VANCOUVER — A bid by five Vancouver residents to oust the mayor and one of his lieutenants has been dismissed by a British Columbia Supreme Court judge, who found nothing "untoward" with a union's campaign donation.
The group alleged Mayor Gregor Robertson and Coun. Geoff Meggs were in a conflict of interest for money that their party, Vision Vancouver, received before last November's civic election.
The trial heard details about secretly recorded tapes of a union meeting involving Meggs during the campaign period in October.
The residents argued that Meggs, on behalf of the mayor, had promised to deliver jobs to members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees in exchange for $34,000.
But Justice Elliott Myers stated in a decision released Friday that there was no evidence indicating that Local 1004's contribution was anything other than lawful.
He wrote in his judgment that Meggs had merely been stating a "long-standing view" of the party, which had been made public well before the election.
Vision Vancouver members were against contracting out of union positions, Meggs told the meeting.
"There is nothing wrong with a politician stating his policy in the hopes of obtaining votes or campaign contributions," Myers wrote.
"There is also nothing untoward with contributions being made by supporters of that position. There can also not be anything wrong with a politician carrying out a campaign promise if elected."
Randal Helten, one of the people who launched the case, said he and the others are studying the ruling to determine whether to appeal.
"It's quite surprising how shallow the analysis is by the judge," Helten said. "He seems to have missed the main thrust of our argument."
A statement from Robertson said the ruling reaffirmed what he and Meggs had said for months, that the accusations were baseless.
"It is a disturbing trend to see people bring forward court action to try and subvert the results of a democratic election," he said in an email. "I'm pleased that the judge has thrown out what was clearly a politically driven lawsuit."
