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It wasn't so much that Sam Sullivan fell out of favour as mayor of Vancouver. He really wasn't cut out for the job in the first place. Before his run for the brass ring in 2005, Mr. Sullivan had spent 12 years on city council without much to show for it. In his many council races, he never finished higher than seventh. There must have been a reason for that.

So when he squeaked to victory over Jim Green in 2005 thanks to the presence of another Jim Green on the ballot, Mr. Sullivan had trouble figuring out what to do. Instead of just getting on with the job, he tried to brand himself with catchy slogans and awkward attempts to resonate with the public, while running a highly partisan administration.

Staff at city hall rarely knew what to expect next. Too often, it was all about Sam doing things for the city, rather than simply doing things for the city. The public became disenchanted.

Even Mr. Sullivan seemed to acknowledge he was, in the words of Councillor Suzanne Anton, “a bit of an accidental mayor”.

“The only reason I'm mayor is because COPE councillors decided to squander their majority on council (in 2005) and split the party,” he said recently. It wasn't enough.

But he'll always have Turin.

WORKING THE GROOM

Some further gleanings from Sunday's shock NPA voting:

Keith Roy, running for one of the party's park board nominations, wasn't around to glad-hand members.

Instead, supporters toted around a blown-up poster of Mr. Roy, looking slightly glazed as bridegrooms are wont to do, and his beaming new bride, Sarah, in a nice white wedding dress. The poster was labelled: “Vote Keith Roy. On Honeymoon.” Thankfully, the pictures went no further.

Incumbent park board commissioner Ian Robertson, meanwhile, got a taste of the nasty side of politics. The affable vice-chair of the board, one of only a few NPA higher-ups to support Peter Ladner for mayor, was assured by Sam there would be no slate voting.

Imagine his surprise when supporters of the mayor handed out a proposed park-board slate after all, and Mr. Robertson's name wasn't on it. He won anyway. It was that kind of day.

And kudos to the inspirational Anti-Poverty Committee. It took a lot of courage for one of their members to dump a pitcher of ice cubes and Coke over the mayor as he sat in his wheelchair. Mr. Sullivan reacted to his cowardly dousing with wit and grace, character traits totally alien to the witless, graceless sloganeers of the APC.

GO FIGURE

Hands up, anyone who understands the preferential-ballot strategies needed this Sunday to determine Vision Vancouver's nominee to challenge Peter Ladner. You, at the back? So what's advanced calculus really like?

IS NOTHING SOCRED?

A fine welcome to B.C.'s newest provincial court judge, Kamloops lawyer Dev Dley. Given that judges are immune from political prejudices, the announcement correctly made no reference to Mr. Dley's steadfast duties as vice-president of the Social Credit Party while it noisily disintegrated under the man who lived by a windmill, Bill Vander Zalm.

Mr. Dley served two terms as vice-president of the Socreds during those turbulent times, just a rank below the plummeting party's appropriately-named president, Hope Rust.

At one point, Mr. Dley was called on to defend a decision to keep Christianity as the only religion recognized in the Socred constitution, a move that drove well-known financial pundit Michael Levy, who is Jewish, out of the party.

Mr. Dley, a Sikh, was not perturbed. “The principles of Christianity are the principles of every religion,” he told clamouring reporters.

But that was long ago. We have faith that justice Dley-ed will not be justice denied.

BELUGA WAILS

Interesting whale songs are emanating from the Vancouver Aquarium this week. For the life of me, they all sound like “Be-bop Beluga, she's my baby.” Go figure.