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A candidate offers me a job

By: Nick Martin

Posted: 09/15/2011 4:20 PM | Comments: 0

This election just keeps getting stranger and stranger.

I got a call today from Ludolf Grolle, who’s running for the Liberals in St. Paul against Tory incumbent Ron Schuler and the NDP’s Cynthia Ryan.

Grolle wanted to talk off the record about something, and I agreed to go off the record for that one item.

Then the conversation continued.

Grolle told me that we’re both from England and that he very much likes my writing. OK, so I got off the boat in 1952 and Grolle got his Canadian citizenship this past January. I’m happy he likes my writing, and I won’t disagree with his opinion.

Grolle told me he’s a professional artist and is putting together a book of his works, and needs someone to do some writing for the book, and with my being such a good writer and all, and he’s certainly willing to pay...

When I lifted my jaw off the floor, I pointed out that it would be completely inappropriate for me to accept money and a freelance assignment from a provincial candidate.

Oh no, no, no, came the response, this offer has nothing to do with his candidacy, it’s in his full-time role as a professional artist.

And I had the hardest time getting through to him how inappropriate that would be. He said he’d call me after the election, and it will still be inappropriate then.

Oh, by the way, Ludolf, a little free political advice, your NDP opponent, Cynthia Ryan, you might want to start referring to her as a woman rather than as a girl.

Nick Martin, Winnipeg Free Press

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About Nick Martin

Nick Martin is the old bearded guy at the back of the newsroom, the most experienced reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press, having started his career in Ontario in 1971.

He’s been covering education for the Free Press since the spring of 1997, after decades primarily covering municipal politics, including a four-year stint at the Ontario legislature for the London Free Press.

Nick moved to Manitoba in 1988 with his Winnipeg-born wife, who is a professor at the University of Manitoba. They have two kids, both of whom graduated from Grant Park High School: son Chris and daughter Gillian.

Nick has won a national journalism award from the Canadian Association of University Teachers, two Manitoba Human Rights Journalism awards, and the Ontario Reporters Association investigative award.

Nick is a long-distance runner, having finished and survived 18 marathons and 15 half-marathons and 30-kilometre races, and having (barely) survived 10 years as an outdoor and indoor soccer coach.

Nick became a soccer referee in 2007, delighting in his 60s in outrunning 16-year-olds and keeping his distance from obstreperous coaches and parents.

Nick and his wife have discovered a mutual love for kayaking at their Whiteshell cottage, and are both regulars at the Reh-Fit Centre. They hold season tickets to both the Manitoba Theatre Centre and the Warehouse, and as empty nesters, have rediscovered the joys of an active winter vacation.

A native of Jarrow-on-Tyne, England, Nick is a member of the Toon Army as a Newcastle United supporter, and a proud citizen of Leafs Nation.

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