What'sAFormerInkStainedWretchToDoVille
Sean Holman, who first broke the story of the competitive bid-free, HST info-tracts that went to BC Liberal party insiders in the Globe, now has the value-added, pdf-embedded, version up at his own place, PublicEye Online.
And whaddy'a know......
It turns out that former VSun scribe Miro Cernetig was one of the big winners in the rush to the (well-hidden from public perusal) trough:
....Records also show the HST information office directly awarded additional contracts worth up to $163,810 on behalf of the independent panel (chaired by Jim Dinning).
Michael Goehring, vice-president of National Public Relations Inc., received a contract worth up to $4,000 to confidentially ensure the report was plainly written and contained no omissions, while former Vancouver Sun Victoria correspondent Miro Cernetig got one worth up to $37,500 to research, review and produce that document.
Kirk and Co. Consulting Ltd. - the communications firm headed by Judy Kirk, who served as the Liberal caucus's executive director between 1994 and 1996 - was also given a contract worth up to $25,000 to provide the panel with media and public relations advice.
(Finance ministry communications director) Mr. (Matt) Gordon said it was Ms. Kirk's reputation not her political background that resulted in the award.
Gosh.
Looks like, perhaps, Ian Reid might have to write a follow-up to this.
****
In my opinion, the most bizarre (and perhaps most telling) thing about all this was Major Matt Gordon's defense of the super-secret process that was used to hand out all the pork:
"....Finance ministry communications director Matt Gordon said that justification (to circumvent competitive bid guidelines) was used because the "information, strategies and discussions" disclosed during such a competition would have been of a "privileged" nature...."
Privilege?
What the heckfire does privilege have to do with public tax policy and/or the 'strategies' used, allegegly, to promulgate it?
I mean, if you take Mr. Gordon's explanation at face value, and then think hard about it for a moment or two, you can only come to one logical conclusion.
Which is that the Christy Clark's Finance Ministry's chief spokesthingy is telling us that they had to circumvent the public bid process to hide their super-secret, double-probation 'strategies' from....
Wait for it....
Us.
OK?
.
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