The campaign manager for BC Liberal candidate Mary Polak has quit.
Todd Hauptman says Polak has always shown him "respect and love,” but he can't support a campaign "made up of people who think less of him" because he is gay.
In a prepared statement, Hauptman says he is asking politicians of all stripes to speak up for the gay community.
He says the very base of voters who will likely help get Polak re-elected in Langley are made up of people who hold "hateful" attitudes towards gays and lesbians.
Speaking later on CKNW, Polak spoke of another issue about Hauptman’s work on her campaign.
"It came to my attention that he had a very close friendship with an individual who is involved on the campaign of my NDP competitor here – that they were spending significant time together, and that in fact, some information from our campaign had been shared."
Polak says she still thinks the world of him, and had wanted him to stay on her team.
She says the two had a meeting that morning to discuss how to move forward, but then she received his letter stating his resignation.
The NDP’s candidate in Langley calls it "absurd.”
“Why would Mary Polak have been, as early as this morning, begging Todd Hauptman, by her own account, to stay on her campaign? I think that the liberal campaign is clearly in trouble here."
Mercier says he's aware of the friendship between Hauptman and one of his campaign workers.
He says many voters in Langley would be shocked to hear the claims of anti-gay sentiment.
Hauptman has not returned several calls for comment.