Posted on 04/10/2009 7:54:31 AM PDT by Loyalist
NDP candidate Lenore Zann says she was disappointed but not surprised to learn a Liberal campaign worker leaked a nude photo of her to the media.
The photo of a topless Ms. Zann, an actor, was from an episode of the lesbian drama The L-Word she filmed in Vancouver in 2007.
"Everybody warned me before that politics is dirty, that if they cant find something on you, they will make something up, that smear campaigns are quite the norm, which I think is really, really a shame for our democracy," she said in a phone interview from New York on Thursday.
She was there auditioning for an episode of Law & Order.
Ms. Zann, who will be officially nominated Tuesday as the NDP candidate in Truro-Bible Hill, said Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil phoned Thursday to apologize. She accepted.
"He said he was extremely sorry about what had happened and he said he would like to meet with me in person sometime and offer me an apology. So, I said, when I am elected as an MLA and I am in the legislature, we can have that conversation," she said, chuckling.
Ms. Zann, who grew up in Truro, is concerned this kind of incident will discourage others, particularly women, from running for public office.
Meanwhile, the Liberal leader tried to distance himself from the controversy, saying the actions of the Liberal organizer, whom he refused to identify, were unauthorized and unacceptable. However, he said, that person will not be let go because people make mistakes and deserve second chances.
The Liberal leader said he held a campaign meeting at 7:30 a.m. Thursday to make it clear the partys campaign was to be positive.
"They all understand that the behaviour of yesterday will not be tolerated by me as leader of this party and it does not reflect who I am as a person and the values that I brought to public life or to those of . . . the community of Annapolis County," he told reporters at the Liberal caucus office in Halifax.
His comments and tone differed from a statement released Wednesday evening to CBC television from Liberal spokeswoman Glennie Langille, who said the image of Ms. Zann was a "part of the public record."
NDP Leader Darrell Dexter said the Liberal caucus realized the gravity of the mistake by Thursday.
"You should see the email I have received on this," he said. "It is profound and it is outraged. Some of them were obviously from people in the arts community, but many of them were from people who identified themselves, and this is a quote from at least one of the emails that said "formerly supporter of the Liberal party. "
Mr. Dexter said the release of the image was an attack, not only on a talented and respected actor but also on the arts community and the town of Truro.
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) also issued a news release Thursday condemning the Liberal workers actions.
"This is a blatant sexist, personal attack on a worker and one of our members,"" Richard Hard-acre, ACTRA national president, said in the release.
""We are alarmed that someone would exploit an individuals professional performance in an attempt to smear their character for political gain.
"This smacks of censorship and dirty politics."
The candidate in question.
Not the picture in question, but posted for a more objective consideration of guilt or innocence.
A link to the relevant subject matter, unsuitable for audiences of all ages.
Your verdict, gentlemen?
Guilty on all counts!
Is NDP liberal?
What? They didn't make it up, she posed for it, right?
Worse. The NDP (New Democratic Party) is democratic socialist.
NDP government is like chicken pox; you should catch it once so that you never catch it again.
more left wing than the liberal party...basically socialist
Note to Ms. Zann; despite your apparent delusion, very few women have found it necessary to pose naked for pictures in order to further their careers.
Guilty! Hang her.
Ms Zann gets around! Doing a simple image search in Google results in many nude photos.
Further proof that Liberals feel that it is utterly unfair and disgusting to hold them accountable for their past mistakes. They, on the other hand, can hold Conservatives responsible for the mistakes of the guy who briefly lived next door to the candidate’s great-great-great-great-great grandparents’ third cousin, twice removed.
Keithley’s Law: If you can’t get press coverage, uncover.
(Elizabeth Keithley ran for governor of California, on the Peace and Freedom party ticket, She got zero press coverage until she started campaigning in the nude)...
Tell that to the execs at AIG.
Please NO pictures...
Just the rat being his ols loathsome self.
NDP is far left of the centre, the Libs are a little less left of centre, and our Conservatives are at the centre, perhaps slightly to the right. This is my take, using Reagan as the benchmark. I like PM Harper - it would be nice if he could just be a benevolent dictator for a few years.
Looking her up on the IMDB, she was an actress with numerous credits. “The L Word” was not porn, more of a dramedy, mainly a comedy with dramatic interludes. If they accept the idea of an actress as a politician, I can’t see how this would be a problem for her.
However I certainly don’t see how a vidcap can be “leaked” of a television show originally broadcast on Showtime, and now readily available on dvd. It’s been out there since the original broadcast.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0953051/
Poor women of the world, can’t get ahead in politics because of their nekkid pictures.
guilty, with special circumstance of being a moonbat.
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