A scandal-ridden former BC Liberal MLA from Vancouver-Fraserview is attempting a political comeback at this year’s civic elections in Richmond. Kash Heed, who was dubbed the Indo-Canadian Stallion when replacing Wally Oppal in the riding, is on the ballot of a newly registered party in Richmond and will be seeking a council seat during the October 15 election.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff With News Files

RICHMOND – A scandal-ridden former BC Liberal MLA from Vancouver-Fraserview is attempting a political comeback at this year’s civic elections in Richmond.

Kash Heed, who was dubbed the Indo-Canadian Stallion when replacing Wally Oppal in the riding, is on the ballot of a newly registered party in Richmond and will be seeking a council seat during the October 15 election.

Heed, a former BC Solicitor General, will run under the Richmond Rise banner.

Heed’s platform is based on four elements: public safety, housing, services for senior citizens and governance, reported Business In Vancouver (BIV). 

“We need to get back to good government, one that’s not full of bureaucracy,” Heed said. “No roadblocks in place, no pointing the fingers at others, the accountability and accessibility comes right back to city council.”

The only incumbent councillor confirmed not to be running is the Richmond Citizens’ Association’s Harold Steves. Farmland protection advocate Steves is retiring after 50 years on city council, which were only interrupted by a term as an NDP MLA in Dave Barrett’s short-lived government. 

Heed spent more than three decades in policing. He rose to the rank of superintendent with the Vancouver Police before joining the West Vancouver Police as chief in 2007, the first South Asian to hold the post in North America. He focused on gang and drug enforcement and the need to reform policing throughout his career.

Premier Gordon Campbell recruited him to be a star BC Liberal candidate in the 2009 election and made him solicitor general afterward. 

But Heed was quickly brought down by scandal when a BC Supreme Court judge fined Kash Heed $8,000 for violations of the provincial Election Act.

Chief Justice Robert Bauman could have forced a byelection for the violation but decided instead to allow Heed, a B.C. Liberal, to keep his seat in the B.C. legislature.

Heed had admitted exceeding spending his $70,000 spending limit by $5,579 in the 2009 campaign (corrected to $4,000 later), but said he did not know about the excess spending at the time and had left those details to his campaign staff.

“Responsibility for the conduct of the campaign rests ultimately with the candidate,” Bauman wrote in his decision.

The overspending involved an anonymous pamphlet that surfaced during the campaign, smearing the NDP candidate he was running against in the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview.

An RCMP investigation later determined the brochure had been produced by the Heed campaign but that the expenses for it were not declared.

Charges were laid against two of Heed’s campaign workers.

Two special prosecutors investigating the complaints against Heed had cleared him of any criminal wrongdoing.

Heed, a former West Vancouver police chief, was considered a star candidate for the Liberals in 2009, and was appointed solicitor general after the election win in his first foray into politics.

He was forced to resign less than a year later when the police investigation into his campaign spending became public.