Ex-deputy B.C. minister charged

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 10 (UPI) -- Canadian Ken Dobell, an ex-deputy minister and adviser to British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, has been charged with failing to register as a lobbyist.

Dobell, who lobbied on behalf of the city of Vancouver, is expected to plead guilty and will repay nearly $7,000 he was paid for meetings he had with provincial officials regarding the social housing contract, the Times Colonist in Victoria reported Monday.

Special Prosecutor Terrence Robertson did not recommend a charge of influence peddling, concluding "that although the evidence supported a substantial likelihood of conviction, the public interest did not require a prosecution against Mr. Dobell," the Times Colonist reported.

Dobell, who previously had denied being a lobbyist, is to make his first appearance in Vancouver provincial court Wednesday.

Dobell was deputy minister to Campbell from 2001 until he retired in 2005. He was then hired as a special adviser to the premier through May of last year. He also began work for Vancouver in April 2006. In August 2006, he began work as an adviser to Vancouver's city manager on social housing.

Campbell declined to comment on the case, but called Dobell "a man of integrity."