The Auditor General’s latest report and the government’s abrupt firing of Joan Cleary show just how quickly things can change in politics.
First to Cleary. Her hiring as Chief Executive Officer of the Bull Arm Corporation was controversial from the beginning. Cleary is a defeated Tory candidate from the 2003 election, so it looked like a patronage appointment. She is also a nurse, with no experience running shipyards, construction projects, or large corporations. People began to question her qualifications from the very beginning.
Cleary was fired on December 7th for issuing a $70,000 contract without following the Public Tender Act. The termination may or may not end her political career. Cleary has said in the past that she wants to run in Bellevue district again in the 2007 election. But Premier Danny Williams is refusing to say whether Cleary is still an acceptable candidate for his party. Williams says he won’t comment on Cleary’s political future while the sitting Bellevue MHA Percy Barrett is ill. Barrett was hospitalized in Burin this weekend after he suffered what appears to be a heart attack.
Williams’ reasoning is flawed. Cleary’s suitability as a tory candidate has nothing to do with Barrett’s medical status. Cleary was fired four days before Barrett fell ill. Williams, as head of the government and the Progressive Conservative Party, must have reached a conclusion about Cleary’s political future at that time. If he hasn’t, fine. But he shouldn’t use Barrett’s poor health as an excuse not to talk.
Percy Barrett was also at the centre of the week’s other big story. Barrett became the fifth politician connected to the House of Assembly spending scandal. Auditor General John Noseworthy says that Barrett overspent his constituency allowance by $117,286. With each new penny, this scandal grows.
Unlike the four politicians named in earlier reports, Barrett spoke publicly right away and without hiring a lawyer. “I’m prepared to say I’m innocent,” Barrett told reporters. “I will say I am innocent right now.”
Barrett was the new name in Noseworthy’s latest report. But there was a lot of new information about the four other politicians tied to this scandal. The amount of misspending connected to Ed Byrne, Randy Collins, Wally Andersen and Jim Walsh increased. Byrne, who only recently announced that he would retire on January 1st, saw his excess claims rise by $141,011. It was the biggest increase in the new report and cast a new light on Byrne’s looming departure.
Noseworthy’s latest tally shows that the five MHAs overspent their constituency allowances by $1,586,573 since 1998. His audits also show that three companies (Zodiac Agencies, JAS Enterprises Limited and Cedar Scents International) got $2,651,644 in questionable payments from 1998 to 2005. These companies supplied the trinkets, baubles and gold rings that have coloured this scandal.
Then there is the $170,401 that went to Unique Keepsakes, a company owned by Bill Murray. Murray is the former Director of Financial Operations at the House of Assembly. The man who controlled all of the budgets and who was responsible for approving all of the spending that is at the heart of this scandal. Murray is the key player in this that everybody wants to hear from. He was on sick leave from his job when this story broke. He has since been suspended.
The balance sheet for this scandal has now grown to $4,408,618. That’s the cost to the taxpayers. The cost to the credibility of politicians in general has been much higher.