I've already written about how impressed I've been with Ryan Meili's use of technology
(today's the last day of the "money bomb" so if you haven't donated
yet, do it! And if you've donated already, why not donate again?)
Something that's closely related to technology is the idea of openness
and Ryan has demonstrated this in a number of ways.
The openness doesn't just refer to technology but how Ryan utilizes it. As a personal example, when I first expressed interest in
volunteering for his campaign, I was given access to his online project
management software, Basecamp (which I know all of my techie friends swear by.)
I don't think I'm peeling back the curtain too far if I reveal that
this software has sections where authorized users can collaborate on documents,
exchange messages, leave comments and collaborate in various other ways. Ryan's site has sections
dedicated to Policy & Platform, Membership & Fundraising, Event
Planning, Communications and a general area for everything else called
The Lounge. There are sections for To Do lists, Calendars and
Milestones and much more.
Using that platform, the entire Meili team - from lowly volunteers like myself to the candidate himself - are able to work
collaboratively on documents including the development of policy
and platform. Instead of using a traditional hierarchical top-down
management style which I suspect is what some of the other candidates
are using, Ryan uses a much flatter, equitable structure. (And guess
what? This shift in how organizations are run isn't just about Meili vs. Lingenfelter - it's
becoming a reality throughout the world. Toyota famously has four
levels of reporting between the shop floor and the CEO. I'm only
speculating but I would guess that Dwain Lingenfelter's campaign has
more intermediaries between volunteers and the candidate in some
cases! For the Saskatchewan NDP to be successful in the 21st Century, they'll need to make this transition as well.)
As I said, Ryan's openness isn't just about technology or his
organizational structure - it comes through in numerous other ways. His openness in how
he speaks (and listens) to people. His openness to some of the most
disenfranchised people in our society, both within Saskatchewan and
beyond our borders. His openness in his blog posts and his writings about his experiences as a medical student and while doing international development work. His openness also extends to his acceptance of what I (and other supportive bloggers) write without giving us either any direction or criticism whether he may agree with what we're writing or not. The Accidental Jurist speculated in a post I can't find now that Ryan may have included endorsements from "common folk" rather than party elites as a way to pad his list of endorsements but I don't think that's the case - I think that's just Ryan showing his openness in another way with a strong statement that the average person should have just as much of a voice as someone who's an "elite" due to their connections or their position or whatever. (And in what's truly the sign of a leader as far as I'm concerned, the fact that the front runner has recently begun copying this practice of Ryan's shows just how good Ryan is at convincing others of the merits of his ideas. I would expect a "Loonies for Link" Money Bomb to be announced any day now!)
#3 - Ryan's Commitment to Saskatchewan
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Sunday, May 31
Ten Reasons I'm Supporting Ryan Meili - #4 - His Openness
by
Jason
on Sun 31 May 2009 06:16 PM CST
Saturday, May 30
Ryan Meili - The Next Leader of the Saskatchewan NDP!
by
Jason
on Sat 30 May 2009 11:57 PM CST
We're a week away from the Saskatchewan NDP convention and it's hard to believe how far Ryan and his campaign have come in a few short months. From being one of three people all working hard for the second place spot in the minds of voters, I would say that all indications - money raised, number of donors, range of endorsements, Facebook support, etc. - show that Ryan is now firmly in second place. He's still the underdog against the better-funded, better-known front-runner but I think Ryan has a real shot at winning - if not on the first ballot, then definitely on one of the subsequent ones.
