Richard Mahoney

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Richard Mahoney (pronounced MAhaney) is a Canadian lawyer, lobbyist, community activist and former political candidate. Mahoney ran for the Liberal Party in the federal riding of Ottawa Centre in the 2004 federal election and again in the 2006 federal election, losing both times. A long-time Liberal insider, closely linked to Paul Martin, Mahoney expected to have an important place in a Liberal government, but was defeated by former NDP leader Ed Broadbent in 2004 and by NDP newcomer Paul Dewar in 2006.

1 Liberal Party Involvement
2 Business and Community Interests
3 Election Campaigns
4 External link
5 References

[edit] Liberal Party Involvement

Mahoney has been a dedicated Liberal for many years. As a youth, he led the Young Liberals of Canada and assisted Prime Minister John Napier Turner and Finance Minister Marc Lalonde. He worked for Paul Martin's unsuccessful 1990 leadership campaign and served as Martin's executive assistant for the next few years. Mahoney was Ontario Liberal Party president during the 1995 Ontario provincial election which the Liberals lost despite leading in polls up to the election. After this election, Mahoney was sent on what he "wryly called 'the Hugh Grant apology tour'" around the province. [1]

A lawyer by profession, Mahoney remained a chief advisor to Paul Martin while Martin was Finance Minister and helped during Martin's successful 2003 bid for the Liberal leadership.

Mahoney's connection to the sponsorship scandal was raised in Parliament on April 2, 2004. [2].

Ms. Caroline St-Hilaire (Longueuil, BQ): Mr. Speaker, this morning's Globe and Mail revealed that the Liberal candidate in Ottawa Centre, Richard Mahoney, has privately confessed that the team of the current Prime Minister discreetly intervened with Jean Chrétien to get rid of Chuck Guité, having known well before the first reports came out in 2000 that the sponsorship program posed a problem.

How can the Prime Minister, who knew about this and is now telling people, “If you know something, speak up”, explain that his people stopped there, and decided to keep the problem a secret, in short, allowed the sponsorship scandal to continue?

Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I have no intention of commenting on gossip or hearsay that is found in some article in the newspaper.

[edit] Business and Community Interests

Mahoney, who moved to Ottawa in the 1980's, lives in The Glebe neighbourhood with his wife, Kathy Mahoney, and their three children. Mahoney was appointed the Capital Ward representative for the Steering Committee on Traffic Calming by Ottawa City Council in 2001.

Mahoney has worked as a senior vice president and paid lobbyist for Borealis Capital, an investment firm that manages part of the $64.4 billion holdings of the CPP Investment Board created by Paul Martin in 1997. He was a director of the Royal Ottawa Hospital's fundraising foundation for seven years. Borealis financed the hospital's public-private partnership. [3]

He sat on the board of the Canadian-American Business Council. He practises business, public, regulatory and immigration law at Fraser Milner Casgrain, working for corporate clients in the telecommunications, broadcasting, transportation, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, high-tech and financial services sectors.

Mahoney has acted as a lobbyist for various clients including Rogers Cable [4].

[edit] Election Campaigns

Originally nominated in 2004 for an impending by-election to replace Liberal Mac Harb, who had been appointed to the Senate, Mahoney and his opponents ended up running in the 2004 Federal election, as it was called prior to the scheduled November by-election date. The race became more difficult for Mahoney when the popular and experienced Ed Broadbent came out of retirement to run for the New Democratic Party. Mahoney's chances were further injured when one of Martin's first acts as Prime Minister was a federal hiring freeze that was unpopular and economically damaging in the riding, filled with civil servants. Conservative candidate Mike Murphy also put in a respectible showing. On polling day, Broadbent defeated Mahoney by over 6,000 votes.

In May 2005, Ed Broadbent announced that he would not seek re-election to the House of Commons. The Ottawa Centre NDP subsequently nominated local teacher Paul Dewar who defeated Mahoney in the January 23, 2006 federal election by more than 5,000 votes.

Mahoney's role as a corporate lobbyist while simultaneously advising the prime minister and hoping to become an MP became controversial. [5] A November 24, 2005 article in the Ottawa Citizen revealed that members of Mahoney's team allegedly violated government guidelines by using government resources to campaign for Mahoney.

Mahoney has been accused of breaking ethical and conflict of interest guidelines [6]. An article in the [7] Ottawa Citizen reported Mahoney successfully lobbied the Liberal government to lower Canadian content requirements for Canadian Satellite Radio prior to obtaining his lobbyist license. A controversy involved a private reception for the Laurier Club (the Liberal party's exclusive club for those who make annual donations of $1000 CAD or more) Mahoney attended at the Prime Minister's residence on September 7, 2005. Although Mahoney claims his office attempted to register him prior to that date, lobbying status was not granted until October 4. Mahoney ascribed the problem to an administrative error, stating "as far as I knew, I was registered." No official investigation was mounted, despite the questions raised.

Mahoney began his winter 2005/6 election campaign by stressing Liberal promises to invest in childcare and early learning with a 1.9 billion dollar investment in Ontario (critics respond that the Liberals previously promised to implement a child care program in each of the 1993, 1997 and 2000 elections but never fullfilled those promises), the Kyoto Protocol (the opposition has pointed out that Canada under the Liberal government has failed to meet its own Kyoto commitments), and local facilities within the Ottawa-Centre riding. During a December 1, 2005 appearance on CTV, Mahoney vehemently contested Federal Conservative leader Stephen Harper's proposal to reduce the Goods and Services tax from 7% to 5%.

Mahoney's controversies, including the misleading automated voice message his campaign sent to thousands of homes on election day 2004 CBC: "Mahoney election-day message questioned", became problematic for his 2006 campaign as Liberal ethics and perceived arrogance became central concerns.