The Alison Redford transgressions thread. Update- Redford quits.

[killer_carlson]

I dunno Dion, there is this lingering rumour of throwing something that just won't go away. No idea what it is, but the tantrum one has been around a while.

If there is no merit to the allegations, then it is petty and Webber will pay the price, but if he is calling a spade a spade, I think that might play well for him.

Details will have to come out to verify it, and should he take heat over it, he'll be sure to spill them.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Dion

I thought his personal comments were in poor taste. There was no need to to slag her as a bully and such.

To see a sincere and honest interview from the guy was actually refreshing. Its a telling statement from someone inside as to what a terrible leader Redford actually is. We've all read about the temper tantrums and semi abusive behavoir from Reford before. This merely confirms that she's not fit for office imo.

I applaud him for what he's done and hopefully others follow suit. He's actually listened to his constituents - something more politicians could follow these days.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by troutman

It would be a train wreck. Can't decide if the entertainment value is worth the damage.

If you don't think this administration has damaged the province and been a train-wreck, I have to ask, could anyone do much worse? I really don't see how I can rationalize a PC vote after all of this nonsense. Much of which is likely still not even coming to light at this point.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

To see a sincere and honest interview from the guy was actually refreshing. Its a telling statement from someone inside as to what a terrible leader Redford actually is. We've all read about the temper tantrums and semi abusive behavoir from Reford before. This merely confirms that she's not fit for office imo.

I applaud him for what he's done and hopefully others follow suit. He's actually listened to his constituents - something more politicians could follow these days.

Making personal remarks towards your leader smacks of revenege, bitterness or whatever you want to call it. I'm no fan of Redford and it's possible his personal remarks are true but please stick to the principles of why you left and take the high road.

[Dion]

Bullying accusation against premier may spark internal Tory probe

The president of the Progressive Conservative party said he’s troubled by allegations of bullying levelled against Premier Alison Redford and the party is likely to delve further into the issue, even as Redford’s cabinet colleagues heatedly denied the charge.

PC party president Jim McCormick told the Herald he has seen no evidence of abusive behaviour on Redford’s part, but said he also has “a great deal of respect and admiration” for Webber.

“It’s troubling to hear, most definitely. And because I’m not in that workplace, it’s hard for me to really comment with much depth,” he said. “Hearing these comments are very troubling.”

McCormick said the accusation of bullying — along with Webber’s defection — is likely to come up at Saturday’s PC board of directors meeting, and the executives may decide to take followup action.

“We don’t have shrinking violets on the provincial executive. I wouldn’t characterize it as a showdown. I think we’ve always had some very open and honest straightforward conversations at our board meetings — and I don’t expect this one to be any different,” he added.

University of Calgary political scientist Melanee Thomas said there is a questionable undertone to Webber’s comments.

Politics is full of hard-edged and demanding leaders, mostly male, who are not demanded to be “nice,” she noted.

“It’s a typical sexist trope to refer to someone as throwing a temper tantrum, especially when you are referring to women who are playing hardball as one has to do when one is a political leader,” Thomas said.

“Basically, people who are in leadership positions have to make difficult decisions that might not be especially popular and you have to sometimes come down like a bit of a hammer.”

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/po...914/story.html

[Dion]

Stunned PC MLAs unsure of next move

In the Progressive Conservative world, nobody really knows. Government MLAs are milling around like cattle blasted by electronic prods, so stunned they can hardly find the trough.

They may get another jolt Saturday, when Premier Alison Redford goes before the 52-member board of her PC party.

The party directors are not happy people.

At the very least, these party loyalists from all over the province will convey their displeasure.

McCormick even disputed comments by deputy premier Dave Hancock, who portrayed Webber as “a sad man” still upset about being dropped from cabinet.

“I’m disappointed to hear those words used,” McCormick said. “That would not be in my opinion an accurate description of Len.”

There hasn’t been an allegation this visceral and personal from a government MLA — or even an opposition one — in the 43-year history of the government.

One unhappy MLA said, “really, where would I go? I don’t want to join any of the other parties. Sitting as an independent won’t help — I can still do more good for my constituents as a PC, no matter how bad this is.”

Some MLAs could still fall off Redford’s table at any moment, but more will wait to see what happens at Saturday’s party meeting.

After that, who knows?

One party veteran said it best: “Once a thing like this gets rolling, you have no clue where it’s going to end up.”

http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion...729/story.html

[killer_carlson]

Wow

That being said, I'd still be shocked to see anything after Saturday aside from, "we are all in this together and Redford still has our full support"

By the way, a party investigation into bullying is BS. What do you call the party whip role? Was she a bully? Maybe, but is that deserving of a probe? Absolutely not. What is deserving of a probe by PC members is her sense of entitlement and lack of vision consistent with Albertans values

[Resolute 14]

I guess it depends on whether the party president is a supporter or opponent of Redford at this point. If the former, he could be trying to exonerate her. If the latter, a probe could be used as a means of pushing her aside for someone new.

[darklord700]

There are two pretty damming writeup about Alison today fro the Sun. I know the Sun is not pro-Alison but it is hard to see how she can recover from this. The media has been far from kind to her even after she wrote the $45K cheque two days ago.

