I realize almost everyone reading this blog has probably read ALL the stories already about the decision by Gregor and Amy Robertson to separate, which has turned, in this season of elections and social media, into a strange gothic novelette of its own.
Here’s my story from today’s Globe, which largely focuses on why Vision Vancouver chose to kick back so hard at the gossip and rumours about why the two have decided to separate. (Full version appended below for those who don’t have a Globe subscription.) It also has a statement from the Facebook post that Kirk LaPointe, the NPA’s supposed mayoralty candidate but who hasn’t been formally announced yet, put up on the topic in response to my question to him. For those who have Facebook accounts, it’s here.
I feel compelled to add a few more details to all of this, as there is a lot of strange stuff circulating. I don’t claim to know everything. But at least I can provide details on the little corner of the room I do know.
People who cover city hall regularly were called by various people from the mayor’s office the weekend of June 7/8 to get the news about the separation. I assume others asked the same question I did — is there anything more to this? Because if there is, I assured my contact, the mayor is going to get drawn and quartered if something comes out later. No, nothing more. I assume everyone talked to their editors, as I did. News editors in the MSM, at least in Canada, aren’t fond of doing stories about private lives unless there appears to be obvious problem: a relationship that is a conflict, that reflects very badly on the character of the person involved, that is inappropriate, whatever. As there was nothing like that apparent, no one did any stories.
A couple of weeks later, Rob Macdonald sent his email to the mayor, copied to Geoff Meggs. I also got a copy. I have to say, I don’t think this was part of any masterminded, general campaign when he sent it. Rob gets upset about things; he says stuff; he sends off emails. Whether that’s true of others involved in this story, I can’t say. Again, because there was nothing that was remotely supported by evidence beyond gossip, no story. (His email reprinted below.)
Then last week, I heard that a reporter from a television station called Amy Robertson, repeating a rumour that was even wilder and more bizarre than what was in Rob Macdonald’s email. I understand other media were calling. As well, stuff was starting to circulate on social media — a blog, twitter, Facebook posts.
That’s when Vision decided to go with the nuclear option, making not just a statement about the separation, but releasing Rob Macdonald’s email and accusing the NPA of a smear campaign.
All in all, not a great moment in Vancouver civic political history. Hope we can move on to other things.
MACDONALD EMAIL
From: Rob Macdonald <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 6:14 PM
To: Gregor Robertson
Cc: Meggs, Geoff
Subject: Re: Kinder Morgan and a Broadway Subway
I don’t think I can make it. I have been asked to go to a different meeting to discuss some terrible gossip that I find very disconcerting if correct:
1) Gregor ‘s philandering;
2) Gregor’s being thrown out of his house by his wife and now moving to a condo downtown ;
3) Gregor phoning Jeff Lee at the Vancouver Sun to suppress the story;
4) Gregor’s house in Kit’s being sold for a substantial profit after the City engineered him having a quiet Street with little traffic ;
When I was thinking of running for Mayor, Gregor’s Chief of staff Mr. Mike Magee sent two separate emmisaries to tell me that he was going to destroy my reputation and one of the disgusting things they were going to leak to the press was a ridiculous accusation of philandering. Of course, this kind of rumour mongering is despicable and I will have no part in it. But I find it somewhat poetic that the now Magee gets to deal with Gregor’s widely rumored philandering.
Anyway, Gregor always has a friend in me if he wants a shoulder to cry on.
R
MY GLOBE STORY
By FRANCES BULA
Getting into a big, messy brawl in the media about Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s separation from his wife wasn’t how the city’s ruling party planned to kick off its election campaign.
Vision Vancouver went on the offensive over the weekend against its main opponent, the Non-Partisan Association, claiming the NPA is behind a campaign to spread false rumours about the mayor’s life.
“It’s not really how I wanted to start,” said Marcella Munro, Vision Vancouver’s communications director, speaking about the party executive’s decision to go to battle over something that Mr. Robertson and his wife of 30 years, Amy, had hoped would remain private.
