B.C. premier praises former deputy minister cleared of lobbying charges

British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell insists that his former deputy minister Ken Dobell was doing good work when he ran afoul of the province's lobbyist legislation.

Campbell made the comment after Dobell received an absolute discharge in a court case stemming from lobbying work he did for the City of Vancouver.

Dobell had pleaded guilty to violating the Lobbyist Registration Act, but Vancouver Judge Joe Galati said Dobell's violation of the act was trivial.

Campbell said Dobell simply made a mistake.

"There's no challenge from my perspective with him doing that," Campbell said Thursday.

 "That was above board; it was transparent. But as Mr. Dobell said today, he made a mistake, he should have registered."

Dobell, 67, was careful to tell reporters after the verdict was handed down Thursday morning in Vancouver that it wasn't the responsibility of either the premier or his staff to ensure he had registered as a lobbyist.

"I'm very pleased that the judge reached the conclusion that he reached. It's very important to me. I did not want to end my career with a conviction in a related kind of area," said Dobell.

Dobell had already agreed to refund nearly $7,000 in fees he collected for his work on a downtown Eastside housing project, which included lobbying the provincial government for funding.

The former senior adviser to Premier Gordon Campbell decided to plead guilty after a special prosecutor determined he failed to register as a lobbyist within 10 days as required by the provincial Lobbyists Act.