Now that I have thrown poison darts at Adrian Dix and Christy Clark, let me say something more positive about someone.
As a lifelong observer of BC politics, a political scientist of a decade's standing, and as someone who was a public servant for 5 years, I have reached the reluctant, somewhat boring and no doubt unpopular conclusion, that lawyers generally make better premiers than non-lawyers. They are simply more 'careful' about what they say and do, and in more than just a 'political optics' sense. Getting things done properly in today's world of government, is a highly legalistic exercise.Process is NOT for cheese, folks. It is the basis of nearly all good policy decisions, especially in this Charter era, and good lawyers are naturally good at it.
Furthermore, if efforts at electoral reform continue to fail, and we cannot achieve moderation of government by tinkering with institutions, perhaps we can achieve it by changing the character of the leading decision-makers themselves. Tom Berger and David Vickers are not available, unfortunately, but a couple of pretty good lawyers are.
There are two leading candidates who have discharged the responsibilities of electede office after undertaking reasonably successful law practices. While they are not the only potential candidates who meet these two basic criteria, I think that they are the safest bets among the candidates on offer.
Leonard Krog has been an effective parliamentarian, particularly on the BC Rail file. He has done a little more than De Jong both in his law office and in his family life, which should hold him in good stead.
Mike De Jong has been one of the more solid cabinet ministers, holding down a number of sensitive posts with only a whiff of scandal----he, like Falcon and Clark, was close enough to someone who was close to the BC Rail decisions, and will have some questions to answer.
So, if you want to make a prudent decision, choose someone who makes prudent decisions for a living. Choose one of these two guys.
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