But, said Ms. Munro, the party isn’t going to sit back the way the NDP did during the provincial election and let its candidates get trashed by the opposition.
“This kind of stuff can shift the way candidates get covered,” said Ms. Munro, who also worked on the provincial NDP campaign last year that saw then-leader Adrian Dix go from an almost guaranteed victory to one of the most unexpected defeats in recent political history. One of the most effective tactics the B.C. Liberals used was to remind voters about a memo that Mr. Dix had fabricated about the casino scandal under premier Glen Clark, 15 years earlier.
Ms. Munro said that drove home the point that parties can’t afford to let anything negative go unchallenged.
“We’re not going to sit by quietly while the NPA [the main opposition party on the civic scene] or their allies run an underground campaign of gossip and lies.”
So, in an unusual move, the party released an e-mail that NPA vice-president Rob Macdonald sent to city hall that made several unproved allegations about how and why the two separated. The party also issued a brief news release from both the mayor and his wife about the separation, saying it was mutual and amicable.
That set off a bizarre round of back and forth between various spokespeople and supporters of the two over the weekend, providing an indication of how combative the next four months of election campaigning is likely to get.
It also demonstrates how social media and the eternal life of e-mails make it difficult for mainstream Canadian media to keep to the practice of avoiding stories about the private messes of prominent figures, unless those messes directly affect the public.
Mr. Macdonald told one radio station, via e-mail, that “The NPA is not involved in any personal attacks on Gregor Robertson, nor am I. I think very highly of Amy Robertson who has been very kind to my son, and I wish her all the best.”
Supporters have made the case that the e-mail sent to city hall was private and isn’t evidence of any campaign. As well, they say, Vision seems to be using the mayor’s personal situation for its own political purposes.
Vision called on the man who is widely expected to be the NPA’s mayoralty candidate, journalist Kirk LaPointe, to repudiate the NPA’s tactics. And a Vision supporter, Bob Ransford, went on Twitter opining that Mr. Lapointe wouldn’t want to “associate himself with a political organization devoid of policy and dedicated to a rumour-filled smear campaign.” That appeared to take the Vision defence into new territory of trying to get NPA candidates to abandon ship.
Mr. Lapointe, who noted he is still not a declared candidate, responded to The Globe and Mail through a Facebook post, saying that Mr. Macdonald’s e-mail was private, adding: Nothing positive comes from the discussion of personal issues. Respect for public life includes a respect for private lives.
“As a journalist, I have had many opportunities to report on the private lives of public figures. I long ago concluded that, unless there is an impact on duties, those matters are irrelevant.”
That view reflected what Vancouver news editors had concluded a few weeks earlier. Reporters who regularly cover city hall were called at the beginning of June by people in the mayor’s office to let them know the mayor and his wife were separating and that the mayor had moved to a condo in the West End.
Pressed for details about why, the mayor’s staff talked only about a long marriage and the couple’s four children being grown and out of the house. But reporters were told Ms. Robertson would continue to provide the same level of support for the campaign in the fall that she always had.
Follow Frances Bula on Twitter: @fabulavancouver
92 responses so far ↓
1 teririch // Jul 10, 2014 at 10:40 am
If this were a reverse situation, with an NPA ‘mayor’ being at the centre versus Vision, do you no think Vision would be prading it out and around to their benefit.
They would have released any details faster than Brazil could lose to Germany.
2 teririch // Jul 10, 2014 at 10:43 am
@Lewis N. Villegas #48
Aside from the increase in the height of RIZE, and the other 6 storey building now being discussed, I found it interesting that 79 new parking stalls are being added to accomodate what, 17 new or additonal units the extra height will allow for.