I also think the choice is clear - the Saskatchewan NDP can elect a young, dynamic, progressive, inclusive, politically savvy doctor as their leader. Or they can elect somebody who's not. A CBC reporter has observed that a high level source within the Sask Party told her that Premier Brad Wall is more concerned about running against Ryan, "a social democratic doctor leading a social democratic life" than Dwain Lingenfelter who's been in politics for twenty years, the Alberta oil industry for nearly a decade and who is, for lack of a better term, a very traditional politician with all of the baggage and history that comes with that. Brad Wall knows how to compete with Link. I don't know if he knows how to compete with Ryan. Because Ryan takes all of Brad Wall's perceived strengths and trumps them. Youth. Big ideas. Being a nice guy. Then Ryan goes beyond that and brings so much more to the table as well - commitment to Saskatchewan, commitement to some of society's most disadvantaged people, incredible political skills for someone so young. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, Ryan and everybody around him knows they have to get through next Saturday. To celebrate the campaign and to help out people who may be looking to learn a bit more about Ryan, I put together one last video using some pictures Ryan had on Facebook from before he entered the race for leader. It shows a different side of Ryan - his work in Saskatoon, the far north of the province and Africa. There are photos of his family and his fiance. There are photos of his "home 40" near Courval, Saskatchewan and there is even a shot of Ryan as a child with one of his young friends. Enjoy! (Oh, today's also the last day to donate to the Ryan Meili "money bomb" so if you haven't already, why not send in $5 or $10 or $34 to be a part of Canadian political history?) Friday, May 29
Ten Reasons I'm Supporting Ryan Meili - #5 - He's A Doer
by
Jason
on Fri 29 May 2009 06:59 PM CST
Ryan has a long and proven track record of accomplishing big goals at a relatively young age. This begins before any of the things he's perhaps better known for with the fact that he not only completed medical school but earned an award for highest standing in his medical medicine clerkship. I don't want to get into the rumours and innuendo about about education that's coming out in this campaign. But I will state that Ryan is the only candidate who can legitimately be referred to as "doctor". (Actually, I do have something to say about that - I don't care what level of education Deb Higgins may or may not have, you don't become an MLA without having at least some level of intelligence. As much as I'm proud of my own Master's degree, I think too often we get into degree snobbery that does no one any good.)
Anyhow, back to the subject at hand, Ryan has a number of notable accomplishments:
Next: #4 - His Openness Wednesday, May 27
Ten Reasons I'm Supporting Ryan Meili - #7 - He's My Age
by
Jason
on Wed 27 May 2009 08:31 PM CST
I don't know the exact moment when it happened - I know it was somewhere between my 10 year high school reunion (when I was 27) and now (I'm 35). But I started looking around and seeing that my former classmates - both from high school and University - have moved into some pretty prominent roles in society.
Of the 44 people I graduated with in my small Saskatchewan town, there are now engineers, nurses, college professors, teachers, scientists, small business people, computer programmers, magazine editors, geologists and more. One of my best friends from high school is now a psychiatrist (and was the person who gave me the first thumbs up about Ryan when I was debating getting involved with the campaign. They had gone to medical school at roughly the same time - I think my friend was a couple years ahead of Ryan - and he said Ryan was a really good guy, outlining some of the amazing things he'd done.) So when I decided to get involved with Ryan's campaign, the fact that he was my age was a big factor in my decision to support him. It's no small thing that for the first time in my life, I'd be voting for a leader who was more like me than my dad in terms of shared cultural experiences and worldview. I can't find the blog comment where I read it but on the other hand, if he were to win, Dwain Lingenfelter would be the oldest leader ever elected by the CCF/NDP. He's 60 now, he'd be 62 for the next election (closer to 63 actually) and, should the NDP not prevail (which is a distinct possibility with how popular the Sask Party is these days), he'd be 66 going on 67 when the next election rolls around. (In fact, no matter who wins, the NDP will either elect the oldest leader in party history in Link or Deb or the youngest in either Ryan or Yens.) It's funny to hear Dwain Lingenfelter speak of being a candidate of change and renewal when he's currently four years OLDER than the person he'd be replacing! By way of comparison, MJ Coldwell was 43 when he became leader, GH Williams was 40, Tommy Douglas was 37, WS Lloyd was 48, Allan Blakeney was 45, Roy Romanow was 48 as was Lorne Calvert. Ryan will be 36 by the time of the next election and it's a meaningless coincidence but out of all the names on that list, I think it's appropriate that Ryan would be closest in age to Tommy Douglas. A lot of people see his age as a negative but in my view, it's a huge advantage - Ryan hasn't had long years in the Legislature to have the idealism drained out of him. He's not experienced enough to "know" something can't be done like you sometimes hear people say after they've been in a job for awhile. He has the energy and youth to be leader for a long time - as if often the case with NDP leaders (there have been what, 7 leaders in 50+ years?) Even if his inexperience is a weakness as some people think (and I'm not willing to concede that), when you look at who's endorsing him, he'll have no shortage of experienced political veterans around him. And with how he's run his campaign in such a positive manner, I have little doubt that most people - MLA's and others - who are currently supporting other candidates would line up behind him. I'm fairly certain the same can't be said for Dwain Lingenfelter. Next: #6 - His Use of Technology
Dwain Lingenfelter Gets One More Prominent Endorsement?
