Andy Nichols

Calgary West board member, Brendan Miller, refutes allegations the board violated Conservative party rules.

Board members for Calgary MP Rob Anders’s riding association are livid after the Conservative party seized control of its finances, annual meeting and membership list — and a planned meeting with party bosses may strip away the voting rights of hundreds of riding members.

In a tersely worded letter to the board (full letter posted below), the party’s national council reprimanded board members for not fully supporting Anders, who has been Calgary West’s MP since 1997.

But Brendan Miller, the board’s vice-president of membership, says the association is there to support its members. “The members elected us with the mandate to hold an open and fair nomination,” he says. “There’s nothing in the constitution that we’ve breached and council has alleged nothing.”

The national council’s hammer came down last week after it accused the board of violating several party rules. The February 4 letter from party president John Walsh states the board had been under “close scrutiny” for almost a year and has “not respected or reflected the opinions and rights” of riding members. The blow comes just weeks after the board voted 12-6 in favour of asking riding members if they want a new nomination meeting — a process that would challenge Anders’s long-term reign.

The national council voted unanimously to “exercise its authority” by stepping in to take control of the constituency’s annual general meeting, slated for this spring.

Not surprisingly, Anders, who has been a loyal Conservative for years, stands behind the national council’s decision. He insists there is a “preponderance of evidence” detailing the board’s failings. “You have to remember that one of the members of the national council sits on the board and has attended all of the meetings, so they’re fully apprised of what’s going on,” he says.

Constituency board members point out the national council favours Anders because the MP has strong ties to several council members. Council representative Vitor Marciano, Anders’s longtime friend, publicly chastised the board last December for not giving Anders enough support. Kathryn Marshall, wife of council member Hamish Marshall, applied for a board position using her maiden name and she didn’t tell the board she was Anders’s roommate last year. “National council is basing its decisions upon the reports of these people,” says Miller. Kathryn Marshall is not a board member and does not report to council.

Conservative headquarters won’t openly talk about the issue. “We will not be commenting on internal party matters,” it states in an email sent to media.

It’s not the first time the MP or the riding has been clouded in controversy. In 2007, the courts overturned Anders’s acclamation and ordered a new nomination meeting after the judge determined the Conservatives had violated their own rules. Most of Anders’s loyalists were swept out of the 30-person Calgary West board at last year’s annual meeting. Several have since been invited back to fill vacant seats.

Anders blames the current debacle on several “malcontents” and “liberal sympathizers” sitting on the board. He charges they are preoccupied with “petty issues,” have made disparaging remarks about the party and are “messing around with money.”

Board members scoff at these allegations. They claim they’ve increased riding membership by 25 per cent in the past year and, as well, have raised thousands of dollars for party coffers and thousands more for other Conservative causes.

“The board is not in financial difficulty at all,” says Joseph Zamuda, the board’s financial agent and an accountant by trade. The association received $30,000 in donations since the new board took over last March — an amount consistent with previous years, notes Zamuda. The board also gave more than $30,000 to other ridings to help Conservative candidates during last summer’s byelections. In January, the board gave $3,000 to the University of Calgary Campus Conservative Association — a student-led group Anders has long supported.

Although Zamuda has some issues with the national council, he believes when the board voted to hold a nomination for Anders’s seat, it should have first sought council’s approval. “That’s like putting a dagger in their back and gets people’s backs up,” he says.

Another board member, who requested anonymity, says the national council used to like having the board around to appear democratic and grassroots. “But if the people’s message isn’t what they like then they have the ability to shut it down very quickly and disassociate you from the club,” he says. “They don’t really want to hear anything from the people that’s contrary.”

The board and national council are scheduled to meet February 18. “The upcoming meeting with the council will offer the board an opportunity to put their best foot forward and to explain their actions and see if there is a way for them to work together,” says Anders.

However, Miller and other board members expect the party will once again circle the wagons around Anders. Two weeks after that meeting, council can hold a general meeting, which could result in hundreds of members being stripped of their voting rights.

“If they call a snap election, people who haven’t purchased or renewed their membership by February 18 won’t be allowed to vote,” says Miller. “Because national council and Anders are so tight, they will be strategic about this and look at the expiry dates of members and work it out to be held so as few supporters in the last AGM won’t have voting rights.”

Conservative Party letter - February 4, 2010