3 susan smith // Jul 10, 2014 at 11:03 am
Surely you are not surprised. He is just a man, and in the midst of his mid-life crisis: give him a little power and a lot of groupies…nothing new there. Men cheat all the time, but this fact is irrelevant to one’s ability to lead. It’s a double-edged sword: leaders are naturally arrogant, over-brimming with confidence, so they want more than they are entitled to, which helps them destroy their marriage but get their job done. Amy and kids are the sacrificial lambs for Vancouver to have a dedicated mayor. Yin/Yang.
4 Frances Bula // Jul 10, 2014 at 11:19 am
@Everyman. Interesting to me how people want to personalize this issue so much. It wasn’t me who decided whether the story should be reported in the Globe. The Globe’s managers decide, based on their assessment of whether something is newsworthy and the standards they have set for their particular organization. If you are going to call every newsroom’s decision not to cover something “censorship,” you are debasing the term.
5 Lewis N. Villegas // Jul 10, 2014 at 12:36 pm
@teririch
Yep. And the only thing that is NOT being added to is the contributions to the community that are all based on the original land lift and profits formula.
6 Bill // Jul 10, 2014 at 1:13 pm
@FB #53
Clearly this is nothing like censorship and I don’t take any issue with an editor’s decision not to run this story because it is not newsworthy (although I think our newscasts would be a lot shorter and newspapers thinner if all stories had to be newsworthy and it is curious that all of the editors came to the very same conclusion). However, I can’t help wondering what would have happened if the Mayor had issued a press release simply announcing the separation when it occurred. Are we to believe that these same editors would have still decided not to report the story because it was not newsworthy?
7 F.H.Leghorn // Jul 10, 2014 at 4:08 pm
“The tragedy has been so uncommon, so complete and of such personal importance to so many people, that we are suffering from a plethora of surmise, conjecture and hypothesis. The difficulty is to detach the framework of fact – of absolute undeniable fact – from the embellishments of theorists and reporters. Then, having established ourselves upon this sound basis, it is our duty to see what inferences may be drawn and what ar the special points upon which the whole mystery turns”.
Sherlock Holmes (A.C.Doyle) The Silver Blaze
8 susan smith // Jul 10, 2014 at 8:46 pm
F. H. Leghorn,
I fail to see the “mystery” in this instance. The marriage failed; happens all the time, whatever the actual reason. People are curious about others’ misfortunes and thrive on gossip and soap operas for their entertainment value. No mystery there either. Much ado about Nothing.
9 Frances Bula // Jul 10, 2014 at 9:44 pm
@Bill. I think if they had issued a statement 1. they would have avoided a lot of the theorizing now going on 2. some news outlets would have run it as a short item, because some news outlets will simply go with whatever is in a news release, and others wouldn’t. (That’s what happened in the brief interval before the short statement Saturday and then the much more inflammatory release of the Rob Macdonald email a little later.)
10 F.H.Leghorn // Jul 10, 2014 at 10:05 pm
@susan smith #52: A “dedicated Mayor” wouldn’t have time for “a lot of groupies”, mid-life crisis or no.
I find your description of the qualities of “leaders” somewhat troubling. Those qualities belong to the alpha dog of a pack or the leader of a troop of baboons.
True leaders inspire in others the possibility of a better future for themselves and their kids through mutual respect and co-operation. Arrogance and over-confidence (i.e.delusion) inspire only doubt and result inevitably in betrayal.
11 Everyman // Jul 10, 2014 at 10:34 pm
@Frances 54
Sorry, it wasn’t meant on a personal attack on you. It was meant to be a critique of the mainstream media in general. After all, as a group were you just waiting to see if anyone noticed Amy never showed up with the mayor at any events? For someone to ask “hmm, where’s the mayors wife?” In this day and age of the blogosphere? I thought gentlemen’s agreements of this kind went out the door with Wallis Simpson.
And by not running it, the MSM allowed Vision to make it a story about Rob Macdonald. Your colleague Gary Mason has now at least raised the question of what Vision was trying to hide.
