Bob Mackin
Joe Keithley says something better change at Burnaby city hall.
So the the leader of 1978-formed punk rock legends D.O.A. is running to win the battle over five-term incumbent Mayor Derek Corrigan in 2018.
Keithley, known to many as Joey Shithead, told theBreaker that he will seek the mayoralty for the Burnaby Civic Green Party in the Oct. 20 election.
D.O.A. leader and Burnaby Civic Green Joe Keithley is running for the mayoralty in October. (Mackin)
Keithley says Burnaby Citizens Association leader Corrigan has become too cozy with real estate developers at the expense of citizens needing affordable housing.
“It is time for a fresh start in Burnaby,” Keithley said in a prepared statement. “Corrigan and the BCA council have been pushing their same old agenda for the last 30 years.”
Keithley promises to freeze property taxes at 2017 levels for two years, stop “demovictions” in Metrotown and institute term limits on city council. He also promises to carry-on Corrigan’s opposition to the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion.
“People distrust politicians and I would say with good reason, because they don’t listen to the voters. I will fight for and demand that everyone’s voice is heard.”
theBreaker reported exclusively on March 1 that the BCA already had more money in the bank for the 2018 campaign than it spent in 2014 to sweep all city council and school board seats. A leaked copy of the BCA’s Nov. 7, 2017 table officers’ minutes said there was $500,000 in the election account and $77,000 in the general account. Last fall, the NDP banned corporate and union donations to political campaigns, but let parties keep whatever they raised through Oct. 31.
In 2014, BCA reported raising $275,550 from corporations, primarily developers, and $202,220 from unions.
Keithley has been on the ballot four times in provincial ridings. In 2016, he finished third for the B.C. Greens in the Coquitlam-Burke Mountain by-election and third in the 2017 general election in Burnaby Lougheed. He also ran in 1996 and 2001 in Burnaby Willingdon for the Greens.
Keithley formed D.O.A. 40 years ago in Burnaby, with drummer Chuck Biscuits and bassist Randy Rampage.
In 2001, he recorded an acoustic cover of Alice Cooper’s “Elected.” Watch it here.
