Followup shortly, meanwhile the media wades into the Premiers expenses this morning.

Posted on by Laila

Nice to wake up and see a story I researched and broke here, on July 30th, finally making headlines this morning and being the subject of the Question of the Day on NW, CBC, Global and news 1130 this morning!!

Just listened to Bill Good justify all of the premiers spending on his show… gag…and focus on Coffee bills where there is so much more. Followup post shortly, but if you want to see the real meal deal on the expenses, head over to the original story here: https://lailayuile.com/2012/07/30/show-me-the-money-seehow-what-little-we-know-of-the-legislature-spends-its-money-plus-premiers-office-spends-double-what-campbells-crew-did-in-his-last-year/

28 thoughts on “Followup shortly, meanwhile the media wades into the Premiers expenses this morning.”

  3. Dix claiming he hasn’t seen or read any stories on this is not believeable.I have been a lifelong member of the NDP and couldn’t believe his comment on NW with Good this morning.Still thinking about it and surprised,really surprised.I have to think about this for a while,but thanks for your honesty in reporting both sides Lila.I don’t think the NDP like you very much right now.

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  4. Laila, save yourself the 60 minutes of your life that you will never get back and dont bother wasting your time listening to “Blowhard Bill” . The wheezing govt gas bag.
    He is so blatantly pro Liberal and biased in favour of Christy Clark it’s nauseating.
    Either he apparently he doesnt care thats she mocks CKNW at govt gatherings or he hopes to snag one of those overpriced govt media contract jobs she seems to hand out with endless abandon…..
    Either way, to expect Bill Good to present an honest, unbiased, critical discussion on the Clark govt is like waiting for Stephen Harper to finally announce he’s gay. Never in a million years.

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    1. Hahahaha….lol.. oh.. that cracked me right up. Thank you! Sometimes I wonder at those who dont seem to get the perception they are so far up someone elses ass they can see what kind of filling are in their teeth 😉

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      1. My pleasure,
        Bill Good is so far up Christy’s butt the lack of oxygen and the overabundance of methane has affected his powers of reason.
        Eventually, this too shall pass………….

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  6. Laila–

    Too bad they didn’t have you on with Stephen Quinn this morning on the Ceeb this morning instead of Les Leyne who wanted to know the ‘context’ of the spending before he had anything to say about it.

    Sheesh

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    1. Hi Rossk, yes I can’t believe the spin I am hearing, from both sides. Dix seemed to defend the premier, stating we should be fair and look in context, while Good didnt look further than the coffee bill. Appalling. This is representative of the endemic prevailing justification that it is the cost of doing business… akin to the RCMP defending their own under fire. Sick is what it is. Sick.

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  7. I’m not so concerned about the coffee. It might be a legitimate expense, i.e. coffee for the office & staff. My concern is those bills at Water & Bishops. If it was legitimate business then why could it not be carried out in the premier’s office in Vancouver. I know they have them. We have that whole building on Robson.

    Why was she buying at wine stores on the company card. If it was for personal use then did she reimburse the government. I suggest they take away their credit cards, every one of them. They get a monthly allowance which must be reported on each month or no more money. It is a petty thing but when we are removing services to people who need Community Living services the MLAs don’t need all the money they are spending on credit cards.

    What we have is wtf crustie spending more on two resturants than some disabiled people get in half a year. I think someone on disability receives $900 a month to provide shelter, food, phone, electricity, , etc.

    The NDP needs to get out in front of this. Bring their books up to date this week, publish, & reimburse for all expenses which are not consistent with the current state of affairs in B.C. They all need to spend a month on the welfare rates for an attitude adjustment.

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  8. e.a.f.
    I totally agree that the N.d.P. should be all over this…….
    However, with their less than stellar response so far.
    Methinks they are just as culpable at snuffling up to the “Expense Trough”

    If it’s a greedy as a pig and spends like a pig, and squeels like a pig when caught…………it must be a politician.

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  11. You have to wonder if the NDP and Dix have rocks in their collective heads. Obviously they have a really short memory when it comes to remembering the corporate media agenda in this province. The corporate elitists want nothing but accelerating the greed factor to fill their pockets and thus we have a bought and paid for MSM. Anything that slows the machine is a threat and anything that proposes a social conscience is a greater threat. Dix and company should brain up and if they want to get a message out they should use other means than the propagandists of greed and refuse to participate or be interviewed by this lecherous bunch. Save the interviews for independent bloggers and get the message out there with social media. Why do they pander to those that would slit their throats with piddly trumped up issues at the first chance?

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  12. To repeat myself on this Blog:
    A quote from Larry Hariman:
    “Politics is derived from two words.”
    “Poly” meaning “many” and “tics” meaning “blood sucking parasites”………

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    1. lol, love it!
      blood sucking parasites so truly encompasses the real breadth of skill our “officials” carry in their repertoire, surprised none of them have that already listed on their resumés.

