The next civic election is still fifteen months away, but already the political landscape is caked with slung mud. The increasingly negative coverage of Vision Vancouver was punctuated this week with blogger Alex Tsakumis’ release of a purported media “hit-list”. According to Tsakumis, whose source remains anonymous, the list details members of Vancouver media that Vision has identified as problematic and targeted for smear campaigns.

“I know you have little children but they will one day become big children and smear campaigns by people with powerful, monied crazies can last a long time,” warned the source in a dramatic statement published on Tsakumis’ blog.

Over telephone, Tsakumis, a former 24 Hours columnist, claimed that his source is a Vision insider with exceptional credentials.

“I sat down, I looked at his material, I said: it’s not good enough for me to just see the material, I need to talk to you - I need to put you on tape.” According to Tsakumis, the leak initially declined but eventually decided that the story was too important; they completed a taped interview and Tsakumis ran the piece.

An anonymous source coming forward with damning information about the Mayor’s office has become a regular occurrence in Vancouver.

Listed as Vision enemy number one is Michael Klassen, editor of CityCaucus.com. Klassen has been at the centre of a spate of stories and leaked documents that have been bad news for Vancouver’s governing Vision party. Recent items of note are the leaked staff survey bemoaning the management style at City Hall; the exposure of no-bid, no-tender contracts; and the leaked claim that 15 iPads and iPhones are on order for the Mayor and City Council, despite the City’s financial woes.

Klassen and CityCaucus.com are the center of Vision opposition in local media, and have professional ties to the opposition NPA. CityCaucus co-founder Daniel Fontaine served as former NPA Mayor Sam Sullivan’s Chief of Staff, and Klassen did communications work for the Mayor’s office during that time. Both Klassen and Fontaine have tendrils extending deep into City Hall and consistently break leaked stories that the mainstream media can’t.

Or won’t.

In the case of the chic new Apple hardware supposedly ordered for Robertson and Co., Klassen admits that he published the claim before he was able to verify it. Still waiting for confirmation by way of a Freedom of Information request, CityCaucus.com chose to run the story, their headline reading, “15 iPads & iPhone 4 devices requested for Mayor & Council.”

“It was a tough call on that one,” admitted Klassen by email, “but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

In the case of the iPads, Klassen has chosen to risk his credibility, banking on the reliability of his disenfranchised sources inside City Hall. So far, the gambles have paid off, but they also hint at the dangerous game being played by Klassen and CityCaucus.

Other media have begun to home in on the dangers of leaked information and anonymous sources. The same day Tsakumis broke his “hit-list” story, The Vancouver Observer published a piece claiming that Klassen is manipulating local non-partisan journalists by feeding them falsified leaks. (Incidentally, the hapless journalist fingered as Klassen’s stooge is veteran Sun reporter Jeff Lee - number nine on the supposed “hit list”.) The article also alludes to patronage positions awarded to Klassen as a result of his relationship with former NPA Mayor Sam Sullivan, with an editorial promise of more info to come.

But if Klassen’s relationships are a matter of public interest, so are The Vancouver Observer’s. Ian Reid, author of the Klassen piece is a former Vision campaign manager, and The Observer’s Vision links don’t end there. Follow the money, as they say. Founder and publisher Linda Solomon is the sister of Joel Solomon, President and CEO of Renewal Partners, an organization that invests in and offers financial support to businesses they see as fostering positive social change. Renewal invested in Gregor Robertson’s Happy Planet Juice Company, and Joel Solomon and Renewal donated a combined $32,935.10 to Gregor Robertson’s 2008 mayoral campaign. Joel Solomon is a close personal friend of the Mayor’s, and many consider him to be one of the main drivers of Vision policy.

So far, that policy has been to deny the anonymous claims of iPads and hit-lists. Responding via email, Executive Assistant to the Mayor Kevin Quinlan wrote: “There’s no truth to either; there’s no ipad order and no mayor’s office hit list.”

Wendy Stewart, Acting Communications Director for the Mayor’s office makes the same claims: “Nothing is in the pipe and IT has not ordered anything that is being reported.”

Clearly, someone is lying.

According to Tsakumis, number two on the disputed list, the Mayor’s office has begun planting information to trap and fire unauthorized sources within the organization. “They’re trying to identify internal leaks at City Hall and their internal leaks in party to get rid of them. They’re setting traps throughout City Hall all the time. The atmosphere is toxic.”

Asked whether he was concerned his source may have been fed false information, Tsakumis was adamant: “If it were a plant they would NEVER risk something that could hurt them so badly and going sideways as it has. They would never take such a risk,” he wrote.

“Besides, I know this man well enough and he is as decent as he is forthright.”

With the recently-leaked survey of non-union City staff indicating a growing dissatisfaction with operations at City Hall, it’s likely that more leaks will come, and they’ll be published by way of CityCaucus.com and Alex Tsakumis. The Mayor’s office, meanwhile, will grow ever more paranoid.

Between the spin, the lies, the competing interests and the sources unwilling to stand publicly behind their claims, the coming months have all the ingredients of politics and media at their very worst, and will leave the general public with little hope of untangling the mess.

If the truth in life seems elusive, in politics it seems downright impossible.