyone on the big issues and ahving a civil debate. Heating up for sure – I am excited that the ALP is on tract to elect their next Leader with a turn out higher than the Wildrose Alliance’s turnout which resulted in Danielle (now there’s a REAL yawn!)

Really?? You think the Globe and Mail would print it if there was no proof? His supporters were signed up by a computer. By pushing the #3 you signed up the eligible voters at that coresponding phone number in 2007. That is why an enumeration is underway as we speak. Ask The Sherman Show to give you the list and do random checks in your area as a volunteer. While you are at it ask him why he was on the back bench despite his claim that he was personally “invited by the Premier to fix healthcare” His words by the way. I would also be interested in his financially backing. Phoning 1.6 Million people in a survey call costs ~ 40,000$ he says he has called 3x plus, add the telephone town halls (2), the Truck with full vinyl and a $7500.00 fee just to participate….. How is the money he has raised paying for it? It is sad that this group of “New Liberals” only wants openess and transparency from the conservatives.

Cheer up little buckaroo. Sherman has signed up most of the supporters before the demon dial. I personally have signed up almost 125 for him, real people, no cats or dead people or minors, I assure you. There are many, many others who have done the same. Sherman is not an 8-4 armchair politician like most of the ones in AB. This guys works from 7 am to 10pm everyday. He is a work horse and does not wait for the votes to come. He has worked tirelessly travelling the province signing up people. Cheer up guys, the Liberal party is growing, its not a time to be sour or jealous. Let’s come together and grow the Liberals, the opportunity has practically landed in your laps and still ur a whinin’. Cheer up little guy. Be happy we might an opposition that will in range to strike at the Tories. It can’t be that bad!

Hey Raj supporters – save some of that Kool-Aid for the rest of us.

Hey Alison, your sounding like a loony wingnut! He said he supported the STAND taken by Guy Boutlier, the way he stuck up for his constituents, because that is what he did, he stood up for SENIORS and got bounced like Guy did, where were the LIberals when that happened? for doing the RIGHT thing! When they got rid of healthcare premiums, they also took some $1.25B of healthcare away from the system. I agree with premiums, it makes people share in some of the responsibility and we will get more healthcare back. Hugh WAS a man of integrity. He showed extremely poor judgement by airing dirty laundry to the Media. He just showed he is not fit to lead anything, let alone bovine. He should have had an internal discussion with party officials and Sherman first, before even getting the facts straight. BTW, I signed up 200 real alive human beings for the Liberals, and these are people who DID vote for PC’s, since the start of time. So give your hollow cranium a shake. This party has grown, with the right guy, Raj, taking the ALP to ALL of Alberta, for ALL Albertans. The ALP is growing massively. Time for the whiners and losers to grow up and be a part of a growing party that Albertans are very interested in. Some of you just don’t Raj him self period. You can’ handle his rapid rise and therefore any excuse you can find, you will hurl. Welcome to politics. Its time to split the Torie’s vote. Are you whiners and losers on board or is fulfilling your damaged ego’s more important?

Sadly, alberta’s Liberal rump seems hell bent on consigning themselves to the dustbin of history! Hugh has always been more about self-aggrandizing stunts rather than substance. Or more precisely, he has never let substance get in the way of a stunt. Like asking for every Enron document in the government’s possession knowing full well 99% of the documents were just news clippings. Or how about linking small bonuses paid to mid-level civil servants who excelled at their jobs to the obscene pots of taxpayer money paid out of Wall Streets robber barons. That really endeared the party to its Edmonton base. Cosntant infighting with the two-member NDP caucus rather than the Tory juggernaut is another example of the party’s through-the-looking-glass take on political reality in Alberta. Don’t let the door hit ya, guys! And woudl the last person leaving the phone booth, check for a quarter and a dime!

I think that it is really funny that we talk about how the liberal base has expanded and blown up because Raj is in the leadership and under him we will defeat the conservative “juggernaught” yet these same people alienate party loyalists by claiming some of their hardest working members and mla’s are classless, and without integrity. Hugh has held his leaders in the house to a high standard. When you spend endless hour in the library researching policy, meeting with constituents and looking for every penny available to better serve Alberta and your boss goes on vacation which one of us wouldn’t challenge that leadership? The bottom line is this; if you want someone who will work tirelessly for the ALP to build us back to an authentic realistic option then vote for Hugh. If you believe that Raj can win the next election based on his image and star power and that the people of Alberta connect with him then vote Raj. For me the choice is clear. Hugh is the leader to move the ALP forward.

Wondering how Chris Labossiere can feel happy with himself from attending the 2009 PC convention…then going Liberal…then going to the Alberta party (suicide move). Perhaps he needs to look in his mirror and do an act of contrition for his own misdoings before criticizing anyone else.

Why would the PC’s give a red cent to Sherman, they hate his guts!?!?! Just ask Ron Liepert, Gene, or any of them… Did you watch anything since last Nov.? Sherman has been bashing the Tories relentlessly since then until now! Tighten up the loose screws upstairs lady. Sherman has brought almost 20,000 supporters, anybody with the ability to count, understands that is positive news. This comment is the most hilarious and ridiculous one I have EVER heard! Stella, don’t be afraid of change and growth, step back and learn to accept that the Liberals are coming back and growing. Until Raj had come along, the Liberals were used to losing and being small. Some of the Libs are so used to it, that they think something is wrong, if they are growing with new ideas. Let’s step out of the mental prison people, the Libs are back!