by
Jason
on Wed 27 May 2009 07:36 AM CST
I knew that our campaign was the positive campaign but I didn't realise the scope of this good vs. uhm, not quite as good contest until I logged into Facebook this morning and saw the following:
 (Seriously, I knew that Link padding his Facebook page with hundreds of non-Saskatchewan residents from his wife's home country would come back to haunt him somehow - I just didn't know it would be a Biblical level of reckoning!    ) Oh, and just so this post has a bit of real content, here's a link to a recent analysis of Facebook trends by the Accidental Jurist. I'm off to CLA in Montreal for a week as of today so I don't have time to do it. But if anybody wants to wade through all 666 of Link's Facebook fans to try and count how many are identifiable as belonging to a Saskatchewan network or otherwise known to be Saskatchewan residents and compare that with a similar analysis of Ryan's 495 supporters, that would be interesting to see if there's been a change when I first did this count and found Link had about 25% of his support from identifiable Saskatchewan people versus 60% of Ryan's support. Tuesday, May 26
Ten Reasons I'm Supporting Ryan Meili - #8 - He's Run A Positive Campaign
by
Jason
on Tue 26 May 2009 05:01 PM CST
[Edit: It's funny that I tell the story of calling someone else an idiot down below and here I was, originally titling this post "#9" when it was actually "#8". The big difference is I can laugh at my stupidity and admit when I'm wrong.]
When I watched the US election last year, some of the craziest, most outrageous, completely fabricated attacks would be directed at Obama - he's a Muslim, he illegally registered voters via ACORN, he consorts with terrorists - often by his own competitors in the Democratic leadership race before he was even competing for the big prize. Many of his supporters in the blogosphere and elsewhere online would implore Obama to lash out, fight back, do something. But Obama retained his cool - correcting the record when inaccurate accusations were made - but focusing on his own policies and plans for the future rather than getting bogged down in negativity. I keep coming back to the similiarities between Obama and Meili but this is yet another place where the parallels are uncanny. Like Obama, Meili has been relentlessly positive and focused on his own plans and ideas for the future of this province (even as his supporters sometimes aren't as positive as they should be in the face of every fact and every opinion being labeled "negative" or "a smear". I'm on record as calling someone an "idiot" after letting myself get frustrated by these tactics for example. Not nice and my mother is probably not proud of me for that one - though in my defense, the amount of typos that this person puts forward really does indicate to me that he's...uhm...dyslexically challenged?) Anyhow, there are different elements to a positive campaign besides being upbeat and focused on your own message. For example, it's been a positive campaign in how I've seen volunteers support each other (the anonymous poster who's become posting recipes everytime things threaten to get heated is a perfect example.) It's been a positive campaign in how it's spread a growing message of renewal, potential and excitement across the province - starting in Saskatoon, spreading to the cities and increasingly reaching out to rural areas as evidenced by Meili's release of an arts & culture policy for rural Saskatchewan today. And it's been a positive campaign in that there have been no major scandals, problems or issues showing that Meili is a strong leader with good people around him. (And I'm sure that someone will yell "that's a back-handed, slanderous, negative attack about Dwain Lingenfelter. To which I reply with this!  )Accidental Jurist has a very insightful analysis of another way that Ryan doing something in a positive manner. His most recent releases don't just reiterate policy statements but frequently include statements from outsiders giving strong indication that some of the groundwork for implementing these policies has already begun. Next: #7 - Ryan's Age Monday, May 25
Money Bomb For Ryan Meili
by
Jason
on Mon 25 May 2009 11:00 PM CST
I'm taking a one-day break from the "Top 10 Reasons I'm Supporting Ryan Meili" series of posts to promote a really cool idea. Last night, Ryan Meili's campaign announced that it was launching a "Money Bomb".
