Who Will Chant "Shame" This Time? Isn't Karma a B*tch

David Akin yesterday spoke of Karma in the case of Jason Kenney distributing his plans to exploit the immigrant communities, to the wrong Duncan.

But there is a much bigger 'Karma' playing out in the Harper government, when it comes to fraud and the Senate.

They are following a script written 20 years ago, and while some of the roles are being played by different actors, Saskandal II, stuck close to the original plot.


Saskandal I: The Saskatchewan Connection

Eric Berston was a patronage appointment senator, one of Marjory LeBreton's, "be nice to me and I'll set you up for life" choices.

But Eric Bernston, who was a crony of Brian Mulroney's, would get caught up in one of the biggest political scandals of the century, eventually spending a year in jail.

According to Robert Shephard (Saskandal, By: Robert Shephard, MacLeans, March 29, 1999)

He was the big fish in the small pond - the deputy premier who, everyone knew, truly ran Grant Devine's Saskatchewan government in the turbulent 1980s. But when now-Senator Eric Berntson was sentenced last week to a year in jail for defrauding taxpayers of $41,735, the ripples extended all the way to Ottawa. Saskatchewan residents - those who have not tuned out the long saga of provincial Tory corruption - were struck by two images of Berntson. One was the jowly, stone-faced power broker they had come to loathe. The other was a broken man, nearly friendless, pleading for compassion, citing the strain of events and his work on behalf of literacy and homeless children.

Except for one day in the Court of Queen's Bench - just before Justice Frank Gerein pronounced the sentence an abuse of trust and "a sad day for Saskatchewan" - Berntson has maintained a public silence. That has left most Canadians with another indelible image: that of another Tory senator led from court in handcuffs - only to return to a Senate seat, pending appeal. Both Berntson, 57, and Senator Michel Cogger*, 60, who was convicted last July of influence peddling, showed up unexpectedly for Senate duties on Wednesday. They sat side by side in an isolated corner of the upper chamber while catcalls of "shame" came from Reformers and New Democrats in the nearby House of Commons.

"... another indelible image: that of another Tory senator led from court in handcuffs - sat side by side in an isolated corner of the upper chamber while catcalls of "shame" came from Reformers ..."

So if two of Harper's Senators become an "indelible image: that of another Tory senator led from court in handcuffs" will Harper's Reformers once again make catcalls of "shame"? Remember, Marjory LeBreton is now Leader of the Government in the Senate, so her fingerprints are all over this thing ... again!

And more Karma may be hitting Harper MP Tom Lukiwski. When an old tape surfaced of him making homophobic remarks, the Conservatives immediately went into major damage control, assuring that the headlines would be about his homophobia. He cried and everything.

Because what they wanted to keep from the public, was the fact that Lukiwski was part of that Saskandal, though never charged (he was the executive director of the party), and one of the people on that tape, was none other than Eric Bernston.

Saskandal II: The "In and Out" Election Fraud Scheme

We again have two patronage appointed "be nice to Marjory LeBreton" senators, caught up in an attempt to defraud taxpayers, and who like Bersnston, could be spending a year in jail.

Only the names of the senators have changed.

Will the sequel be as exciting as the original? It's certainly shaping up to be. And this new round of players are just as immature as the previous cast (see Lukiwski's videos below and judge for yourself)

Anyone refusing to take part in the scheme were labelled 'idiots' and 'turds' by Conservative organizers. Nice.

Workers on the campaign of a Conservative MP who declined to participate in the in-and-out advertising scheme in the 2006 election were denounced as “idiots” and a “bunch of turds” by senior party officials, who wanted to “put the fear of God” into them for not taking part in the contentious TV and radio purchases.

And a bit more:

Aftermath of an 'in and out' election scheme

Ex-Tory MPs say they rejected ‘in-and-out’ financing scheme

Doc Harper's amazing campaign money machine

Doug Finley did a good job on those attack ads, Doug Finley says

After Years of Democratic Abuse Marjorie LeBreton Has Finally Gone Too Far

LeBreton dealt with dozens of demands and requests, particularly when Senate seats became available. Seven prominent Tories explicitly asked for appointments: I had John Reynolds on the phone lobbying for a Senate seat for himself, and giving me this pitch that it should be someone that could go on the talk shows. I said, "Gee, John, I haven't noticed you being out there." (1)

Marjorie LeBreton is the consummate crony. She knows all the games and who will scratch her back. She's had years of practice.

But her latest comments about one of the most undemocratic maneuvers in our history, is the last straw.

She must resign immediately.

Sources:

1. The Secret Mulroney Tapes: Unguarded Confessions of a Prime Minister, By Peter C. Newman, Clandebye Ltd., 2005, ISBN: 10-0-679-31351-6, Pg. 89-90

Stephen Harper's Avowal of Failure Will Put Canada's Fate in the Hands of the Incompetent

During the election debates of 1984, Brian Mulroney attacked John Turner for not stopping several Trudeau patronage appointments to the senate. He called it "an avowal of failure".

