(This
column was published in the North
Shore News on
Mar. 21, 2001)
Nixon's lesson not learned by politicians
By Leo Knight
IT'S
long been said that politics creates strange bedfellows, but
recent events seem to indicate that politics also creates
idiots.
Take
Edmonton-Strathcona Canadian Alliance MP Rahim Jaffer and his
little bit of game playing last weekend at the expense of CKNW
talk show host Peter Warren.
The
story has been much discussed by now and, as I write this two
days before publication, it seems it will be one of those
political stories that will be with us for a while.
On
Saturday, Jaffer's executive assistant, Matthew Johnston, gave a
radio interview to Warren while pretending to be Jaffer, who it
seems, was busy opening a coffee shop for the latté crowd in
Alberta's capital city.
While
the foolishness of that need not be argued, one cannot help but
shake the bonnet over the blatant stupidity of Jaffer
exacerbating the error by then claiming that he was in fact
personating Johnston in an earlier call with Warren's producer.
Yet
again, we see an elected politician vainly attempting a cover-up
when a simple dose of the truth would have sufficed.
Had
Jaffer, when confronted, simply said, "Yes, it's true. He
made a mistake with the best of intentions and has paid for it
with his job." That would have been it. But no, the slick,
young politician just had to make a sow's ear out of a silk
purse.
Have
none of these people ever heard of Richard Nixon? Had he not
tried to engage in a cover up, the Watergate break-in would have
been little more than a second rate burglary and not even a
footnote in history.
The
other extremely puzzling thing about the whole Jaffer situation
is how Stockwell Day responded.
Since
the election and the less than expected results achieved by the
Alliance under their new leader, Day has been on the defensive,
both from outside forces and elements from within the party.
He
has also suffered greatly in credibility on the issue of the
letter he wrote to the Red Deer Advocate about school
trustee and lawyer, Lorne Goddard. Taxpayers in Alberta have
been howling about the $750,000 plus payout to settle the case.
Since
then Day has struggled to regain any momentum and the party
seems divided rather than united behind him.
Then
Jaffer gives him a gift.
The
Alliance have been all over the prime minister over the scandal
dubbed "Shawinigate" but Chrétien has managed to
avoid any body blows in the questionable affair. Largely because
Day has not been able to deflect the criticisms aimed at him.
It's hard to mount a sustained offense if one is constantly
repelling attacks.
With
Day calling for honesty from the prime minister and soundly
rebuking the three ministers involved in the Gaetano Amadeo
farce (the Mafia hit man in this country for several years
despite the existence of two Interpol warrants for murder),
Jaffer gave him the opportunity to show leadership, integrity
and political smarts by banishing Jaffer from caucus for
deliberately lying and trying to effect a cover up. The very
thing for which Day has been attacking the government.
He
did discipline Jaffer, stripping him from the Small Business
committee and sending him from the third row to the fifth row in
the house, but really that's pretty small beer. Especially when
he could have asserted a moral leadership and silenced his
critics at the same time.
It's
difficult to demand honesty from the government if he appears to
be soft on an integrity issue surrounding one of his own
members.
For
example, on the same day as the Jaffer blunder was rocketing
around Parliament, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Solicitor
General, Lynn Myers, admitted to misleading the House of Commons
on Friday. Ordinarily, this would result in swift action by the
Speaker banishing the offending member. But not this time for
some reason.
During
Friday's Question Period, Alliance MP Jason Kenney was trying to
ask a question when Myers, a loud bullyboy at the best of times,
screamed out "racist."
Kenney
demanded Myers withdraw the remark. The truth being seemingly
foreign to him, Myers denied he said any such thing claiming he
had said, "rubbish." On Monday he admitted he had
misled the House and calmly sat down, suffering no damage.
West
Vancouver MP John Reynolds tried to extract some blood from the
junior minister, using Jaffer as an example of what should
happen. But, it seems the attack lacked effect.
Like
Jaffer, all Myers had to do on Friday was withdraw the offending
remark and sit down. That would have been it. But, like Jaffer,
it seems a politician's knee-jerk reaction is to lie. Instead he
has given the Opposition an opportunity to recover quickly from
the Jaffer faux pas.
Why
is it, in politics today, the truth is the first casualty?
*
* *
On
a personal note, I'd like to publicly pass on to Peter Speck,
publisher of this paper, my sincere thanks and heartfelt best
wishes for his retirement, announced last week.
I
try and take a strong position on events as I see them and since
I began writing for the North Shore News in 1994, I have never
once been asked not to do or say something regardless of the
topic. Despite threats of lawsuits and other things over the
years, Peter Speck backed my right to speak out even if he
disagreed, personally, with my opinions.
I appreciate the integrity he brought to our professional relationship. The sort of integrity missing in our political leaders as discussed above.
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