Kash Heed needs to
step down as MLA
An editorial in the Vancouver Province, Nov. 3, 2011
Kash Heed finds himself amid another scandal.
Photo: Bruce Kemp, for the Province.
If there was ever any honour in politics, surely it’s gone, as the case of Liberal MLA Kash Heed sadly reveals.
Last week, Heed’s former campaign manager Barinder Sall was fined $15,000, placed on probation and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service for his part in a dirty tricks campaign against Heed’s chief opponent, the NDP’s Gabriel Yiu. Dinesh Khanna, another campaign worker, was fined $3,000 for his part in the scheme to print anonymous Chinese-language pamphlets smearing the NDP.
In August, Heed was fined $11,000 for overspending on his campaign in Vancouver-Fraserview, although no charges were brought against him related to the pamphlets.
Now Elections B.C. is looking into claims by Sall that he didn’t report $40,000 and there are further allegations the former solicitor-general and West Vancouver police chief badmouthed his cabinet colleagues.
Premier Christy Clark says her Liberal caucus will decide Heed’s fate, specifically whether he’ll remain in caucus. She should act like a leader and kick him out.
More importantly, Heed should resign his seat, which the evidence shows was narrowly won and tainted by illegality. The voters and democracy were harmed by the actions of Heed and his team. If he has even the slightest bit of honour, he’ll resign and put citizens above his own narrow self interest.
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