If you're not familiar with the concept, the term money bomb originated in the last US election as a unique way to combine fundraising with the social networking aspect of the Internet. The first "money bombs" were in support of libertarian Republican candidate, Ron Paul, whose had huge supporter among the online community. His supporters would pick a single day, often tied to a notable historical event such as the Boston Tea Party or Guy Fawkes Day and encourage everyone to donate a certain figure on that date. The combination of the viral power of the Internet to spread the meme combined with the support of people looking for a non-mainstream candidate and the ability to not just be a single donor but to feel like you're a part of something bigger meant that Paul (and later moneybombs in favour of Barack Obama and others) raised millions of dollars. Dr. Meili's goals are much less grand - though I'm sure he wouldn't turn down a million dollar donation if someone offered.  For his moneybomb, he's asking people to support him by donating $34 (or $3.40 or $340) anytime between now and the end of May. Why 34? I forgot to mention it in my last post about his baggage but one of the criticisms of Meili is that he's too young and inexperienced. But as his press release about the moneybomb states, he's actually older than some of Canada's most notable politicians (including Saskatchewan's own Roy Romanow) were when they moved into high level government positions of great responsibility. So here's what I'm asking you to do: 1) if you think Medicare, a Bill of Rights, an Arts Board (plus all the other CCF/NDF firsts - scroll down on this page for a full list) as vital elements of Canadian society and want to see what another progressive socialist NDP leader in Saskatchewan could do, please give to the Meili moneybomb. (You don't have to be in Saskatchewan to do so - supporters across Canada and indeed anywhere there's an Internet connection, can participate. I'm looking at you, former library school classmates scattered across the country!) 2) if you love the Internet, memes, social networking and its ability to make the world, a smaller, more connected, better place, please give to the Meili moneybomb. 3) if you believe that the underdog can defeat the front-runner, please give to the Meili moneybomb. ...then, to make it truly successful, share this blog post or better yet, the Facebook page for the moneybomb with your friends. If a young guy named Sean Tevis can use the Internet to raise over $100 000 to launch a well-funded campaign against his better-known, better-funded opponent in Kansas, we can do the same here in Saskatchewan! (This is also perhaps the first-ever moneybomb in Canadian politics - yet another reason to participate.) Here's the full text of the press release about the moneybomb: The Ryan Meili Moneybomb: A Message from David Forbes, MLA It’s been a great campaign so far. Relatively unknown outside of Saskatoon and Courval when he declared, Ryan has been impressing people from across Saskatchewan. He’s been inspiring New Democrats in communities throughout the province, reminding them why they became New Democrats in the first place. And he’s scaring Brad Wall – which can only be a good thing. According to CBC’s Stefani Langenegger: "Brad Wall would rather run against Dwain Lingenfelter than Ryan Meili, a social democratic doctor living a social democratic life" Ryan and our whole team have been running a vigorous and effective campaign. We’ve earned the respect and support of New Democrats from every corner of the province and every part of the party. We’ve shown the value of the internet and new technology as campaign tools. According to Alberta political scientist Dr. Chanchal Bhattacharya: “Three of the campaigns are using the internet like it’s still 2000. Despite very limited resources, Meili is effectively using Web 2.0 social media like YouTube and Facebook to reach new voters and energize existing ones. It’s a 21st century Saskatchewan campaign.” It’s been a great campaign, but money is still the lifeblood of any political campaign. Ryan and our team have done well to this point, but we estimate that we need another $20,000 to see us through to the convention on June 6. So I’m asking for your help. I’d like you to give $34 to the Ryan Meili Campaign before May 31, 2009 Why $34? Ryan Meili is 34! I mention this because lot’s of people keep talking about Ryan’s youth – and he is the youngest candidate. But he’s still 34. That’s one year older than Ed Schreyer when he became Premier of Manitoba. That’s three years older than Roy Romanow when he became Deputy Premier and Attorney-General of Saskatchewan. If every one of you could dig deep and give us just $34, we’d have more than enough money to see this through to the convention – and maybe even a little left over. Just $34. And if you can afford to give more than $34, that’s fine too. We’ll accept donations of $340 or $3400. We’ll accept donations of $3.40 if that’s all you can afford. Give what you can. (Please note that the maximum donation in this leadership race is $5,000, so we can’t accept anything more than that.) If you can give $34 or $340 or $3400 or only $3.40 you have three ways to do it 1. Go to http://ryanmeili.ca/donate to make a secure online donation through our PayPal account 2. Mail a cheque payable to “Ryan Meili Campaign” to Ryan Meili Campaign, 338 Avenue F South, Saskatoon SK S7M 1T2 3. Call the campaign at 306.370.4334 and, if possible, we will try to arrange for someone to pick up your donation And whatever you give to support the future of our party . . . Thank You! Sunday, May 24
Ten Reasons I'm Supporting Ryan Meili - #9 - He's Got Very Little Baggage
by
Jason
on Sun 24 May 2009 08:13 PM CST
One of Dwain Lingenfelter's greatest assets is also one of his greatest weaknesses. He's been a part of Saskatchewan's political scene from 1978 until 2000 when he moved to Calgary to become an executive with Nexen Oil. That's given him a great deal of experience in both politics and business during the past 30 years. But it also means he has a long track record which will provide endless opportunities for opponents to seek out inconsistencies, mis-statements and other scandals, both public and private over a period of time equal to the time period when most people are considering retirement. And of course, the Sask Party has already had a giant headstart at making political hay out of the Waterhengate Scandal in what you know will be the source of many Sask Party attacks in the 2011.
