Author Topic: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms  (Read 282 times)

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Offline Squidward von Squidderson

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BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« on: January 22, 2019, 05:14:22 pm »
File this under another BC Liberal fiasco that was caught under the (relatively) new government.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/plecas-report-craig-james-gary-lenz-full-report-1.4987795

Quote
Plecas said he heard the Legislative Assembly paid $3,200 for a wood-splitter and more than $10,000 for work tools and a trailer that never arrived on the grounds.

Instead, the Speaker claimed he was told the equipment went straight to James's house, where he and Lenz used it to chop up their own firewood.

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The report accused James of asking legislature employees to load his pickup truck with $10,000 worth of alcohol purchased by the legislature in 2013. The alcohol, the report said, was apparently left over from a conference or an event hosted by the clerk.

These **** should be charged with fraud.

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Offline ?Impact

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2019, 05:22:53 pm »
These **** should be charged with fraud.

Yup, heard this on the radio. They were talking about the wood splitter, but I think the $121.80 for customer support on a mouse is the most stupid one; never mind it was just a dead battery, you could buy a friggen new top of the line Apple mouse for that.

Offline Squidward von Squidderson

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2019, 05:38:41 pm »
Yup, heard this on the radio. They were talking about the wood splitter, but I think the $121.80 for customer support on a mouse is the most stupid one; never mind it was just a dead battery, you could buy a friggen new top of the line Apple mouse for that.

It's dumb, yes...   but was that one particularly malicious and/or fraudulent?  Old man and technology.  Buying a woodsplitter for home on government $$$...   fraudulent. 

Offline ?Impact

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2019, 06:00:08 pm »
but was that one particularly malicious and/or fraudulent?

I take it they were all fraudulent. I am just picking on stupid, because if I go by worst then I would need to do a lot of research. I understand there was a $230k "retirement allowance" for Craig James in 2012, and he tried to get another $300k as well. This was not a pension, it was some other scam. It seems to be the largest, but then I haven't read everything.

Offline kimmy

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2019, 02:08:50 am »
I am just astounded. 

First of all that they got away with this for as long as they did.  I haven't read the whole report and don't have an idea of the full time frame, but the truckload of booze allegation goes back to 2013, and the article says the overspending is in the range of a million dollars.  Clearly somebody was asleep at the switch. 

And the second thing I'm surprised at is that they would do this at all. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, people get caught with their hands in the cookie jar all the time. I wonder if they spent a moment thinking about how ashamed they'd be if they got caught. Given their high-profile positions, it would be news if they got caught. If some accountant at a private business gets caught embezzling, it might make the back page of the City section on the crime blotter round-up.  If high-ranking public officers get removed from the legislature building by the police, it's gonna make the news.


Darryl Plecas is the Speaker of the House, and he was the guy who got booted from the Liberals when he agreed to take the Speaker position. It's not clear to me if his role in launching this investigation is because of his position as Speaker, or if that's coincidental and he contacted the RCMP because of what he learned while traveling with Lenz and James.  I would think the fact that Plecas called in the RCMP to investigate the matter prior to the removal of James and Lenz from their positions means there's a good possibility that there will be criminal charges. I hope so, at least.


It's dumb, yes...   but was that one particularly malicious and/or fraudulent?  Old man and technology.

I think the article says it was his home computer.

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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2019, 04:03:16 am »
I'm surprised they got caught.  There aren't enough journalists to watch for this stuff anymore so it's the honour system.

Offline wilber

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2019, 09:04:28 am »
I'm surprised they got caught.  There aren't enough journalists to watch for this stuff anymore so it's the honour system.

Linda Reid, the previous speaker was notorious fo her spending, I doubt she was watching anyone else’s.
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Offline kimmy

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2019, 09:50:26 am »
I'm surprised it's the speaker's responsibility to review their expenses. I would think that would be the job of a bureaucrat. (maybe that's what the Chief Clerk of the Legislature is for? I've been wondering what that job title actually means. I also assume the Sergeant At Arms has some job beyond just carrying around a stupid mace all day.)

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Offline cybercoma

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2019, 11:16:15 am »
I think the $121.80 for customer support on a mouse is the most stupid one
You have to wonder if the cost accounting includes the employees' wages, ie, the complainant's wage while seeking support and the support tech's wage while giving support, as well as any other collateral costs.

Offline Squidward von Squidderson

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2019, 12:14:37 pm »
You have to wonder if the cost accounting includes the employees' wages, ie, the complainant's wage while seeking support and the support tech's wage while giving support, as well as any other collateral costs.

Not sure why that matters...

Loading up your truck with booze paid for by taxpayers and taking it home is probably the bigger issue.

Offline cybercoma

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #10 on: January 23, 2019, 12:19:13 pm »
Not sure why that matters...

Loading up your truck with booze paid for by taxpayers and taking it home is probably the bigger issue.
Whether it matters or not is up to you, but I'm wondering if that's why it looks like replacing the batteries in a mouse costs $122.

Offline Omni

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #11 on: January 23, 2019, 12:29:50 pm »
I say we bring back public hanging for this lot. The weather is turning nice here now so we could have the gallows on the legislature lawn and then have a bar and a bbq on the inner harbor.

Offline TimG

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Re: BC clerk of the House and sergeant-at-arms
« Reply #12 on: January 23, 2019, 01:58:56 pm »
I'm surprised it's the speaker's responsibility to review their expenses.
I have seen this sort of abuse in government, corporate and non-profits whenever the organization has so much money that managers can't be bothered to question expense reports and you have unethical people willing to take advantage. While the former is incompetence the latter is what needs real punishment. i.e. someone stupid  enough to leave a pile of money for you to steal does not make you less guilty because you stole it.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2019, 02:11:20 pm by TimG »
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