Not that Cyrus Reporter can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, but here’s a clue about the demands on the former transit commissioner’s time. He’s working for Justin Trudeau’s leadership campaign:
Trudeau representative Cyrus Reporter asks that registration be extended by one week and that the party “engage additional resources” to create a “high intensity phone bank” to contact anyone who has not yet registered.
It’s vital that new supporters’ first experience with the party be rewarding if there is to be any hope of them eventually becoming full-fledged party members, donors or election volunteers, Reporter argues.
“In effect, these new recruits are ‘kicking the tires’ of our party,” he writes.
“Unfortunately, unless action is taken, we will have an unacceptable number of supporters who will not be able to participate in the activity that they have signed up for: voting for our new leader.”
Reporter’s a well-known Liberal apparatchik, so this shouldn’t come as any surprise to anyone, nor is it in itself a problem. I suppose it could have ended up being a bit awkward if Trudeau wins the leadership and Reporter joined the office of an opposition leader while serving on the city’s transit commission, though. Stories today are the first ones I can find in which Reporter has been identified with the Trudeau campaign in public.
This does speak to a fairly uniquely Ottawa problem. Some of the best and brightest minds in town are involved in the federal government in some way and assorted conflicts of interest effectively prevent them from contributing to the community in other ways.
Update: Just read the rest of that second link, incidentally. It also features Liberal apparatchik and future mayoral confidant Brian Guest and Liberal apparatchik and future Walton lobbyist Richard Mahoney.
