The tired, old MSM excuse "it's summertime and there is no news to report" was blown out of the water yesterday on both AM and FM talk radio.
On TGCTS in the drive time, Coun. Jenny Gerbasi told the Kick-FM audience why she felt the process to establish a water utility was being rushed.
At a time of year when so many Winnipeggers are on vacation and unplugged from new media, councillors are in a position of voting on a proposal that would remove accountability from them not only for water rates, but for any future deals with outlying municipalities -- and even opened the door for fee-for-service home garbage collection.
Today, the Winnipeg Free Press editorial "Water utility muddle" echoed Gerbasi, stating "it's getting hard to believe that all 15 councillors and the mayor are fully prepared for the important decision they are about to make", concluding, "Unless there is a need for a decision on July 22, council should consider postponing the vote until September so it can ensure that all councillors, and the public, have a clearer understanding of the plan."
Then last night on CJOB's Nighthawk, Conservative leader Hugh McFadyen outlined how far the opposition is willing to go to force Elections Manitoba to fess up the details of the arrangement to forego prosecution of the Doer NDP just before the 2003 election call. The NDP was caught submitting forged documents in a rebate scam stemming from the 1999 election.
McFadyen revealed to CJOB listeners that the auditor David Asselstine stumbled across the most blatant clue - the "expense" being claimed, wages paid to as-yet-unnamed unions for their workers supplied to the NDP campaign, was paid for by a cheque, written the SAME DAY a cheque in the same amount was "donated" back to the NDP by the unions.
The cheque-swap resulted in the actual cost to the NDP being zero-- but the arrangement was concealed in the official filings to make it look like the party was eligible for approx. $76,000 in taxpayer support to help repay the campaign expense. The official agents at the constituency level, who prepared the documentation for party headquarters to review, were unaware their work was altered when it was presented for their final signature.
According to Finance Minister Greg Selinger, this sleight of hand was standard for the NDP to falsely garner refunds for non-existant expenses since the 1980's, which would include the entire time Gary Doer has been party leader.
McFadyen said that options included going to court or even to the new Lt.-Governor Phillip Lee seeking redress, and he emphasized that Manitobans need clear answers about why Elections Manitoba allowed the NDP to defraud taxpayers without penalty, as their impartiality is justifiably in question.
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The story of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority scramble to control and stifle questioning of their pay raises was heard on both TGCTS and the Nighthawk yesterday.
It turns out a letter to the editor written by a doctor, did not reveal that said doctor is actually a director of a program for the WRHA, and not in private practice.
When the doctor was called and offered the opportunity to go on radio and explain her asssertion that the head knocks of the WRHA are hard working and deserve every penny, she insisted that the invitation had to be vetted through the WRHA spin doctors (themselves beneficiaries of handsome pay increases even though they do not save lives and there is no proof they are 'heavily recruited' by other health agencies). The communications expert commenced to lecture that any requests to interview doctors had to go thru head office, even though she confirmed the letter at issue did not require, or have, prior WRHA approval.
Even though the doctor could have refused the invitation when we spoke to her yesterday morning, it was left to the word-bending professional, on the taxpayers' dime, to act as publicist for the doctor's private matter and refuse the opportunity to set the record straight.
If you think it's tough to understand why the WRHA insists they control the media speaking to doctors about non-WRHA related actions such as letters to the editor supporting the entitlements of Doctor-bosses like Brian Postl and Brock Wright, try to figure out why the "Public Sector Compensation Disclosure" report is not available online, or why no announcement of its release is found anywhere on the WRHA or Manitoba government websites.
It sure was a surprise to the government information phone operator, the Minister of Health's office, and the Information and Privacy Secretariat, as we spent hours playing the chase-the-report game. (A hard copy was made readily available- for pick up at the new WRHA digs at 650 Main Street.)
Meanwhile, no word yet from the spin gang on Main Street about our request to have any- ANY- spokesperson from the WRHA Board of Directors come on the CJOB Nighthawk this week - we offered Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday - and explain to open-line radio listeners why, for instance, Postl is worth $418,000 a year given the scandals and secrecy that have characterized his reign.
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Today on TGCTS -
more on the water utility proposal, negative feedback from David Asper's football stadium at the U. of Manitoba open house, and the WRHA. And, the interview with Citi-FM's H!- Howard Mandshein, which we couldn't fit in to yesterdays show.
Tonight on the Nighthawk -
9 PM, Coun. Jeff Browaty in studio, 10 PM Global TV reporter Meera Bahadoosingh, and 11 PM, Today in History with Professor Levinski.