It helped to win the election for him.

But once in office, Mulroney made the chamber his own 'reward miles' program, with Marjorie LeBreton handing out senate seats to those who puckered up the most, paying homage to her boss's derriere.

And these appointments became both a curse and a blessing for Jean Charest when he became party leader. They were broke and broken:

The reality was that there were just two MPs in Parliament and the party was $5 million in debt. ..... The only place the federal Tories had any real bench strength, a significant block of parliamentarians with staff, research money, phone lines, airline passes, and experience, was in the Senate. The roll call of senators so close to the former prime minister must be daunting to Charest: David Angus. Eric Berntson, John Buchanan, Guy Charbonneau, Michel Cogger. Trevor Eyton, Dunc Jessiman, Jim Kelleher, Marjory LeBreton, John Lvnch-Staunton, Michael Meighen, Pierre Claude Nolin, and Fernand Roberge. These are the individuals on whom Charest must depend, the same people who are, to a great extent, responsible for much of the mess the party is in today. Maybe there is just too much baggage for a Tory recovery in the foreseeable future. (1)

And of course they never did recover, leaving them vulnerable for a Reform-Alliance takeover.

Now we find ourselves decades later in a similar situation with senate baggage. Stephen Harper has made the most patronage senate appointments in the history of this country, and most were not qualified to run a lemonade stand, including a former hockey coach who can't even read or write.

And what's worse is that if he remains prime minister to the end of November, he may have control of the Senate.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper will soon lay claim in the unelected Senate to what he does not have in the House of Commons: a majority.

But this won't be a 'Tory' senate control, as suggested by the media, but a control of what Harper himself refers to as a party "where evangelical Christians and business rule in an unholy alliance" after Red Tories are "jettisoned from the party". (2)

In other words, Republicans.

And what will it mean for Canada?

It means that even if we can get rid of this government before they completely destroy us, we will not be able to overturn their list of horrendous bills, and Parliament will be essentially controlled a gaggle of Reformer fundraisers and party faithfuls. Harper will continue to control us from a distance.

Add to that a Fox News North and we will officially be an American colony.

This is not good.




Sources:

1. On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years, By Stevie Cameron, Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 1994, ISBN: 0-921912-73-0, Pg. 486-87

2. Harper, Bush Share Roots in Controversial Philosophy. The Tyee, Donald Gutstein, November 29, 2009

Brian Mulroney Continued: Marjory LeBreton and Entitlement to Taxpayers Purse

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

"They haven't changed since they hanged Riel" Marjory LeBreton on Manitoba after the 1993 election results (1)

According to her bio, the 70-year-old Marjory LeBreton has worked for four leaders of the now defunct, Progressive Conservative Party of Canada - John Diefenbaker, Robert Stanfield, Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney.

That's true, though she should mention that she never liked Joe Clark, and liked his wife even less (2), but I suppose that's water under the bridge.

She was appointed senator by Brian Mulroney in 1993, but before that she was responsible for many patronage appointments, especially to the senate. This job was formerly handled by Peter White, who went back to work for Conrad Black.

Marjory LeBreton took over the unofficial patronage portfolio after Peter White's departure:Leading up to the leadership, people used to say, in the party, "You know, Brian Mulroney would be a great leader, but boy, I am worried about his friends." You would hear that, and I used to say, "Don't be so silly, everybody has liabilities Joe Clark has got a fair sprinkling of them, I don't mind telling you.

LeBreton dealt with dozens of demands and requests, particularly when Senate seats became available. Seven prominent Tories explicitly asked for appointments: I had John Reynolds on the phone lobbying for a Senate seat for himself, and giving me this pitch that it should be someone that could go on the talk shows. I said, "Gee, John, I haven't noticed you being out there."

Gerry St. Germain wrote a letter to the prime minister talking about the sacrifices he's made. I actually felt sorry when I read it. It said something to the effect that he would want to serve in the Senate and then he ended the letter by saying, "If you decide to choose someone else, please know that you will have my absolute loyalty." Jim Doak, who was seventy-four, was actually going to sign a letter saying that he would only stay there for a year, just to be called a senator. Doak was originally the president of the party in Manitoba under Diefenbaker.

Duncan Jessiman was another of the old party bagmen stalwarts, but he had supported the prime minister financially when he ran for leadership. He was seventy years old, and he sent the Prime Minister a kind of "you owe me" letter, and you know the prime minister people have helped him out. He [didn't make him a senator but] put Dunc in the best appointment he could give at the time, which was on the board of Air Canada, and of course we privatized Air Canada and they didn't keep him on the board, but they gave him a lifetime pass.

