Another episode of let’s get Kash Heed

There is something about Kash Heed that attracts bouquets and brick bats in equal measure.
His supporters say it’s his ambition, confidence and drive to get things done.
Some say it’s because Kash only pays heed to what’s best for him.
Whatever the case maybe, Heed last week became the third consecutive B.C. solicitor general to step down in the last two years.
The shock resignation came as Heed told a press conference that he is under investigation by the RCMP because of an investigation into the finances of his 2009 election campaign.
Heed said he has done nothing wrong, stepped aside to protect the integrity of the Solicitor-General’s office and that he hoped to be back.
The matter at the centre of this probe is a dirty tricks poster campaign designed to show the NDP being weak on crime during the last election campaign where Heed, a former cop, won in his maiden political debut by defeating opponent Gabriel Yiu by about 800 votes in the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview.
Now comes the waiting game as the RCMP tackles the allegations and tries to determine Heed’s involvement, if any.
Heed is no stranger to controversy and fighting perceptions that has dogged his stellar career.
In 1979 Heed graduated from the B.C. Police Academy and began his policing career with the Vancouver police department (VPD). His meteoric rise through the ranks of constable, detective, sergeant, inspector and superintendent had rankled some veterans in the force.
His operational techniques were questioned and his travel expenses and overtime, which ranked him as one of the top earners at VPD, was brought to fore.
Nothing came of this as no one could back up what was nothing more than rumours, innuendo and beer talk.
Heed persevered, headed up the drug squad, the Indo-Canadian gang task force and completed his BA and MA at Simon Fraser University.
In 2007 after Heed lost his bid to become Vancouver’s top cop, he is appointed police chief in West Vancouver and promptly sparks a nasty and needed debate calling for a regional police force.
The Mounties upset at losing the lucrative police contracts in BC and some top Liberals, who will later court him as a “star candidate” refer to his comments as ‘out of line,’ and an ‘unproductive red herring’.
Since then, it has been an open secret that our Federal force has no love for Heed.
Should he be nervous about being investigated by the same force that he has pissed off?
In West Vancouver, Heed’s honeymoon did not last very long.
Two years into his five year contract, Heed quit amidst allegations that he leaked information to a police-board member who worked at the same company as the accused in a child-porn case.
The complaint did not go forward because the Police Act does not apply to ex-officers.
But when you dig down deep into this story, you will find that complaint made by an investigator had lots of assumptions and little in the way of evidence.
Heed was also named as a defendant by two former West Vancouver police officers who have launched a lawsuit in the B.C. Supreme Court saying he sullied their reputation to promote his political aspirations.
The other defendant in this suit is West Vancouver Mayor Pam Goldsmith-Jones, who was also the municipality’s police board chair.
The assertions in the lawsuit against Heed are thin.
As he quit the West Van job to run for politics, the NDP took aim at Heed for accepting $40,000 cash in severance pay even though under provincial law, officials who retire voluntarily aren’t entitled to it.
Again this was a hack job aimed at discrediting Heed who was paid according to his contract and the three-month notice he had to give.
We can’t be sure what will come out of the latest salvo against Heed.
But it’s likely that it will be another failed episode of Lets get Kash Heed.