[LINK] "The sorry saga of Eve Adams puts Trudeau’s judgment in question again"

[rfmcdonald]

Kelly McParland in the National Post notes that the failure of Justin Trudeau to secure for Eve Adams, a former Conservative junior minister who defected, a mid-Toronto nomination speaks much about his judgement.

Despite campaigning hard for the nod, Adams was decisively defeated, losing by about 800 votes out of 3,000 cast, after being urged to withdraw by a heckler.

Why such a stupendous gaffe wasn’t evident to the Liberal brain trust remains a mystery. Trudeau would have been better to fire whatever adviser suggested it was a good idea and enlist Colle in his place.

Instead, Colle went to bat for Adams’s rival, Marco Mendicino, a local prosecutor and adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall law school. Adams, he declared, would succeed “over my dead body.” Mendicino has an impressive background, including prosecution of the “Toronto 18” terror group, which gives him excellent credentials to put up against the law-and-order Tories. He also has an extensive record in local community groups. Adams is a career politician who doesn’t live in the riding and only became a Liberal after being rejected by the Tories. She’s engaged to a former Harper strategist who is also on the outs with the party.

Mendicino had the support of former Liberal leader Bob Rae. Adams was parachuted in by Trudeau, despite his pledge of open nomination contests. It didn’t need a rocket scientist to spot the better candidate, yet Trudeau not only turned up for a photo op with Adams, but praised her “commitment to public service.”

The whole unhappy affair underlines the serious doubts that continue to plague Trudeau’s leadership skills, and the judgment of the advisers around him. A political novice could have seen the dangers involved in embracing Adams, which not only contradicted Trudeau’s pledge of open nominations but offended local party officials and opened the door for Trudeau to be criticized by opposition parties as just another cynical opportunistic despite his pledge to practice a new, more honourable form of leadership.