12 Julia // Jul 11, 2014 at 8:37 am
what shocks me most, is why nobody questions Mike Magee and these phone calls he likes to make.
Who runs this popsicle stand anyway? Frances, how many calls have you received from Mr. Magee?
13 Frances Bula // Jul 11, 2014 at 9:08 am
@Everyman. I appreciate that normal people don’t get how newsrooms work and how they get dozens, hundreds of potential bits of news pouring in every day. We hear all kinds of personal things about various people we cover. Me, I was for doing a small story about the separation, because I’m just that kind of gal, but wasn’t surprised when editors weren’t, in my newsroom and elsewhere. That’s happened to me many times in the past when I’ve let editors know about developments in the lives of people I cover. I’ve had bits about personal relationships excised from various stories about politicians in the past.
It’s not a “gentleman’s agreement.” It’s the judgment of editors, who have to deal with the outraged emails and phone calls and letters from the general public, that most people don’t like it when they feel like we are prying. (Yes, a few avid readers do like it when we pry, and we see them clustered at the blogs and news outlets that cater to that.)
We didn’t cover the fact that Mayor Dianne Watts and her husband separated recently. We don’t cover various stories we hear about who the premier might or might not be dating. In general, we try to leave people alone unless there’s something about their personal relationships that start to affect their jobs. That’s not a conspiracy. It’s what the public turns to the mainstream media for — to exercise some judgment about what news they’ll bring forward and what they’ll leave aside.
Someone somewhere called us “gatekeepers.” That’s right. We are. People pay us to do that for them. We should rightly be criticized if we don’t report a significant story that is legitimately news. But, by and large, people do look to a certain organizations — media, advocacy organizations, their church, a union, their political party — to sort out the chaff from the wheat and tell them what’s important.
This became a story for the MSM because Vision decided to go nuclear in their effort to stomp on the rumour mill. If that hadn’t happened and if a cluster of people hadn’t started passing around increasingly odd theories about the reason for the separation, likely their split would have been covered in the inevitable profile that was done of the mayor or, if Amy didn’t show up at an event where she might normally be, as a mention in that kind of story. Amy has never been very involved in the campaigns. She was and I believe is still planning to do a few events for women, as she has in the past.
I don’t believe Gary’s column raised the question of what they were trying to hide. His column critiqued their attack strategy.
14 Frances Bula // Jul 11, 2014 at 9:10 am
@Julia. I know this is going to shock you, but reporters who cover city hall regularly talk to the chief of staff all the time in every administration.
15 Julia // Jul 11, 2014 at 9:28 am
No Frances it does not shock me, but threats shock me.
16 Kirk // Jul 11, 2014 at 10:33 am
Wait? What? Robertson and Watts are dating now? Is this the start of amalgamation?
Sorry, it’s Friday, and I can’t help myself.
17 teririch // Jul 11, 2014 at 10:51 am
@Kirk #66
Yes, that is it, and it is all the NPA’s fault for both marriage breakdowns.
18 Frances Bula // Jul 11, 2014 at 12:29 pm
@Julia. Threats? I’m not sure what you’re referring to.
19 gman // Jul 11, 2014 at 12:39 pm
So the Mayors marriage goes in the dumper and the media decide its not news worthy.But then Vision releases the MacDonald Email trying to play the victim and all of a sudden the press plasters that everywhere.The funny part is the Email was more like a what goes around comes around jibe no big deal.But the real story is in that Email when it refers to threats from Gregors Chief of Staff and his goons.
“When I was thinking of running for Mayor, Gregor’s Chief of staff Mr. Mike Magee sent two separate emmisaries to tell me that he was going to destroy my reputation and one of the disgusting things they were going to leak to the press was a ridiculous accusation of philandering. Of course, this kind of rumour mongering is despicable and I will have no part in it. But I find it somewhat poetic that the now Magee gets to deal with Gregor’s widely rumored philandering.”
