Salivating sycophant on line six!

The rough and tumble world of BC talk shows has claimed another victim today. As a Liberal party appointee has "decided" to resign his position, after being called out over disguising his identity as he lobbed a soft ball question to Premier Campbell on M Television.

Prem Vinning, who was supposed to start work as an aide to the Premier for Asian trade, instead found himself at the centre of a bit of a tempest, after he called up and identified himself as Peter from Surrey, he with a kind comment and a set up question on trucking for Campbell.

Peter, er Prem lauded the government on it's transportation policy and set the table for Campbell to happily rattle on about his current transportation plans. But Peter, er Prem apparently has a very distinctive voice and is a well known player in the political scene of Vancouver, so it didn't take long for folks to connect the dots.

Joy McPhail confronted him later that evening at a social function, but he never fessed up to the ruse until the numbers of those with suspicions began to grow. Realizing that he'd been outed if you will, he decided (perhaps with a bit of assistance!) that the only honourable thing to do would be to turn down the Premier's job offer. The Premier expressed the usual words of surprise at the situation, said he regretted Vinnings error and believe he took the proper action by resigning. He did say he didn't recognize Vinnings voice (perhaps making him the only in BC politics who didn't, but blamed technical problems at the time claiming it was hard to hear any of the callers, though the situation didn't stop him from launching into a selling job of his policies.

And so another political hack learns a valuable law of survival in BC Politics. Take on the airwaves at your own peril. British Columbians love their talk radio and television, it's almost an art form in the province. From the days of Jack Cullen to Jack Webster, through Rafe Mair and Bill Good, talk talk, and more talk makes the province go round.

Say a wrong thing, or get found out in a lie on a talk show and for all intents and purposes your career is over. That could be why both Liberals and NDPers use folks at an arms distance, to stack their calls and flood the lines with comments congratulatory or caustic.

Peter, er Prem's mistake was a simple one, he forgot to delegate. Perhaps he felt he could get away with the ruse by calling up the show on M, a step above your run of the mill cable TV local content but light years away from the big leagues of Good or Mair. But as we said BC residents love their talk shows, even the ratings cellar dwellers have their fanatics, who of course all are close to a telephone. Word spreads fast, ask Peter, er Prem he now knows firsthand what fate awaits those who dare to fabricate over the air!