A New Democratic Party candidate knocked on Martyn Brown鈥檚 door the other day.
In the old days, that would be the equivalent of a little Ewok meeting up with Darth Vader. The old Martyn Brown would have lasered him up one side and down the other.
But Martyn Brown 2.0 鈥� who rolled out last summer and has been going strong ever since 鈥� is a completely different person.
In Brown鈥檚 telling of the encounter 鈥� in a newspaper column he has been writing regularly 鈥� the NDPer 鈥渟eemed like a fine individual, earnest and obviously deeply motivated to make a positive difference in public office.鈥�
Elsewhere in the 鈥淚n Praise of Public Service鈥� piece, he mentioned specific New Democrats in favourable terms.
There are sa国际传媒 Liberals who literally cannot believe their eyes when they read Brown these days, and compare him to the ruthless partisan operator he was for most of his previous life.
What happened to the guy who once chewed out a bunch of young Liberal staff members for being too friendly with their NDP counterparts? What happened to the boss who left the impression they鈥檇 be fired if they didn鈥檛 stop fraternizing with the enemy? Is this the same guy who once engineered a dismissal of a new government hire because of NDP links?
That was all part of the hard-driving persona that made him so successful over more than 20 years in politics.
He first made a name for himself in the early 1990s as the Social Credit caucus research director, in charge of finding mud to sling at the NDP government during question period. Brown was the last person out the door when the Socred caucus finally collapsed, moving over to the sa国际传媒 Reform Party as a caucus worker, strategist and spokesman.
He did a spell later with a citizens group fighting aboriginal title claims. It wanted to force a referendum on the Nisga鈥檃 Treaty. Then he signed up with the sa国际传媒 Liberals and became then-Opposition leader Gordon Campbell鈥檚 top adviser.
He retained the title when they won the 2001 election and held it 13 years, almost to the end. He parachuted into a deputy minister鈥檚 gig shortly before Campbell announced his resignation. He was dismissed when Christy Clark became premier. Brown walked out the door with a $400,000 severance and a lifetime of memories about how to play hardball politics.
The striking thing is that he has been renouncing his inner Dick Cheney ever since. Brown is the first to acknowledge the 鈥済laring contradiction鈥� between how he talks the talk and how he used to walk the walk.
He has called himself a take-no-prisoners partisan who learned the benefits of a milder approach too late in his career.
All this would just be an interesting tale of one person鈥檚 conversion in how they think privately about politics. But it鈥檚 having a public impact, too.
He wrote an e-book about a new way of doing politics and has been doing various media gigs on the same theme. It鈥檚 clear that he has renounced the sa国际传媒 Liberals as well.
Brown is now a leading critic of the party he used to live for 鈥� 鈥渂oastful blasts, brave smiles and hot air.鈥� He is dismissive of Clark鈥檚 approach to most issues. He has cast a favourable eye over NDP leader Adrian Dix鈥檚 general approach.
All of which drives the sa国际传媒 Liberals to distraction 鈥� privately.
Some Liberal cabinet ministers were astounded to read the ideas about openness and civility, given their memory of the man who is promoting them.
One of the milder Liberals promoted a moderate course a few years ago in a meeting and was emphatically shot down by Brown, only to find him now espousing the same idea publicly.
The only thing he seems to be hard-line about now is all the mistakes Clark is making.
It does them no good to have the former backroom boy sneering at their approach 鈥� which used to be his approach 鈥� from the op-ed pages and radio studios.
The conversion appears to be sincere. But it鈥檚 hard to stomach for people who remember his fervent commitment to playing rough, not so long ago.
If he decides he wants to practise what he is now preaching, it will be interesting to see where he lands in the new landscape after the May election.
