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Polak campaign manager quits Todd Hauptman says he was driven away by ‘hateful attitudes’ toward gay community Monique TaMMinga Times Reporter
With one week left to go until the provincial election, Langley MLA Mary Polak’s campaign manager Todd Hauptman has quit — explaining that, as a gay man, he can’t continue to feel marginalized by the supporters of her re-election. In a letter to Polak written Tuesday, Hauptman says he has had enough of being made to feel less of a person for his sexuality and feels Polak has had an opportunity to support the gay community but hasn’t. “The very base of voters who will likely help Mary get re-elected in just one week’s time are made up of individuals who hold hateful attitudes towards the community I am a part of,” said Hauptman in his letter. Since he sent his letter out, he hasn’t made any public statements or spoken to any media. Hauptman, 26, who worked for Polak prior to the campaign doing social media work, is well-known in the community for his activism against human trafficking. He has been politically involved since he was 14 years old. He began volunteering with Langley-Abbotsford MP Randy White. Todd There he got to know White’s assistant Tanya Tait, who four years ago Hauptman donated her kidney to Hauptman, giving him a new lease on life. At a press conference Polak held on Tuesday, she said she found out through media accounts that he had resigned. “I can’t say I completely understand it. We’re friends. I care about him very deeply and have to say I feel fairly hurt,” said Polak, who held back tears. Polak said his decision to publicly step down without letting her know came after a meeting she had with him at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, regarding concerns she had about him disclosing campaign strategy to someone who works in rival NDP Andrew Mercier’s camp. “I told him that I wanted him to remain as my campaign manager but that we would have to address the situation of information sharing,” she said. She wouldn’t disclose what was leaked. “Some information has been passed to the NDP campaign as a result of this friendship [Hauptman has],” she said. “Todd is very new to the political world at this level so I don’t think he did it to hurt the campaign,” she stressed. Mercier called Polak’s accusations “absurd” and “ridiculous.” “At no point did we receive a brown envelope labelled top secret. I would question why Mary made such heavy allegations like that and still begged Todd to stay on as her campaign manager,” Mercier said. “It doesn’t make sense to me at all.” Mercier said Langley is a small community and he knows Hauptman to be “a committed Liberal.” continued, PAGE 4
Langley man is accused of tending to Mission grow op TiM FiTzgerald Black Press
Dan FERGUSON/Langley Times
Langley MLA Mary Polak spoke to reporters at her election office Tuesday afternoon (May 7) following the resignation of her campaign manager, Todd Hauptman. Hauptman sent a letter to the media explaining that, as a gay man, he couldn’t carry on working on a campaign that made him feel marginalized.
A Langley man was arrested Friday in connection with what police are calling some of the most state-of-the-art growops ever discovered. The grow-ops were part of a major drug bust in Mission, believed to be linked to the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, spokesperson for the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C., said more than 10,000 marijuana plants at four rural Mission properties were discovered when the search warrants were executed early Friday morning. One of the properties, on the 13000 block of De Graff Road in Mission, was concealed in an underground bunker that was disguised as a horse paddock. “It was like a movie set,” said Houghton. “From the outside it looked exactly like a horse barn.” However, once inside he said the grow-ops were equipped unlike many they have come across in the past. “The resounding sentiment coming from the officers on site, who have as much as 10 and 20 years of experience, is that they’ve never seen anything as sophisticated as this system before. They officers were pretty blown away.” The CFSEU, with support from the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team, the Surrey RCMP, and the RCMP Air Services also raided properties on the 10000 and 14000-block of Sylvester Road, the 12000-block of Dewdney Trunk Road, and another in the 4500 block of 206 Street in Langley. A 34-year-old Langley man, whom police believe to be the caretaker of all four grow-ops, was arrested at that address. continued, PAGE 4
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