Now that is the story I want to know about,not Visions sad attempt at playing victim.
20 teririch // Jul 11, 2014 at 12:57 pm
@gman #69:
You are absolutely right.
Magee’s threats to Macdonald is what got this whole ball of wax rolling.
21 susan smith // Jul 11, 2014 at 1:06 pm
F. H. Leghorn, #60,
In a perfect world, you would be correct, but we live in a far-from-perfect world; the leader you aspire to have and admire does not exist. Yes, an alpha-dog is a good analogy for most leaders that we do have.
22 kclear // Jul 11, 2014 at 3:57 pm
Brian:
I certainly don’t mean to denigrate older women. As I am sure you know, most voters (myself included to some degree) can only gauge a leader’s ability on impresssions gleaned via stump speeches and whatever spin is provided by campaign communications staffers and media.
Gregor looked like a pretty good “package” to some voters back in the day.
After Mayor R’s many years in office (both in Victoria and Vancouver) we can now base our voting decision on his record of acheivements and failures. A failed marriage (while common and not relevant to the day to to day job) is probably going to be part of the mix when voters reassess their view in the fall. And if we are keeping score, I for one am pretty disappointed in his record and the overall condition of the city.
23 spartikus // Jul 11, 2014 at 8:26 pm
Magee’s threats to Macdonald is what got this whole ball of wax rolling.
Unfortunately for Mr. Macdonald’s credibility on this, in his same missive he also claimed the Mayor’s office called Jeff Lee to “suppress” a story on this – something Lee unequivocally denies on his Vancouver Sun blog.
But then I’m not surprised you would take it at face value – you’re the same observer who claimed Sarah Blyth was a director of the PHS when she was not and that 4th Ave was filled with For Lease signs when it had only 5.
24 boohoo // Jul 11, 2014 at 8:30 pm
Lol @67 you’re like a cartoon.
25 Phil // Jul 12, 2014 at 7:28 am
“All in all, not a great moment in Vancouver civic political history. Hope we can move on to other things.” Yes, rather the taking time to appear on national television to tout bike lanes or yammering on about whales at the aquarium how about tackling some real issues such as a pharmacy being opened within one block of an elementary school for the sole purpose of distributing methadone?
26 Julia // Jul 12, 2014 at 10:13 am
#69 – exactly
27 Everyman // Jul 12, 2014 at 11:47 am
@Frances 63
Thanks for the insights, always interesting to hear how a newsroom works. I agree with your feeling that there should have been a small story, especially in an election year.
Interesting about Watts. The speculator in me wonders if it has to do with a federal career and a spouse who doesn’t want the long distance thing…? Could the same be at work with Robertson? The whole pipeline thing must have be showing him that only power at the federal level will be effective in creating change. Lobbying as a municipal politician doesn’t cut it. I still believe he would leave as mayor if Trudeau offered a post of some influence. We’ll see…
28 Bill // Jul 12, 2014 at 2:41 pm
@Everyman #77
“I still believe he would leave as mayor if Trudeau offered a post of some influence.”
Now why would you go and spoil a perfect summer’s day with such a completely depressing thought. Just when you think that absolutely nothing could be worse than “Prime Minister Trudeau” you prove that wrong by suggesting that “Minister Robertson” is a possibility. (Foreign Affairs perhaps?) Sure it would be Canada’s loss and Vancouver’s gain but it is hardly an even exchange.
29 F.H.Leghorn // Jul 13, 2014 at 8:40 pm
Hey, Frances! My little heart skipped a beat until I scrolled down to learn the horrible truth.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/07/13/journalism-professor-plans-to-run-for-liberals-in-2015-to-stop-harper-regime-eroding-democracy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NP_Top_Stories+%28National+Post+-+Top+Stories%29
Is this the beginning of a trend?