Being both relatively young and new to political life, Ryan Meili has very little baggage that he will carry, should he become leader. He was arrested during a peaceful protest at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001 but he received an absolute discharge and the conviction was erased from his record after one year. And based on what I heard Meili's campaign received in donations after the arrest hit the news, there are a lot of people out there who are impressed by his willingness to be arrested for his convictions rather than being troubled by it. I've seen the attack quoted below about Ryan pop up in a couple places lately and have my suspicion that it's being put out by the Lingenfelter campaign since Yens Pedersen (directly) and Deb Higgins (I know I've seen this hinted at indirectly - perhaps in a blog comment somewhere - but I can't find a link to confirm) have each talked about being smeared by Lingenfelter callers. "You have to remember that the fill-in doctor bought his first NDP memberships 8 months ago...big commitment to the NDP! People should also know that his entire family is one big collection of Conservatives...his father usd to be one of Grant Devine's key organizers in Thunder Creek. Nobody needs any lessons from him about the future of the NDP!" First off, "fill-in doctor" is so laughable as an attack for somebody who willingly chooses to go to rural Saskatchewan to give the over-worked doctors in those communities badly needed time off (and continues to do so even as he runs his campaign) that I won't even address it. Second, Ryan freely admits that he first became a member in 2001 but I guess "eight years" is the same as "eight months" if you're trying to marginalize someone's involvement in the party. (Maybe Ryan needs to introduce some funding into dyslexia research as one of his first initiatives?  )Still, no matter how long he's been a member whether it's eight months, eight years or since 1978, the reality is that he's lived in the province for the majority of the last eight years and would obviously have been aware of (and on occasion has been directly involved in) various political activities within the province. On the other hand, did Dwain Lingenfelter keep his membership up while he was living in Alberta for the past eight years? (That's yet another little piece of baggage that the Sask Party will hammer him on - I mean, they changed their name to include the word "Saskatchewan" to get away from their own troubled past!) And finally, as for having conservatives in the family, all I can say is that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Don't the people making the attacks know that Dwain Lingenfelter's own son has rejected the NDP and even attended the 2006 Sask Party convention causing Brad Wall to gloat "Maybe it's time to put some cats into Mouseland?" From the article: "Also in attendance was Travis Lingenfelter, the 18-year-old son of former NDP deputy premier Dwain Lingenfelter. He said his father's party does not appeal to him "Lorne Calvert took over an economy that had a surplus and turned it into a deficit," he said. 'That just can't happen if we want youth to stay in Saskatchewan. We need jobs.'" In fact, if I had to compare the parents of Meili being Conservative supporters in the 1980's with Lingenfelter's son being a Conservative supporter now, I would go so far as to say the latter is much worse. If Ryan's parents supported the Conservatives in the 1980's - guess what? So did most people in rural Saskatchewan. It was a time of massive Conservative majorities after all and the promise of a new hot tub via the Devine home improvement plan was pretty hard to resist! But Link's son, having spent a lifetime in the party and presumably having had a mostly urban upbringing, has still chosen to support the Sask Party in defiance of his father. I can't help but think of Dion Tchorzewski, son of NDP icon Ed Tchorzewksi, who has talked about literally being raised in the party and because of this, having the NDP be as much of who he is as anything else that defines him. Next: #8 - Ryan's run a positive campaign. Saturday, May 23
Ten Reasons I'm Supporting Ryan Meili - #10 - He's Soft Spoken
by
Jason
on Sat 23 May 2009 08:38 PM CST
Back when I
first started blogging regularly about the NDP leadership campaign, I
had a loyal reader named Kent (who I'm 98.3% sure is Kent Lindgren who recently endorsed Dwain Lingenfelter.)
