The Rapidly Shrinking Allen Garr

It’s sad, more so than I could possibly find the words to express that the Dean of local media has allowed himself to devolve into a pandering sycophant.

On Friday last, ‘The Courier’ went to print with a column written by Allen, that can best be described as ‘I Need to Back Up Miro Because the Vision Bible Tells Me So’

Not to belabor the point: the piece Allen wrote glossed over what Allen, in the old days, was known for–picking out the one glaring inconsistency in the story and running with it.

He was, of course, writing about the now infamous and largely discredited piece of May 15, penned by the Sun’s Miro Cernetig, wherein he quoted the Gregor Robertson sky-high numbers from a poll produced by Bob Penner, a close friend of the Mayor’s, whose firm Stratcom donated just over $100,000 between 2006 and 2008. An absolutely astounding amount for any company to donate to a local candidate or party.

That kind of stat alone would have been enough fodder for Garr in a whole slew of columns. It did when Sam Sullivan was collecting for his campaigns. Garr was all over those stories. But not now; not when he’s sitting next to Jan O’Brien on the Board of VanCity (after running on her party’s NDP/Vision connected slate). O’Brien is Vision Clr. Geoff Meggs’ wife. And Meggs, the Mayor’s chief of propaganda, is hugely influential in the NDP and Vision largely through his involvement in the greater union movement and is also a pull-no-punches councilor, even going so far as recently “insulting” Bill Good replacement, Mike Smyth, on-air, with a comparison to Fox News’ conservative talk show host Glenn Beck (this is an insult only in super left-liberal circles as most people understand if not appreciate Beck’s straight-shooting style and informative voice).

Regardless, Garr further soiled his perch by glossing over what he considers an accurate piece by Cernetig, but then goes well-beyond such mindless idolatry by actually suggesting that the Mayor’s “agenda” is working and that Vancouverites are buying the chicken coups, cycling fascism and vegetable patches.

Extraordinary isn’t it?

All from one poll conducted by a friend and heavy partisan of the Mayor’s, right after the Olympics, with no details release, Allen Garr is able to surmise such lofty conclusions without doing more than regurgitating what was already in Cernetig’s easily assailable column.

But let me drop a little bomlet to show you that Garr wasn’t always so heavily biased. Go back to my post on the shameless Cernetig piece and re-read the anecdote about Miro being ‘Old Faithful’. Got it? Good, because the reporter that quote came from is none other than Allen Garr.

I tell you it’s sad to watch, but look for a Garr “retirement” announcement in the not too distant future. There is no way the Courier can continue to pretend that Allen’s columns are anything more than free advertising for Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver. He’s completely lost any objectivity and his credibility is now wafer thin. It will cost the Courier, without question (unless Allen goes back to the investigative style that made him a household name).

Having Allen take center-left positions on a whole myriad of issues in the past is one thing (even though he often balanced out well), but to be willfully leaping over major inconsistencies and contradictions in stories related to Vision Vancouver is nothing more than being an advertiser. It does him and more importantly the paper no good. None at all.

If they continue to allow for this kind of shoddy reporting by Garr at the Courier, otherwise good works by Sandra Thomas, Mark Hasiuk and others, will be significantly diluted as Allen’s shameful pandering to Vision hijinks will surely get worse.

Pity.  I always very much liked Allen Garr, even when I disagreed with him. He’s a fun-loving man with a tremendous sense of humor, who loves his family and friends and is VERY giving of his time to all sorts of charitable causes. But in the last couple of years, the deterioration is obvious. There is no longer any balance to his writing. None.

You can read Allen’s latest ode to Vision Vancouver, here.

You be the judge.

And, as always, Allen is welcome here to explain himself.

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