30 Bill McCreery // Jul 13, 2014 at 10:41 pm
MacDonald might well have been intimidated by McGee. I was for daring to speak my mind to Penny Ballem in the corridor outside the Council Chambers after the Rize rezoning hearing a couple of years ago. Moments later he threatened legal action and instructed me to apologize to Ballem. I told him I had nothing to apologize about, but would be glad to speak to her. I made myself available, but Ballem did not.
31 Jay // Jul 14, 2014 at 11:46 am
Lewis – “A building that has been shown to be in violation of the Community Plan’s black-and-white language…”
I thought the problem was the opposite. A lack of clarity about what is allowed at these taller building sites. Anyways, while you’re at the meeting maybe you could ask them to put more effort into the retail units, more specifically the facades which always lack individuality. That’s probly my biggest pet peeve with these developments.
32 spartikus // Jul 14, 2014 at 1:40 pm
Kirk Lapointe, today: “Our candidates, executive members, and staff, our board, will sign a declaration—a code of conduct to steer clear of personal attacks, the gutter politics that people are fed up with. If they breach that boundary, I will resign as a candidate.”
While Candidate Lapointe goes on to challenge the Mayor to take the same pledge, I really think this proposal is directed at Rob MacDonald…and was likely inspired by his poor behaviour in this matter.
33 teririch // Jul 14, 2014 at 2:10 pm
Wow.
And she was nominaed the’top runner’ for the Vision PB slate.
Trish Kelly on masturbation.
http://www.vanramblings.com/
34 gman // Jul 14, 2014 at 2:19 pm
WOW,talk about spin.And what bad behaviour would that be? He sent the Email to the two people who made threats against him not the public.What logic is there that he was lying when he was speaking to the very people that threatened him.You may not like the tone of the Email but we don’t know what tone these conversations normally take. Vision made it public in a sad attempt to gain sympathy so in fact Vision are the ones trying to use this separation for political gains not the NPA. And that is what is really despicable. This is just another new low for Vision.But you keep trying to spin it no matter what is obvious.
35 gman // Jul 14, 2014 at 2:24 pm
Thanks teririch, now how will ever be able to unsee what is burned into my brain,gawd what a nutter.
36 Jeff Leigh // Jul 14, 2014 at 2:54 pm
Gman, did you read the thread? Post 6 and post 8 clarified that Mr MacDonald sent his letter to one or more members of the media when he sent it to the mayor. Some of them ran with it, apparently (not Frances). I don’t much like Vision’s response, but it appears it was already out there.
37 spartikus // Jul 14, 2014 at 2:57 pm
Gman, did you read the thread?
I’m assuming this is a rhetorical question.
And personally I can’t wait for candidates to clarify their position, or positions, on masturbation.
38 gman // Jul 14, 2014 at 3:08 pm
Thanks Jeff, I stand corrected.But as FB said it was Vision who attempted to gain from it.
“That’s when Vision decided to go with the nuclear option, making not just a statement about the separation, but releasing Rob Macdonald’s email and accusing the NPA of a smear campaign.”
39 gman // Jul 14, 2014 at 3:21 pm
Jeff I would point out that FB didn’t say who specifically she received it from only an approximation on the date she got it.
40 Jeff Leigh // Jul 14, 2014 at 3:29 pm
Well, except for post 8 where Frances said that Rob sent it to her.
41 brilliant // Jul 14, 2014 at 3:38 pm
@Spartikus 85 -while you’re at it, why don’t you ask Constance Barnes about her statement that marine mammals are better off euthanized than rescued by the Aquarium. Another leading light from Vision
42 Silly Season // Jul 15, 2014 at 6:13 pm
I’m posting this, because in all the mock outrage about the thin red line between public and private lives and what constitutes ‘news’ in same, our ‘National Broadcaster (™)’ decided to run with THIS…
http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/woman-claims-to-be-mike-duffys-unacknowledged-daughter/
And surprisingly (not), Evan Soloman and colleagues had quite the chuckle at the Duffster’s expense (account)…