The Boessenkool 'Investigation', ctd...Was A 'Deliberate Decision' Made?

AllTheVerbiageThatFits
SansRecordsVille


The Victoria Times-Colonist has weighed in with an Op-Ed on the lack of any written records of the Boessenkool investigation that Christy Clark offered up as an excuse for her two week delay in calling for his resignation at her press conference on September 24th.

Essentially, they summarize the ground that has already been tilled here and elswewhere based on the results of FOI requests by Bob Mackin and Jonathan Fowlie.

And then the folks at the VT-C go much farther than Vaughn Palmer's conclusion that this thing is 'amateurish and sneaky'.

To wit:

...It’s hard to believe no notes were taken, no messages sent, no written information exchanged in a two-week investigation, unless there was a deliberate and conscious decision not to put anything in writing. It’s human nature that civil servants would be leery of freedom-of-information requests, but the public’s business should be conducted transparently. 

The wise course of action would be to exercise discretion in keeping notes, not to refrain completely from writing anything down.

Certainly, the identity of the person who was allegedly the target of Boessenkool’s unwanted attentions is not something to be made public, and there may be other sensitive information properly kept confidential. Ken Boessenkool’s conduct, whatever it was, is almost irrelevant now. It was a minor scandal, a mere blip in history. 

Of deeper concern is the apparent disregard for proper procedures and lack of prudence in how the incident was handled...


Now, this could all be explained by the FOI minimization policy that we have dubbed the 'Dobell Doctrine'.

Assuming, of course, that there actually was an actual investigation.

Allegedly.

.