How Controversial...?

Last week on CBC’s Power and Politics one Kory Teneycke accused EKOS Research president, Frank Graves of being biased towards Liberals because of undisclosed donations to Liberal candidates of some eleven thousand dollars in the past decade. Added were accusations of offering advice to the liberal Party. What seems to have brought the issue into the open was this statement by Graves, he apparently told the Globe and Mail that the Liberals: “should invoke a culture war. Cosmopolitanism versus parochialism, secularism versus moralism, Obama versus Palin, tolerance versus racism and homophobia, democracy versus autocracy. If the cranky old men in Alberta don’t like it, too bad. Go south and vote for Palin.” It was not the just this statement that got the Conservatives huffing and puffing, but that Mr. Graves who they say passes himself off as a neutral party appears to be acting in an advisory capacity. He did apologize later for the remarks admitting that they may have been offensive.
Now the Tories I imagine have no problem with partisanship, Graves accuser, Kory Teneycke is a open and vocal conservative, he is paid by CBC to appear as a guest and deliver a conservative viewpoint. Mr. Teneycke’s problem was that CBC pays Graves for his polling, and commentary on the results of said polls. If Graves is a closet liberal operative then it must call into question Mr. Graves punditry. You can't be objective if you gain benefit from an association. The accusation was enough to set the conservative outrage machine into action. All the usual suspects including Ezra Levant and just about all Conservative leaning blogs slammed Graves and of course the CBC for this apparent conflict of interest, ( a two for one, as most conservatives can’t pass up an attack on the CBC.
We have the charge of bias but is it supported by facts. Graves does give money to Liberals in a greater degree that he does to Conservative. So I guess he is a liberal but is he a “Liberal“. Graves is not however a member of the Liberal party. He offered political advice to the Liberal Party in a newspaper interview. I think Ezra Levant would have to agree that Freedom of Speech laws do protect the right of Mr. Graves to talk on many and diverse subjects, though not to be from rebuttal . He is not a paid consultant of the Liberal Party. His company is not retained to do political polling on behalf of any party.
Now we come to the point where we look at some of the facts in our possession and deliver a verdict. What happened here was that Graves has liberal ties, just like the rest of us have connections to various political parties. I am a card carrying Liberal, just so you know and if you disagree with this post you now have a reason why. What caught out graves is the appearance of bias, Teneycke was skillful in his presentation and Graves unprepared to rebut the claim. Having connections does not necessarily lead to bias, keep in mind that it depends on the strength and depth of said association.
We live in a world where people make vast sums of money cheer leading one political side or another. Charles Adler makes money being a conservative talk show host. Kory Teneycke makes money by being a conservative spokesman. It also happens that they are also deeply committed conservatives, interest lines up nicely with proclivity. For others it is not that neat. A doctor might be pro life but will still offer services to those in medical need. A judge may be conservative but still up hold a law they may not like.
For those whose occupations seem to come in conflict with their politics, must be given the benefit of the doubt. We have to say that accusation is not enough, real tangible evidence of malfeasance must be in evident before they can be called to account.