NevermindTheCriminalsThisIsJustThe
SenateVille
Sandy Garrosino, writing in the VanNatObserver, is having a hard time with that question:
...Part of me will always wonder if the Crown always harboured (consciously or unconsciously) a death-wish for this trial. On Thursday, they just quit. There might yet be convictions on the minor criminal charges, but this baby's done...
Her piece is one heck of a primer on all that went down and why it is, exactly, that Mr. Duffy will likely walk.
And it's hard not to agree with her thesis.
But, regardless all that, the following bit stuck in my craw:
...(F)or his part, Duffy says he didn’t even know Nigel Wright wrote the cheque, and thought the Conservative Party was managing the financial side of the business. No evidence entered at trial conflicts with any of this.
Nigel Wright on the other hand, was determined to put a stop to the “Chinese water torture” of the unraveling PR disaster.
Senior respected lawyers for the PMO and Duffy then negotiated Duffy's “agreement" to repay (secured under protest and duress). Ben Perrin testified that while Wright kept key details of the arrangement from him, but that he would have spoken up had there been any “whiff of criminality” involved.
"The potential for there to be a criminal issue here was never in our minds,” testified Perrin. "We thought we were dealing with a potential violation of a Senate rule."...
{snip}
...And Ben Perrin wasn’t just some gussied-up notary public. He was lawyer to the PMO, senior policy advisor to the Department of Justice, a former law clerk to the Supreme Court of Canada, a former intern at the International Criminal Court at The Hague, and now a professor of law at UBC...
Why is so hard for me to let that passage sail on by?
Because I can't fathom how something that has all the appearances of a massive, orchestrated criminal conspiracy can be viewed as nothing more than a little institutional rule fiddling by a passel of high-priced, highly-respected and highly-senior lawyers who should know better.
OK?
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And as for the good Mr. Wright's involvement?...Well, we all know that Lord Black will be shocked, shocked I tell you, if anything further comes of that...After all, as the good Mr. Black himself told us awhile back, this (and everything else that is wrong with the non-gilded part of the world), is the fault of corporals everyhere.
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NFL Open Thread: Bye-bye mon Cowboys edition
1 hour ago
12 comments:
haven't heard a word about who is paying Duffy's legal fees.
The depth of stupidity some are willing to adopt when the chips are down as an explanation for their malfeasance never ceases to amaze.
Sergeant (not corporal) Schultz was a perceptive genius compared to these back-room denizens.
Keith--
One thing we know for sure...
Regardless who's doing it, the lawyers always get paid.
(with apologies to reader EG)
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Lew--
Indeed.
If only the good Sgt Schulz had been in the room for the negotiations he might have been able to tell us about all the nothings he didn't see.
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Duffy's legal team funded by the Conservative Party of Canada?
Comment Update!!!
I have heard from an Anon-O-Mouse who may or may not have lawyerly connections and/or inside knowledge of a lawyerly kind.
They have made it very clear, in no uncertain terms of absolute certainty, that lawyers of certain stripes most certainly do not always get paid.
Therefore, I most certainly apologize for any misrepresentations of lawyerly compensation, uncertain or otherwise, previously made.
Or some such thing.
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This whole fiasco has been so disturbing on so many levels. You have to ask yourself how is it the RCMP can charge a man with accepting a bribe when they are unwilling to charge anyone with offering it? How do they think that will work out? Charlie Angus NDP minister asked this twice of the RCMP with no reply.
They instead scurry like bedbugs in hopes none will notice.
Why were they so willing to do the bidding of the PMO? My dwindling respect dropped another 1000%.
It is obvious beyond belief how ridiculous this has all been. There will never be justification for this gross insult to canadians until proper charges are laid on the proper criminals. But i won't hold my breadth, all I expect is that my trust will diminish further yet.
Don F;
“ This whole fiasco has been so disturbing on so many levels. You have to ask yourself how is it the RCMP can charge a man with accepting a bribe when they are unwilling to charge anyone with offering it? How do they think that will work out? Charlie Angus NDP minister asked this twice of the RCMP with no reply.”
Ah yes, this is what I refer to as the Clarence Campbell - Senator rule.
Clarence Campbell of the NHL was found guilty of bribing a senator in the duty-free Skyshops scandal while the good Liberal senator Giguere was found innocent of accepting that bribe. I wondered how this could be. Of course, Campbell was tried in Ontario and Giguerre in Quebec. I also recall Rafe Mair made praising comments about the senator upon his death - none of which referred to Skyshops.
Then we had the Sinclair Stevens scandal where he resigned from Mulroney’s cabinet in 1987 if I recall correctly. In 2004 another judge stated publically that the first judge got it all wrong.
Here you go;
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/judge-throws-out-1987-sinclair-stevens-conflict-decision-1.473755
Re the Duffy trial remember something else that is important; Wright, under oath, stated that God told him to write the cheque for Duffy.
It is the ultimate in science fiction; make a claim under oath that nobody wandering around on this planet is able to substantiate.
Dave Basi and Bob Virk were convicted of accepting bribes in the BC Rail fiasco. The bribers working on behalf of Omnitrax walked. Brian Kieran was welcomed back into the legislative press gallery and Erik Bornmann (Spiderman) was admitted to the bar in Ontario.
Riding the SkyTrain without a proper fare receipt would have brought them more of a penalty. Because this is BC Liberal country.
What Lew said--
All of which had me wondering why the good Ms. Miller decided not to hire Spiderman.
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@RossK:
I doubt Ms. Miller did the beagle hiring. Because the folks who did some hiring at the time of her alleged delete-fest can't afford to have the cat part of the cat and mouse revealed, this will be crowd-funded by the fat-cat crowd.
Point taken Lew.
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