Candidate's racy Facebook photos showed 'lack of judgment': B.C. NDP leader

B.C. NDP Leader Carole James says the party's former candidate for Vancouver-False Creek showed a "lack of judgment" over pictures displayed on his Facebook page.

Ray Lam resigned on Sunday over the photographs, one of which showed him palming a woman's breast and another with his pants down and two people pulling at his underwear.

"Ray felt that they were inappropriate. Certainly it shows a lack of judgment, and he made the decision to step down," James said on Monday. "He didn't want it to distract from the campaign, so we are moving on."

James said candidates had been warned something like this could happen, saying even though the pictures were posted on a private page, "once you become a public figure, everything is public."

"I saw the pictures on TV. I thought they showed a lack of judgment. It's his age, you know, we all recognize that, but when you're in politics and you are going to be a public figure, it's important that you recognize that," she said.

NDP responsible, Campbell says

B.C. Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell said the B.C. NDP has to take responsibility for the appearance of the images online.

"This was public information. It was on the NDP website and they have some responsibilities in terms of that. - They were totally inappropriate pictures and the NDP has some questions to answer for," he said Monday while campaigning near Vancouver.

Lam should have realized pictures from his private life, if posted online as part of his Facebook profile, would become part of the public record, Campbell said, adding Liberal candidates undergo a strict vetting process that includes online checks.

Campbell himself is no stranger to the troubles the private lives of politicians can cause their public careers.

In 2003 he fended off demands from the B.C. NDP to resign after he was arrested while on vacation in Hawaii and pleaded guilty to several charges related to driving while impaired.

The NDP has until Friday at noon to nominate a replacement and get the necessary papers to Elections BC in order to have a candidate included on the ballot for the May 12 provincial election.

Charges against off-duty officers recommended

An update to the story posted Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 7:40PM
Surrey B.C. man alleges assault and racial abuse by 3 off-duty police officers

The Vancouver Police Department is recommending charges against two Lower Mainland police officers in connection with an alleged assault on a newspaper deliveryman in downtown Vancouver last week.

A rookie officer from West Vancouver Police Department may be charged with robbery, and a 38-year-old New Westminster police officer was recommended to be charged with assault and possession of stolen property.

A third officer who was with the pair, a 28-year-old from the Delta Police Department, has not been charged.

The names of the two officers would not be released until charges were laid.

The New Westminster Police department said Wednesday afternoon that their officer continues to be suspended with pay. The other two officers had been placed on desk duties.

Firoz "Phil" Khan, a 47-year-old deliveryman from Surrey, was dropping off newspapers to pay boxes and local hotels in the 600-block of Burrard Street in the early hours of Wednesday, Jan. 21, when he was allegedly kicked and beaten by three men.

Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu said six investigators from his department spent the weekend interviewing nine witnesses. They also interviewed Khan at length.

Chu said more investigators than usual were put on the case, and he took the unusual step of meeting with them while the investigation was ongoing.

Hate crime charges are not being pursued, said Chu.

He added that the Delta officer may have been trying to stop the attack.

The attack took place in the presence of a taxi driver who took two of the officers from the Roxy nightclub to the location near the Hyatt Hotel, and two City of Vancouver employees, Meatr Chima and Phil Pilon.

Chima and Pilon say the attack was so brutal they actually feared for the victim's life, not to mention their own.

"I wanted to jump in and get the one guy who was doing the punching off of the victim," said Pilon.

"Justice probably won't be served, I don't think so," said Chima.

"If it was a guy like me who did that to that guy there would be justice served, but against those police officers I doubt it. I think these police officers should look at themselves in the mirror and think of what they've done. I mean this is ridiculous."

Speaking from his Surrey home on Friday, Khan says one of the only reasons he's alive is because the two city workers stopped to help.

He said he had suffered serious injuries to his head and internal injuries after the attack. He also lost a filling and chipped a tooth.

"Thank God there was a lot of city workers that I know that clean the streets in downtown Vancouver," he said.

He fears what would happen if it didn't happen on city streets.

"Just imagine this thing happened on a back lane. I would have been dead and buried."