Assuming she survives this, she'll at best be a lamn duck leader of the PC. If someone at a normal job mis-claimed a $45K expense, it'll be bad enough to see that person hang on to that job. It's even worse in politics when all your hear about Alison is that $45K for closer to a month now.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I really don't know how anyone thinks she can survive at this point. People may not like the PCs but that doesn't make them stupid. They cannot win another election with her at helm. So either the rest of the party dumps her, or if that can't be done they'll sit as independants and maybe even form a new party going forward. But she's cooked, the PCs would need a total miracle to win with her as the leader. It's not even about policies anymore, she's just that unliked and unlikeable.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I really don't know how anyone thinks she can survive at this point. People may not like the PCs but that doesn't make them stupid. They cannot win another election with her at helm. So either the rest of the party dumps her, or if that can't be done they'll sit as independants and maybe even form a new party going forward. But she's cooked, the PCs would need a total miracle to win with her as the leader. It's not even about policies anymore, she's just that unliked and unlikeable.

She must think she has a chance.

I certainly wouldn't cut a $45000 cheque to improve my image right before I lost my job.

[Bmuzyka]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

She must think she has a chance.

I certainly wouldn't cut a $45000 cheque to improve my image right before I lost my job.

Well her ego has grown to the size of the moon since she became Premier, so I wouldn't count it out that she truly believes she has a chance

[GP_Matt]

Has she actually paid the money back or was it just a statement that she is going to pay it back?

It would be interesting if she made the promise and then followed the fall out thinking that if it doesn't work she can always step aside and avoid paying but if it placates everyone then it was worth $45000 to keep her job.

As well, I know the party said they wouldn't pay the money for her, but can she raise the money through her reelection campaign or her constituency association?
If the party said they won't pay that implies that they could pay if they wanted to. It will be a sad day if she can raise the money and hand out tax receipts in exchange.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

Has she actually paid the money back or was it just a statement that she is going to pay it back?

It would be interesting if she made the promise and then followed the fall out thinking that if it doesn't work she can always step aside and avoid paying but if it placates everyone then it was worth $45000 to keep her job.

As well, I know the party said they wouldn't pay the money for her, but can she raise the money through her reelection campaign or her constituency association?
If the party said they won't pay that implies that they could pay if they wanted to. It will be a sad day if she can raise the money and hand out tax receipts in exchange.

Didn't that kind of thing happen with some MLAs who were paid for committee work that never happened and then they weren't re-elected?

I also think that the PCs paid for their members whereas a guy like Raj Sherman (and possibly others, I just know he did) paid out of their own pocket? Thats a complete disgrace. If I was Sherman or another that paid from my own pocket for this I would be on the warpath still.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

She must think she has a chance.

I certainly wouldn't cut a $45000 cheque to improve my image right before I lost my job.

$45K after tax is a good chuck of coin even for the premier. I think Alison though cutting the cheque was good enough. But the public and media had let the party know that it wasn't.

This case is too far gone to be swept under the rug. I think ClayDavis has a point. These politicians care most about their job prospect. If they don't think Alison can improve their job prospect in the next election, why keep her there now?

2 years is a ton of time and would you not want to start the rebuilding process now than later if you were a PC MLA? Other than Rob Ford, there is not a more disgraced politician in this country than Alison for the last month.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

Has she actually paid the money back or was it just a statement that she is going to pay it back?

It would be interesting if she made the promise and then followed the fall out thinking that if it doesn't work she can always step aside and avoid paying but if it placates everyone then it was worth $45000 to keep her job.

As well, I know the party said they wouldn't pay the money for her, but can she raise the money through her reelection campaign or her constituency association?
If the party said they won't pay that implies that they could pay if they wanted to. It will be a sad day if she can raise the money and hand out tax receipts in exchange.

Wouldn't it be illegal for her to use campaign funds to pay back that travel expense? It sounds like misappropriation to me

[GP_Matt]

I forgot about that, but I think you are right. I wonder if there is any record of which members paid personally, who had the party pay for them and who never paid anything back.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by darklord700

$45K after tax is a good chuck of coin even for the premier. I think Alison though cutting the cheque was good enough. But the public and media had let the party know that it wasn't.

This case is too far gone to be swept under the rug. I think ClayDavis has a point. These politicians care most about their job prospect. If they don't think Alison can improve their job prospect in the next election, why keep her there now?

2 years is a ton of time and would you not want to start the rebuilding process now than later if you were a PC MLA? Other than Rob Ford, there is not a more disgraced politician in this country than Alison for the last month.

Ya, that's stretching things pretty far. I mean good effort trying to equate the two and all, but really that's just laughable. One guy admitted to smoking crack and has been the star of late night comedy as a result and the other one is a premier who was re-elected with a sizeable majority not long ago, in a bit of a political jam.

I'm really hoping that there is a 3:30pm on a Friday afternoon kind of announcement that she is stepping down, or a bunch of MLAs are moving to be independents. I say that just because its enjoyable for me to watch this theatre.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Redford is quite arrogant which is pretty annoying too, but she's not embarassing us at the level of Rob Ford. She's really embarassing herself more than anyone. It also appears Rob has no shame in the slightest, whereas I think Redford has just a little shame (at least she paid back the money?).

But here's a question to our more well versed politico's: What happens if say 35 PCs decide to sit as independants? Does that mean one of the independant's becomes premier? Or does Redford keep it by default?

[darklord700]

I actually find Rob Ford sufferable as he doesn't take himself seriously. He's a bozo people like to laugh at but Alison is a self preening peacock that people simply dislike.