just saying Political PR: fix or repair daily

You can’t help but begin any accounting of John Hand were all convicted political scandal these days with Toronto Mayor of various fraud, breach of trust, Rob Ford. How could you not begin with the corruption and assorted bad crack-smoking, drunk-driving, criminal-friending, behavior, and served prison time. foul-speaking, gut-spilling, help-needing, deep- Not to be outdone, Nova in-denial, why-should-I-resign, I-will-be-prime- Scotia’s auditor, Jacques minister mayor of ’s largest city? Lapointe, turned over the rock Depressingly, Mayor Ford is only a physically of his province’s MLA expenses and psychically super-sized representation of in 2010 and found it crawling an all too common and troubling phenomenon with big screen TV buyers… I in public life: the politician as public need my cappuccino maker… embarrassment. why shouldn’t I have a publicly Time to begin our abridged (there’s only so funded portable electric much space in one column) roll of shame tour. generator… I want that camera, First, let us consider Peter Kelly. Halifax’s the one with the fancy gizmo… longest serving if not most deserving mayor entitled-to-their-entitlements should have been looking for work two years ago Depressingly, politicians starring in their own after his secret, city-charter violating sweetheart political edition of Dialing for deal with concert promoters cost taxpayers Mayor Ford is Dollars. Four MLAs, an equal $400,000. In the end, however, it was the only a super-sized opportunity collection of Liberal scandal behind door number two (his years-long representation Dave Wilson, Tory Richard private mishandling of a friend’s estate), that Hurlburt, New Democrat Trevor finally led to his political downfall last year. of an all too Zinck and Liberal-turned- And then there’s Brampton, chief common Independent-married-to-an- magistrate, Susan Fennell. In November, the NDP-MLA Russell MacKinnon, press reported Fennell had racked up $186,000 phenomenon: did the perp walk for that one. in taxpayer-reimbursable expenses, including the politician Those provincial politicians two grand for personalized barbecue aprons (“Sue as public were… well, provincial when it Chef”?) and another $1,500 to attend a concert. I came to living frugally on $16 hope it was a good one. embarrassment. glasses of orange juice And let’s not forget those mayors … er, the public toonie. forced to resign in the last two years under Can you say Senator , Senator , Senator billowing black corruption clouds following , Senator ? Can you say, as former Prime revelations at the . Minister once infamously did, “there’s no whore First, there was Laval’s Gilles Vaillancourt, who like an old whore”? (Yes, that Mulroney, the one who took those resigned while proclaiming his innocence. Ditto cash-stuffed envelopes from convicted corrupter Karl Heinz for ’s and Tremblay’s Schreiber, but I regress. The statute of limitations on that one has successor, Michael Applebaum. In November passed.) 2012, appointed Applebaum Not one to let the good deed of a $90,000 personal cheque interim mayor to clean up Tremblay’s mess but given to silence him, Senator Duffy has now managed to spread then he had to resign himself seven months later the stain of public embarrassment (and perhaps potential criminal after he was indicted on 14 charges of fraud, liability) to his benefactor, Nigel Wright, the prime minister’s now- conspiracy, breach of trust and corruption. former-thanks-to-Duffy chief of staff, as well as to his own Senate And so it goes. Shall we move on to provincial Tory colleagues Marjory LeBreton, , Irving Gerstein politics and consider criminal matters closer at and Carolyn Stewart Olsen. Duffy may even ultimately be seen as hand? the man who brought down the Senate, if not ’s How about the Great Newfoundland House of government. Assembly Spending Scandal of 2006? By the time No mean feat for a newsboy from who it was over, millions of dollars had disappeared, grew up to be the senator from, well… nowhere. then-Conservative Premier Danny Williams had Wait! I’ve barely begun. There are all those others — Pierre fired his natural resources minister, Ed Byrne, Poutine, Anthony Weiner, Elliott Spitzer — as the shame roll rolls on. live on TV. Byrne, two former Liberal cabinet But the column ends. ministers, Jim Walsh and Wally Andersen, an NDP Stephen Kimber, who teaches journalism at the University of King’s College, is the award-winning MHA, Randy Collins, a senior civil servant, Bill author of one novel and nine nonfiction books. Feedback: [email protected], Murray, and a St. John’s trinket peddler named @skimber, @AtlanticBus, @ABM_Editor, #JustSaying

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