irwinloy

Read into this what you will.

The only three park board hopefuls to publicly back Peter Ladner all received nominations and the gold ticket to run under the NPA banner this fall. That's despite the fact Sullivan supporters had circulated a list of preferred candidates that rather noticeably left off the only incumbent NPA commissioner from the ballot: Ian Robertson, a Peter Ladner backer.

Earlier in the day, the move had left Robertson in a quiet huff, wondering aloud if he would have to debate running as an independent this fall - not an enviable task in party-centric Vancouver.

"The only conclusion I can draw is that I’ve been put in the penalty box for a timeout because of [my support for] Peter Ladner,” Robertson said earlier in the day.

Robertson ended up receiving the most votes of any park board hopeful, but he cited the apparent slight from the mayor's campaign as a reason why he supported Ladner.

"There were some things going on today that I would say were a little bit suspect," he said. "... Clearly that was being punitive.

"Peter never engaged in that type of tactic."

Former park board commissioner Chris Richardson, who was on the apparent Sullivan-endorsed slate, notched enough votes for second place. Ladner-backers Laura McDiarmid, also a former commish, and newcomer Sharon Urton rounded out the group.

Apart from the mayoralty nominee and park board, all other civic NPA nominees were acclaimed.

City council incumbents Suzanne Anton, Kim Capri and Elizabeth Ball will be back for another election. They will be joined on the NPA slate by current park board commissioner Korina Houghton and newcomer Michael Geller.

School board incumbents Ken Denike, Carol Gibson and Clarence Hansen were all acclaimed, as was newcomer Sophia Woo.

The NPA will fill out the other half of its slate in the fall.

Tags: vancouver, peter ladner, politics, npa, sam sullivan, ian robertson, npa