At the time, Kent took issue with oh, pretty much every single thing I said (a tactic I'm increasingly seeing from Lingenfelter supporters not only only my blog but on other blogs, message boards and even the candidates' Wikipedia entries as well. It's like some Link supporters simply can't concede any points to any of the other candidates. In fact, I'm tossing around the idea of a blog post around some of the Lingenfelter campaign and supporters' tactics as I find that this is perhaps one of the biggest underlying philosophical differences between the Lingenfelter campaign and those of the other three candidates.) Anyhow, as penance for making a mistake about the Google Maps mash-up on Dwain Lingenfelter's campaign web site in a post back then (I thought it was misleading on purpose, it turned out to be a fairly major usability issue instead), I wrote a list of "5 Reasons Dwain Lingenfelter Would Make A Good Leader for the NDP". I challenged Kent to do a similar list for Ryan Meili but even though he kept posting increasingly trollish comments until I finally refused to respond to him, he never did write that list. I still feel the list of five reasons I gave for why Link would make a good leader stand. But in my opinion, the Waterhengate scandal has superseded all of these reasons and, should Lingenfelter triumph on June 6, I will have a really difficult time supporting him as leader. (I know I'm not the only person to feel this way - I've heard from new and long-term NDP members as well as supporters for each and all of the other candidates who feel similarly.) Anyhow, with two weeks left in the leadership race I thought I would do a companion series to my "Five Reasons Link Would Make A Good Leader" post. Over the next couple weeks, I'll write a series of posts listing "Ten Reasons I'm Supporting Ryan Meili for NDP Leader" (and using some of the Link supporters' logic, this will obviously mean that Meili is twice the candidate that Link is! )Reason #10 - He's Soft-Spoken In one of my first posts about Ryan Meili, I wrote about the many parallels I saw between Ryan and Barack Obama. (See the comments in that thread for the type of reaches and equivocations that the Lingenfelter campaign and its supporters are increasingly targetting at Ryan as they see him as more and more of a threat.) Now obviously, this isn't a perfect analogy but just as Obama never resisted too strongly when anyone compared him to JFK or Abraham Lincoln, a comparison like this can be a useful shorthand for the type of candidate someone is, what they stand for and/or how they're attempting to go about achieving their goals. One of the most obvious differences between Obama and Meili is their respective techniques as orators. Obama is pretty much unparalleled in modern politics with his ability to connect with and inspire a crowd. Meili is not nearly as accomplished as a speaker and I admit that, as someone who was hoping to find an Obama-esque figure in this leadership race, this was a disappointment for me the first couple times I heard Ryan speak. But as I began to realise that the person I chose to support didn't need to be (and really, shouldn't be) an exact clone of Obama, I began to see that Meili's style of speaking - quiet, thoughtful, but with a healthy dose of humour - had the potential to be as much of a benefit to his campaign as anything else he had to offer. Why? Simple. Because when Ryan speaks, you have to lean forward to listen to him. Can you imagine a Legislative session where, instead of having the Sask Party and the NDP leaders shouting at each other like kids in the sandbox, you have someone like Ryan leading the debate - where there is a focus on nuance and logic instead of hectoring and scoring cheap political points? (Well, Ryan's campaign theme is "Dream Big" after all!  )The other thing that's brought his soft-spokenness home as an advantage is seeing how Ryan interacts with people at events - he doesn't intimidate people, he draws them in. It's a silly, insignificant detail but when he met my eighteen month old son at an event, Ryan took a moment to get down on Pace's level and spoke to him quietly for a moment, eliciting a big smile from my son. Everything else I'd learned and heard about Ryan up to that point made me want to support him. But with that small gesture, I was sold that Ryan was the candidate I was going to support as fully as possible for the rest of this campaign. Next #9 - He Has Very Little Baggage Thursday, May 21
Anybody remember Dwayne Wayne? - Playing The Name Game with Lingenfelter and Meili
by
Jason
on Thu 21 May 2009 06:43 PM CST
When I first met Ryan, I made a special effort to take note of how his last name was pronounced ("Meili" rhymes with "smiley" - easy!) and I thought it was a silly thing but that his surname might be a slight barrier in his campaign. As a relative unknown (at least when the campaign began) I thought there was a danger that people wouldn't be able to pronounce his name or would mis-spell it. (Although to be fair, if the NDP can elect a Romanow, we can elect a Meili!)
In retrospect, one of the funniest things in this campaign for me is seeing that most people spell Meili right and it's actually Dwain Lingenfelter's first name that causes people the most problems! I can't find it now but there was an article in a Calgary paper (not one of the biggies - it looked like a community newspaper) that was about "Dwayne Lingenfelter" (who?) Even among people who claim to be his biggeest supporters in CBC comments and on blog posts, I've seen "Dwaine", "Dwayne", "Duane" as well as the correct "Dwain". Wow - a mis-spelling even made it into the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan! Save our province from the embarrassment of having a leader who's name no one can spell - vote Ryan Miley!  |
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