Less by Les.......
on Les

Applicable to MLAs and Ministers, Only!

My favorite lackey of Lucinda's, Les Leyne, almost got it right this morning from the shakey western outpost of the erstwhile Assperson Empire the Times-Colonist. In If John Les walks, so should bureaucrat he hits the nail on the head with his opening paragraph.

It's outrageous that a former Chilliwack bureaucrat has to face criminal breach of trust charges for doing exactly what his mayor and council encouraged and subtly guided him to do.

But his inability to actually use reason soon shows its ugly face with:

But if Les walks away in the clear, then so should the municipal staff member whose job was to execute the will of the mayor and council. Instead, the special prosecutor elected to file three breach of trust charges against then-subdivision approving officer Grant Sanborn.

Then again, a lot rides on that one word "if." How about the idea that Les shouldn't "walk away," how about the idea of the superior actually being held accountable?

This is a recurring theme that can only be executed by "oh so" Special Prosecutors with the skill to find culpability in sub-bordinates willing or unwilling to take the blame for following the bosses orders. Dave and Aneal Basi and Bob Virk have been under a cloud for almost seven years now, for basically doing the bidding of their masters in the Premier's office and the Ministry of Finance and Transportation.

Barinder Sall, Dinesh Khanna and Satpal Johl face a dozen criminal charges for the dirty tactics they used to get disgraced former North West (I knew that, glad to see someone is payin' attention, Gary) Van police chief Kash and Karry Heed elected, but in spite of the questionable election, the only question facing Kash is whether or not he gets to be in cabinet - apparently his seat is secure, no matter what - until RECALL, of course.

Mike Harcourt resigned from the big chair when one of his caucus got caught with his finger in a cookie jar that seems almost quaint compared to the brazen scams perpetrated by the Campbell Crime Family, while Gordo hisself won't resign when convicted of an offense that would be a criminal code offense in his own jurisdiction. Glen Clark resigned over bogus allegations involving yet another "scandal" that even if true was laughably small potatoes - yet Doug Wall's indiscretions are almost ignored - in spite of the taxpayer monies gone missing.

There is a lot more to be looked at about the Special Prosecutor legislation and how it has been working out than the minor matter of campaign donations. When "family" is involved in an investigation potentially involving government and Special Prosecutors are plucked from the law firms of the sitting Attorney General or former partners of the lawyer in charge of vetting documents in the very same case - something is rotten in the banana republic of British Columbia.


Pacific Press just part of Public Affairs Bureau

While over on the Island, Les strives for less, the flagship of the Lower Vainland , the Vancouver Sun managed to disgrace itself yesterday with this "editorial". I was going to address this piece of crap but I think it has been dealt with well enough at BC Mary's and the Gazetteer. As an AnonoMouse over at BC Mary's succinctly puts it:

The most interesting thing about the Sun editorial is that it completely abdicates the role of a newspaper - to seek the truth. Even if the material quoted by the defense is not presented as evidence in the narrow sense of the Sun editorial, it should, for any journalist worthy of the name, present an opportunity for investigation.
In the case of Glen Clark, the Sun followed this route and set up a "war room" to investigate the allegations. In the BC Rail Corruption trial, not only is there a willful absence of investigation, there are editorials that warn against it. This is not only a politically motivated double standard, it's an abdication of journalism.

Ross has some interesting observations on this abdication of journalistic values with Vancouver Sun Goes Down on Railgate!

I guess it would be fascinating to see an organizational chart for either the PABlum Brigade or Pacific Press - is Pacific Press part of the PAB or is it the other way around?