Sunday, May 19, 2013

Harper's Parade of Perps with Perks - Part 3


Please welcome Nigel Wright, Steve's chief of staff on loan from Onex Corp and the latest member of Harper's Parade of Perps with Perks, for secretly cutting Mike Duffy a $90,000 personal cheque to paper over the senate investigation and Deloitte audit into Mike Duffy's creative housing expense claims and reports he billed the Senate for travel while campaigning for the Cons .

Duffy isn't co-operating with the investigations now he has the cash but that didn't stop House leader Peter Van Loan from praising him for his "leadership" in returning money that didn't belong to him. 
Duffy : 
"It's become a major distraction so my wife and I discussed it and we decided that in order to turn the page and put all this behind us, we are going to voluntarily pay back the living expenses related to the house we have in Ottawa"
Ah yes the Royal Bank loan and the PMO instruction to keep his little head down.
Unfortunately Duffy then blabbed around town about his secret cheque from Wright.

So which is it then? A bank loan or a personal cheque from Steve's chief of staff? 
Both? Given he purportedly has secured the bank loan to cover the senate repayment, what's the cash bonanza from Nigel Wright for exactly?
The PM was not aware of the specifics,” Andrew MacDougall, Mr. Harper’s director of communications, has said of this transaction when asked.
I think that's called implausible deniability.

Nigel Wright, a founding director of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, has resigned.
.
Updated Perps with perks and their bios.

Arrgh update. Typo correction : That should have been "a founding director"; without that "a", it made him sound like the only one.  Apologies.
.

16 comments:

Kev said...

It's a good thing I have a wide screen laptop otherwise the outer edges of this mug shot would be cropped off

Owen Gray said...

The dominoes are beginning to fall.

Boris said...

Hmm, this keeps up, the GG might feel pressured to dismiss the government or cease to recognise the current PM as such... I know, I know, I can dream. But, seriously, what level of scandal does a government have to reach?

Holly Stick said...

Was Nigel's cahs bonanza to Duffy a payment for keeping his mouth shut? Didn't work then, did it?

North Van's Grumps said...

"..... so my wife and I(Duffy) discussed it and we decided ..." to accept the money

Hmmmm, seems pretty clear cut that Duffy shouldn't have accepted the gift of money from (former) chief of staff Nigel Wright, because it, the money owing to the Government of Canada, is directly related to his position as a Senator.....

Link to the Senate (Senators) Conflict of Interest Code ..... Ethics, or lack of Ethics, isn't mentioned. One can only guess that some Senators must be lacking in that field.....

Senators may not accept, nor may a family member accept, any gift or other benefit that could reasonably be considered to relate to their position, except as permitted under the Code.

Gifts, benefits and sponsored travel that are acceptable under the Code must be declared to the Senate Ethics Officer if they exceed $500.00 in value (sections 17 and 18) and these must be publicly declared pursuant to paragraph 31(1)(i).




Anonymous said...

Hi, thanks for the lineup!

I am missing Tony Clement - he basically bought his position by the misuse of border security funds for his own riding.

re: Boris - "what level of scandal does a government have to reach?"
I thought we had reached it with the BC Liberals but clearly governments can reach much further than they already have done. We have to remember it's not as simple as a long list of scandals to boot a government out of office.

900ft Jesus said...

that is a very powerful photo, Alison. Seeing them all together like that...the sheer numbers are shocking.

Anonymous said...

“I did not advise the Prime Minister of the means by which Sen. Duffy’s expenses were repaid, either before or after the fact,” Wright said.

And therein hangs the tail...

Holly Stick said...

CTV report that Harper's former legal advisor helped set up the payment to Duffy from Wright; he says he didn't tell Harper, either.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/pm-s-former-legal-adviser-arranged-deal-for-wright-to-give-duffy-90k-1.1289718

Alison said...

HollyStick : I like how CTV refers to Steve's "special counsel and legal adviser" Benjamin Perrin as "former". Former as in a month ago. He allegedly cut the Wright/Duffy deal and was back at UBC Faculty of Law by April 1st.
Fun fact : Perrin co-founded C2C, the Manning Centre in-house journal, in 2007.

Anon : Yup.

Big J : Thanks - gives some perspective anyway. It annoys me that each successive scandal is treated in isolation from the previous dozen or so.

Anon : You're right - Tony Gazebo does belong in there but I was trying to maintain a criteria that perps should be considered such by reasonable fellow peers in their own party - so Tony didn't quite fit.

Grumps : Coyne added a few more relevant sections of the act.

HollyStick : I'm guessing it was to stop an investigation that might have led to worse revelations.

Boris : I think it would have to be an election or a non-confidence vote - impossible with a majority - to satisfy the jitters of an anti-coalition public. But every day that no individual Cons stand up against this crap is another day they represent and condone it.

Owen : Not yet - look at the BC election! - but they're teetering.

Kev : I'm thinking one of those illuminated bus shelter thingies would be big enough.

North Van's Grumps said...

Andrew Bailey and Bruce Campion-Smith have pulled Senate finance data from the last two years into a spreadsheet. The bureau is now looking at the data's highlights

The senators are grouped in alphabetical order according to last name. To reorganize them according to who has the highest travel or living expenses, click the appropriate tab. Mouse over images or tap screen for more information.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/02/15/senate_finance_data.html

Holly Stick said...

Criminal bid-riggers still getting federal government contracts:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/05/21/brian_card.html

Alison said...

Nice work if you can get it...
"Conservative Senator Elizabeth Marshall, the Tory whip, receives $11,200 annually to serve as the chair of the Senate’s selection committee. That is on top of her $135,200 salary and the $11,200 she receives to serve as the Government’s whip.
The Senate selection committee last met – for 15 minutes – on June 9, 2011."

Simon said...

hi Alison...I hope you're not embarrassed if I call you a genius but you really are. The Perp parade is amazing, and growing. And I saw your Humpty Duffy graphic the other day and it took my breath away. And of course made me green with envy... ;)

Alison said...

Oh pshaw ... blush ... preen ...
generous praise indeed from the acknowledged master who puts out scary/funny/scathing Harpertoons on a daily basis.

Humpty Duffty wasn't my idea though - done on a specific request from Dr Dawg some time back.

Many many thanks to all who have tweeted and fb'ed Perp Parade.

North Van's Grumps said...

Sponsorship Scandal took out the Liberals and then the Conservatives took over the reins of power and promised this:

Harper calls for office of public prosecutions
November 30, 2005 CBC News

"There's going to be a new code on Parliament Hill: bend the rules, you will be punished; break the law, you will be charged; abuse the public trust, you will go to prison," warned Harper.

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