For the November 2008 election, Vision was seen as a serious contender for control of the city due to the perceived unpopularity of the Sam Sullivan's NPA team. In June 2008, Vision held an election to nominate their mayoral candidate. The choices were Gregor Robertson (a local "green" businessman, owner of the Happy Planet juice company and a provincial New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver-Fairview), Raymond Louie (serving as a Vision city councillor), and Allan De Genova (an independent Vancouver Park Board commissioner who defected from the NPA because of his dislike of Sullivan's leadership). The original dynamic for this contest shifted when the NPA voted to change their mayoral candidate, replacing the incumbent Sullivan with longtime councillor and businessman Peter Ladner, the editor of the "Business in Vancouver" newspaper. Gregor Robertson was nominated to be Vision's mayoral candidate in 2008 despite his perceived similarity to NPA rival Sam Sullivan.