Politics makes strange bedfellows and in Newfoundland and Labrador the evidence to back that statement up has never been clearer. This is definitely one for the "Would you Believe” files.
Even though newly minted Liberal party candidate, Simon Lono, is running for a seat in the district of St. John’s North he still found time before hitting the campaign trail to cast a vote during the Conservative nomination race in neighboring St. John’s East.
As a Liberal candidate Lono has been busy this week defending his decision to take part in the Conservative nomination process and in helping Conservative candidate Ed Buckingham win that party's nomination. The question on many voter's minds is whether Lono voted for the Conservative candidate he thought would best represent the district or the one he felt the Liberal candidate in the riding had the best chance of winning against.
This isn’t the first time Lono has exhibited questionable judgment over the past year. In May he offended many Bloggers at the site, Web Talk – Newfoundland and Labrador, by verbally assaulting people who didn't agree with his point of view.
At the time contributors to the political Blog were discussing a refusal by the Globe and Mail to publish an editorial response by Premier Danny Williams. Williams had written the paper after a column appeared that was very critical of his province. While most people visiting the Blog site thought the Globe should have allowed the Premier to respond, Lono took exception to those expressing that view.
The following is a direct quote from Lono published on the site:
“…This is a snake's nest of hateful venomous neo-nationalist navel-gazing presented by a gang of the NL equivalent of Archie Bunkers who blame the world for their problems and can't figure out why a red-blooded white-skinned proud patriotic NL'er can't get an even break in a cruel and contemptuous world as you sit in your comfy chair, read the Independent, listen to Great Big Sea on the stereo and drink a bottle of Screech in your fisherman's sweater in the big plastic-covered house in the suburbs of Commonwealth Avenue.
It's the same kind of professional NL'er who wears the Pink-White-Green to cocktail parties with your buddies from MUN res - ready to defend the outports but secretly grateful for not living there because it's too far from George Street, the Mall and the LSPU.
Shallow, hollow, empty, negative pseudo-pride with no motivating force of expression other than greedy grasping demands for endless compensation for historical grievance…”.
The tirade and seemingly unstable actions of the Liberal’s new star candidate were further displayed when, after being confronted about his attack and pressured for an apology, by contributors from across the province and around the world, Lono refused to respond. Instead he later quietly deleted every comment he had posted to that point in time, but not until after several quick fingered visitors, and the Blog moderator (yours truly), had time to make copies of his statement.
After Lono decided to run for the Liberal nomination copies of his comments were sent directly to the leadership of the Liberal party and party leader Gerry Reid. To date there has been no response from the party itself however Simon Lono did respond directly via email with the statement, “You’re a fruitloop”.
No doubt about it folks, the future of the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal party is in good hands.
Hello Myles,
ReplyDeleteI think it's a good thing that you've highlighted Simon Lono's arrogant and hateful comments.
I just had a look at his election campaign and was amused to notice that his logo has the Golden Arrow pointing backwards!. How appropriate! What a twat. Let's hope he doesn't get elected.
How low will some people stoop? As far as I am concerned that is as low as one can go as a politician.
ReplyDeleteWhat does this character think he can contribute to politics in Newfoundland and Labrador? I would not want to be in his district.
If that wannabe politicin made those remarks and he wins, we will have voted in a politician who is more anti-Newfoundland and Labrador than any politician that we have ever had.
How do we expect to get ahead with a person who holds so many mythical and stereotypical biases and beliefs about Newfoundlanders and Labradorians? The Great Dane Marg W*n*e of Globe and Mail fame didn't make any statements that were any more derogatory an defamatory than those printed in this blog and associated with that Liberal candidate.
CBC is reporting:
ReplyDeleteA Liberal supporter at a rally in northeastern Newfoundland used the word "fuehrer" to describe Danny Williams on Thursday, prompting the party to move into damage control.
Party supporter Jim Combden, speaking at a rally in the town of New-Wes-Valley, made a crack about how Progressive Conservative cabinet minister John Hickey had threatened to sue critics of his spending.
"[Hickey] said, 'I will sue you if you speak on the open line programs, if you speak on legitimate airwaves, if you criticize my government, if you criticize my fuehrer, I will sue you,'" Combden told the rally, in the Bonavista North district.
Liberal Leader Gerry Reid said the comments were totally inappropriate.
However, he said Combden made an honest mistake and the words just slipped out.
Can you believe this? Between people like this and that Lono character the Liberal party is gone to hell.
People used to question the number of crackpots hanging around the NDP but these days its the Liberals that are attracting all the wingnuts. The NDP look like a viable choice for opposition compared to these yahoos.
Mr. Lono's buddy wrote a piece in the 'Bond Papers Blog" which pretty much defends Mr. Lono's actions. This of course is not unusual since This gentleman and Mr. Lono appear to be in lockstep with most of their ideas. I have noticed that there seems to be a clique, of which these two persons are seemingly in cahoots with.
ReplyDeleteBy the way Mr. moderator, the candidates for the NDP and PC's running in the riding against Mr. Lono's may be interested in that statment of Mr. Lono's which you so kindly have out up on your blog.
hi Anon,
ReplyDeleteCopies of my commentary were sent to the leadership of the Conservative party as well as to many members of the Liberal party and the media.
Thanks for the idea though.
that should be deemed an interesting tidbit by the other parties Patriot, but could prove embarrassing for simon should it see the light of day by the public at large.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I consider Simon to be a bit of a stuff shirt and a blowhard, it would be fun to watch the self imposed king of debasting...errr I mean debating perform verbal yoga to extricate himself from those remarks.
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteSomeone just sent a copy of a comment that appeard on this site a while back and asked if that particular contributor should also be embarrassed by what they said. I suspect the point was to show that I am attacking Mr. Lono while letting others say what they want.
Nothing could be further from the truth and in response, yes whoever posted the comment you sent along should indeed be very embarrassed and ashamed of what they said.
It was because of comments like those and the one from Simon Lono that I put comment monitoring in place on the site.
Also, if you are wondering why I didn't actually publish your submission the reason is simple.
I was initially going to publish it but decided not to because:
A: While it pointed out someone elses lack of character, it did nothing to add or detract from what Simon Lono said. Your submission did not take a stand for or against his actions and did not say anyting about his comments and what they represented.(in other words it did not directly relate to him).
B: Though what you presented to me was a disgusting comment, the contributor left the comment anonymously so we have no way of knowing who they were. As a result, there is no point in rehashing it. Showing a disgusting comment by one contributor does not make a disgusting comment by another any more acceptable.
C: Whoever originally sent that in didn't leave a name and even if they did, I would not necessarily make a point of calling them out on it so publicly as I did with Simon Lono. The reason is that they they are not (as far we know) running for public office the way Lono is. When someone puts themselves up for elected office their character, actions and words are expected to be a matter of discussion and debate and should be.
D:The anonyous poster who left that particular comment (whoever they are) are not asking for the trust and support of many of the same sorts of people they verbally attacked. Lono is.
Im wondering if Mr Lono needs the URL to a good proxy Myles.
ReplyDeleterather disgusting to hear those words come from someone who is running for public office.
It seems Lono not only voted in the nomination process for the Conservatives but he did it in a district he should not have been voting in. With the recent boundry changes he is in another district.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think this guy, who is running for office as well, would at least know which district he's in.
I guess the Liberals really do have a problem with their direction, even their sense of direction. LOL