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  13. The entries on the Credit Card accounts are vague, giving only Business Name, number of transactions, amount and location of the business (obviously, where Air Canada entries all show Winnipeg, most of those trips were to places other than Winnipeg but show up as Winnipeg because that is where Air Canada bills from – they fail to say what cities flights were between or the purpose of the trips). The level of detail (or should I say lack of detail) makes many of the entries meaningless, which probably is what they want. I worked for a govenment Dept once and, when I had expenses, my claim had to include why each expense occured and required the relevant receipts to support claims. That doesn’t seem to apply here but should. The Premier’s Office should lead by example. I can understand the Premier giving an official gift to a visiting dignity, but how about recording that expense as a “gift of ——— to ———, so we don’t assume that she’s buying jewelery for herself and billing taxpayers for it. All MLA’s need to pull up their socks and bring real and meaningful financial reporting on-line for all to see. THEY NEED TO START REALIZING THAT ITS NOT THEIR MONEY THEY’RE SPENDING! If they have nothing to hide, SPELL OUT THE DETAILS. COME ON CHRISTY, YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO HAVE THE MOST OPEN GOVERNMENT EVER – JUST WHEN DID YOU INTEND THAT OPEN GOVERNMENT TO START?

    Also, looking at the story in today’s Province @

    http://www.theprovince.com/news/Premier+Office+defends+luxury+credit+card+items+cost+doing+business/7032834/story.html#ixzz22R8DyW7M

    (Mike) “Morton said the addition of 30 staff members, the result of the Premier’s Office taking over intergovernmental relations last year, has added to costs. And he added there is an expected standard that needs to be upheld at both the Vancouver and Victoria offices.”

    The taking over of “intergovernmental relations” with 30 additional people under the (not) Premier’s office sounds like she is copying the “Stephen Harper” method of total control over government communications (nothing released without the Premier’s Office okaying it to ensure messages are ‘framed’ (spun) properly). No doubt Boessenkool and “Gummie” MacIntyre, Harper hired guns, helped her accomplish this Harper like change. The old saying, “if you want to control the message, control the messenger”, seems to apply here. That way they make sure we get the proper “talking points”.

    Thanks Laila, for digging out this story and doing the important work that you do.

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    1. Thank you Colin for the kind words. I was terribly proud to see this end up all over every media outlet, even if Baldrey was the only one who acknowledge the source of the story. My site is a good resource for reporters..lol..

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  14. For me it’s surprising and depressing that this currently- revealed squandering of a few hundred thousand $ should generate so much indignation, while the IPP give away to private interests divests B.C. citizens ( and wildlife) of ownership of many of our large rivers. To add insult, B.C. Liberals dictated that we must buy electricity from the new owners at rates double or triple the going market price. The cost to citizens over the next several decades? 30 to 40 Billion Dollars! The public indignation over this thievery? Zero!

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    1. Your arguments are valid Bob, but they miss the point. If our government officials are squandering money like this on personal expenses and entertainment, then it shows that they are not intelligent enough to be in control of the bigger things ( we already know that, but this is just icing on the cake ). Their expenses are showing us that they are arrogant to the nth degree and could really care less about the people of BC. Thousands for one trip to an eatery, while thousands have to try and live on less than $ 600.00 a month ?

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      1. Bob, you get that, I get it, and so do many others… but explaining it in a manner so the average person who might not even know what IPP means.. is challenging. I think people get P3’s now with the comparison I have done with mortgages and consumer debt, but the power generation issue is more complex and sadly, loses people quickly. Careless and unmonitored spending on thinks like Hooters is both juicy and something we all understand when its taxpayers dollars being used.

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  15. 500k is a far cry from 1 billion. i’m no fan of wasting hard earned taxpayer money. but there is more than meets the eye here.

    the people of the province (the 34%) know this. are we going to stand and pout in outrage at daily expenditures? or suck it up and come up with a better plan.

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    1. While I agree that the $475k expense account is peanuts compared to other questionable govts expenditures that are in the Billions of dollars…. BILLIONS of dollars.

      I think this may be the “straw that breaks the voters back”.
      While voters generally accept most of the financially foolish schemes that every govt of the day seems to foist upon us. Schemes that are either too complex or to boring to grab the attention of Joe and Jane sixpack in their otherwise busy lives ( How ’bout those Canucks eh?). Govts count on the general populations lack of interest to ram through legislation or purchases that they (and their corperate lobbists) want.

      Everyone for the most part has had to deal with an expense account of one type or another, whether through work or returning from the store when you were 12 years old with a gallon of milk ,the receipt and the spare change to give to your deal old mom.
      Sooooo when a voter hears of this type of expense scam they can immediately relate to it and say, WTF?

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      1. It is far more than the premiers expenses Chris, far more. This is something that requires a full forensic audit, and investigation in myopinion. You can bet your ass that there has been some hurried and stringent memos fired off to all card holders about spending from the moment this story broke here, and while they can rightly claim some are fraudulent charges, that is not going to account for all the crazy charges.

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