We had Kate Schellenberg [later Kate Manvell] in BC. She was married to Ted Schellenberg, who was the MP from Nanaimo. She wrote a long letter to the prime minister just before Christmas. As the prime minister was reading it, he said, "There must be some reason she's writing." The last paragraph was, "I'd like to be named to that vacant Senate seat from BC." We made her a citizenship court judge. Pat Carney asked for the Senate seat too, but claims she didn't. (3)

LeBreton is now Leader of the Government in the Canadian Senate, an appointment given her by Stephen Harper as payment for help with his 2006 campaign. I wonder how many letters and requests she fielded for Harper's patronage senate appointments.

Corruption Knew no Bounds

Erik Nielsen*, shown to the right, was the first Deputy Prime Minister under Mulroney, who eventually quit because of the rampant corruption in the Party.

Not that he was immune to making patronage appointments, and in fact developed a system where all party faithfuls had a say:

The way Nielsen envisaged it, the first stream would fill the top jobs at Crown corporations such as Air Canada, Export Development Corporation, the Atomic Energy Control Board and the CBC, as well as slots in bodies like the Parole Board and the Immigration Appeal Board, which required members with genuine expertise.

The party faithful who had raised money and volunteers in campaigns across the country would constitute the second stream, a pool from which candidates would be drawn to fill positions in arts agencies, marketing boards, and citizenship courts. Nielsen expected Tories to be appointed to the major boards as well, but he believed the chairmanships and presidencies should be set aside for people who had more than political credentials. There was a distinction, he insisted, between what was pure patronage and what had to be a selection of highly qualified persons to run government enterprises. (4)

With 3,000 patronage appointments to fill, Nielson established provincial advisory committees, who would bring forward likely candidates for various jobs, and these recommendations then went to a national advisory committee. He had patronage down to a science, but it soon became clear that the final decisions were in the hands of only one person, who more often than not completely disregarded any suggestions by the provincial groups.

Loaded as they were with old Mulroney associates, the provincial committees were being ignored and their recommendation, bypassed within three months of their inauguration. The national committee? It was a joke, "a mere facade," snorts Nielsen ... So I stopped chairing. I just simply stopped going to the meetings. My presence there was totally ineffective and superfluous." The committee's executive committee faded away and the process was taken over by Marjory LeBreton. (4)

A Champagne Taste on a Beer Income

The Mulroneys led an extravagant lifestyle, mostly on what would appear to be tax dollars and influence pedaling:

"He always lived up to the hilt" said one of his oldest friends. Like Mila, Mulroney enjoyed living and working in luxurious surroundings decorated with fine furniture and good paintings ... And he too liked expensive clothes. In the mid-1980s he would buy several $2,000 suits at one time from Bijan in Manhattan, one of the most expensive stores in New York, and of course he has long indulged a weakness for Gucci loafers at about $500 a pair.

One individual who has known Mulroney well since his days at Iron Ore is Conrad Black. In his 1993 autobiography 'A Life in Progress', Black patronizingly described the Mulroney he knew in the 1970s. Even though Mulroney had become successful wrote Black with the confidence of someone to the manner born, "he still felt himself quite keenly to be the underprivileged lad from Baie-Comeau, son of the foreman in the Chicago Tribune's news print mill who identified more with the French than the English,and more with the lower economic echelons than than with the scions of wealthy Westmount . . . He had the attitude to money of someone who didn't have any himself but had seen other scatter lavishly - he appreciated it more in the spending than in the accumulation, the latter a process he tended to oversimplify. And politically he had the attitude to money of someone who came to maturity in last years of Duplessis when the tangible fruits of a long incumbency were being extravagantly dispersed. He had the heart of a working man but the tastes of the rich." (5)

What my mom would call having a champagne taste on a beer income.

Before leaving public office, Brian Mulroney had got himself into a financial mess and was indebted to the Progressive Conservative party to the tune of more than $ 200,000.00 Many of these expenditures had been approved by Marjory LeBreton.

To raise needed funds he tried to sell some of his personal furnishings that were then at 24 Sussex Drive, at inflated prices to the Government of Canada. However, the media got wind of it and the deal was off. So he instead he got himself involved with Karlheinz Schrieber.

And LeBreton has done very well for herself, without apparently no post-secondary education, but referred to as "one of the hard-ass operatives" (6), a left over of the Mulroney years.

Footnotes:

*Brother of actor Leslie Nielsen.

Sources:

1. The Secret Mulroney Tapes: Unguarded Confessions of a Prime Minister, By Peter C. Newman, Clandebye Ltd., 2005, ISBN: 10-0-679-31351-6, Pg. 418

2. Newman, 2005, Pg. 248

3. Newman, 2005, Pg. 89-90

4. On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years, By Stevie Cameron, Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 1994, ISBN: 0-921912-73-0, Pg. 185-186

5. Cameron, 1994, Pg. 394-395

6. Newman, 2005, Pg. 168