I apologize for the delay in responding for requests to access the article. I copy/ pasted the article from the Vancouver Sun, reprinted in the Nelson Daily News, Feb 1, 2001.
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Jay’s Liberal nomination denied because of criminal record, says Vancouver Sun:[Final Edition]
Rick Ouston. Nelson Daily News. Nelson, B.C.:Feb 1, 2001. p. 1 / FRONT
Abstract (Summary)
[Doug Jay] put his name forward as a prospective candidate to contest the riding of Nelson-Creston in the next provincial election under the B.C. Liberal banner. Kelly Reichert, executive director of the Liberal party, told The [Nelson, Gary Exner] Daily News in December that Jay was turned down by the party’s candidate selection committee which decided he “did not not meet our standards.” He would not elaborate.
A profile of Jay in the Nelson Daily News shortly before the city’s last civic election in November, 1999, said “Jay graduated from university in 1993” and that he found it difficult to find work, “even with a degree.”
Photo: Rick Ouston, The Vancouver Sun / A Nelson city councillor with hopes of rising to provincial politics failed to pass a screening test with the B.C. Liberal Party after the party learned of his criminal record, The Vancouver Sun has learned. ;
Full Text (1169 words)
(Copyright NELSON DAILY NEWS 2001)
A Nelson city councillor with hopes of rising to provincial politics failed to pass a screening test with the B.C. Liberal Party after the party learned of his criminal record, The Vancouver Sun has learned.
And although his community has been told he has a university degree, a check with his putative alma mater shows no such degree, and no credentials of any type.
His name is Doug Jay, and in 1987 he pleaded guilty to assaulting a Nelson resident with a noxious substance, court records show.
Jay also defied a court order to stay away from the assault victim before she could testify, and he was fined $150 after being found guilty of failing to abide by a court order.
For the assault, Jay was given a conditional discharge and placed on six months probation.
Jay refused to discuss his past when contacted by The Sun, and would not speculate on why the Liberal party would not accept his candidacy.
Asked why he was denied party support, Jay said: “Oh, probably something to do with a difference of opinion with regards to electability.”
He said he had divulged all of his background to the party, but would not reveal what he had disclosed.
Files held by the Nelson B.C. Supreme Court show that Jay pleaded guilty in 1987 to the charge of assaulting a young woman with a noxious substance.
Court records released by the Nelson court registry do not give any further information on his crime. When he was charged with the assault, Jay gave an undertaking on Nov. 23, 1987, to a Justice of the Peace that he would “have no contact, either directly or indirectly with the complainant…”
But later that same day he was charged with breaking the terms of his undertaking by contacting the young woman, records show.
Jay was released on bail of $1,000 with orders to:
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Undergo counselling when ordered;
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Report to a bail supervisor three times a week;
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Refrain from travelling within 300 metres of L.V. Rogers High School.
Jay pleaded guilty to the assault and was given a discharge with the conditions that for six months he would report to a probation officer and attend counseling as ordered. He was found guilty of breaking the no-contact order and was fined $150.
Shortly after The Sun began researching Jay’s background in the Nelson courthouse registry, assistant registrar Vivian Hedrich denied the paper’s request for access to the complete court file which contains an account of the trial and a transcript of Jay’s sentencing.
Hedrich said she had to decline access to the records because she had been told a lawyer in Nelson would be applying to the court for a ban on publication on anything to do with the trial. She said she did not know which lawyer was making the application, or for whom the lawyer was acting.
The application for a publication ban was scheduled to be heard today, she said.
“The reason for it (the application for the ban) being the victim at the time was a very young person,” she said.
Chief Constable Ron Brock of the Nelson City Police said privacy laws prohibited him from talking about the case.
“I’ve already spoken to our lawyers about this issue” and was told he couldn’t legally discuss the case, Brock said.
Jay put his name forward as a prospective candidate to contest the riding of Nelson-Creston in the next provincial election under the B.C. Liberal banner. Kelly Reichert, executive director of the Liberal party, told The Nelson Daily News in December that Jay was turned down by the party’s candidate selection committee which decided he “did not not meet our standards.” He would not elaborate.
Party president Andrew Wilkinson, a Vancouver lawyer, told The Sun that:
"We’ve had a few of these events where people come to us and aren’t accepted as candidates and we don’t release any information as to why.
These people bring us information in confidence and it’s strictly up to them whether they want to make that information public."
If anyone wants to know why the Liberal party has rejected a candidate, “We say: ;You have to ask them.’,” Wilkinson said.
Jay would not consent to a formal interview with The Sun. He currently works as a financial advisor with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Castlegar.
The mayor of Nelson, Gary Exner, is chair of the Nelson City Police Board.
In that capacity, he was told by police that Jay had been convicted but was given no details of the offence, he said in an interview.
Exner also went through the screening process as a potential candidate for the B.C. Liberal party. He said he passed the screening but after undergoing a difficult divorce action this year he was too tired to continue and decided to pull out of the nomination process in January.
Exner said voters have the right to know about the backgrounds of politicians running for election.
“There’s certain things about people, if they’re going to be held up as your leaders and that type of thing, I think they should have a very clean slate,” he said.
“If somebody had a conviction, and now they become a lawmaker, they may not deal with an issue (in) the same manner as someone who hasn’t had a criminal conviction in the past,” Exner said.
Jay was first elected to Nelson city council in 1994 at the age of 27, and has topped the polls in each civic election since then.
A profile of Jay in the Nelson Daily News shortly before the city’s last civic election in November, 1999, said “Jay graduated from university in 1993” and that he found it difficult to find work, “even with a degree.”
The story noted Jay studied political science and history at the University of B.C. spokeswoman Daria Wojnarski checked university records and determined that Jay has no degree.
“He didn’t graduate,” she said. “He has no credentials from here.”
Jay said in a brief interview he never told his local paper he had a degree, but would not comment when asked if he did anything to set the record straight or disabuse his local paper of the notion that he had a degree.
The local newspaper also ran a self-penned description of Jay in which the politician said he had “demonstrated ability to use common sense.”
In 1994 Jay’s name came up in the House of Commons when the Opposition complained that Jay had told friends he was to be appointed to a $280-a-day political appointment as a reward for having worked as assistant campaign manager for a failed federal Liberal candidate. He never did receive the patronage plum, records show.
[Illustration]
Photo: Rick Ouston, The Vancouver Sun / A Nelson city councillor with hopes of rising to provincial politics failed to pass a screening test with the B.C. Liberal Party after the party learned of his criminal record, The Vancouver Sun has learned. ;
Credit: The Vancouver Sun
Indexing (document details)
People: Jay, Doug, Nelson, Gary Exner
Author(s): Rick Ouston
Document types: News; Crime
Section: News
Publication title: Nelson Daily News. Nelson, B.C.: Feb 1, 2001. pg. 1.FRONT
Source type: Newspaper
ISSN: 0832431X
ProQuest document ID: 584074011
Text Word Count 1169
Document URL: proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=5840 … &VName=PQD