An email popped up in my inbox the other day from a New Westminster politician asking to get together for coffee.
I politely declined.
It’s not that it’s unusual to meet with local politicians who want to discuss issues, but the fact is I have an unfortunate conflict of interest that means I will no longer be writing about or dealing with New West civic politics for the Record.
I say unfortunate because it’s an election year (please tell me you know this) and there is lots going on in regards to New West politics.
But I won’t be a part of it and I want to be upfront about why in this public forum.
The reason is that I only very recently found out that my brother Jason Campbell was getting involved in Community First, a new civic party in New West.
I wrote a column recently that didn’t promote Community First, but instead simply speculated about if a supposed rift in the left in New West would create opportunities for the New West Progressives party.
At the time I wrote this column, I had no idea that my brother was going to be involved in Community First. Days after the column appeared online, Jason called me to give me the news and then, on Thursday night, he was formally elected to the executive of Community First.
I will say again that this was a total surprise. While my sister-in-law Ruby Campbell ran for the BC NDP nomination in New West in 2021, and is mulling a possible run for a civic seat this year, my brother hadn’t expressed to me before that he wanted to jump into local politics on an official level. We usually just argue about my beloved Boston Red Sox and his support for the dreaded New York Yankees. Or he updates me on my awesome niece.
But now he has decided to get into politics and this means I have to make changes in my role as editor of the Record. (It should be noted that if Ruby decides to run for council, I would have made this same decision.)
First, I will no longer be writing stories or opinion columns about New Westminster council and the upcoming civic election.
Second, I will no longer be involved with the assignment, editing or layout in print of anything involving the civic election.
Instead, the Record’s crack duo of reporter Theresa McManus and assistant editor Julie MacLellan will be handling all of these stories independent of me. They will decide what stories will go in the paper and online on this topic, and how they are presented.
Now this won’t stop some people from trying to make hay of the situation if they see an election story they don’t like, but I’m stating right here that my integrity isn’t worth trading for anything. I would never try and influence my staff to write something to benefit my family - nor would Theresa or Julie even put up with me attempting this.
I have full trust in Theresa and Julie to continue covering New West politics in an unbiased way. Any assertions to the contrary would be an insult to their fierce commitment to journalistic principles.
If anyone has questions or concerns, you can email me at [email protected].
