NDP MLA dismisses allegations

By Mia Rabson

NDP MLA Conrad Santos has dismissed allegations he improperly signed up members in the Wellington riding.

Santos, who is being challenged for the right to represent the NDP in his North End riding, was curt Tuesday when asked whether it is true that at least 10 of the members he reported to have signed up for the party didn't actually pay for the memberships themselves.

That goes against party rules and makes the memberships invalid.

"Let the accuser prove it," said Santos, when approached as he left the legislature chamber Tuesday. "I'm not discussing that."

The accusation was lodged with the NDP from the campaign team of Joe Chan, former assistant and longtime advisor to Winnipeg city Coun. Harvey Smith. The team has signed declarations from 10 people on Santos' membership list who say they never paid money for a membership.

The accusation came after Chan was informed by the NDP executive it wouldn't ratify him as an NDP candidate if he won the race because of fears his past could embarrass the party during a campaign. He was sent a letter to that effect last week.

Chan used to be the co-owner of a computer company that was charged and convicted of putting child pornography on the Internet. Chan himself was never charged and has since resigned from the company.

Chan said yesterday he did have a chance to argue his case before the party executive but said he knows the executive made up its mind before that meeting ever took place.

Rolando Luna is on the Wellington NDP membership list, and appears to have been signed up by Santos. But Luna told the Free Press he never paid any money to become a member. He said he was approached to give Santos his support, and said he would, but no money exchanged hands.

"They didn't ask me to buy anything," said Luna.

NDP secretary Wayne Copeland said the party is investigating the accusations and will contact all the members in Wellington to verify their memberships were sold properly.

"We're checking our list," said Copeland. "We'll go out and visit people and ask if they paid for their membership."

Copeland said the investigation is being done over the next couple of days. Time could be of the essence as Premier Gary Doer may call an election as early as Friday.

Copeland said there are between 400 and 500 members in Wellington right now.

Memberships are critical to nominations because only party members in a particular riding are eligible to vote in the nomination battle, and usually you vote for the candidate who you bought a membership from. Hence, the more memberships sold, the more votes you get.

Chan said yesterday he will throw his support -- including the votes of the members he signed up -- behind candidate Angie Ramos, a Filipino community leader.

Also in the race are Rod Cantiveros and John Cardoso. No date has been set for the nomination vote.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca