The Alison Redford transgressions thread. Update- Redford quits.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Handsome B. Wonderful

So that excuses her behaviour? Because money is wasted elsewhere she's allowed to be an a-hole?

I don't think that excuses anybody's behavior, but why not go after the big money wasters with the same vigor? There are bigger fish to fry.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Oh come on. Vacation? For a month? While the legislature is sitting? Nice timing.

You guys that are defending her must have some pretty nice jobs where you can just not show up for work for extended periods of time, and still collect most of your salary?

This isn't so much a witch hunt as it is the public being pissed right off at this person for blatantly abusing public money, so much so, that she got run out of the premiers office, and now, almost like a FU to the voters, she's continuing to abuse public money by not showing up for work.

Translate that into company money, and there's not a company in this province that wouldn't fire her for it. TFB that she's in the public eye. She took the job, now she needs to show the hell up.

If it's too much heat for her, she needs to quit.

I have no idea how long she's been down there? Plenty of people get paid vacation time though, so that's not necessarily a scandal. It's amusing at least to some extent that these Albertans who see her in Palm Springs are there as well, and don't see the irony. It's cool for them to be on vacation, but not her because she just resigned as premier I guess?

I am not trying to defend her, but really, what if she's on a vacation? That could easily be the case and is hardly a big deal.

[4X4]

https://www.assembly.ab.ca/pro/SessionalCalendar.pdf

Tough job. I can see why she needs to take off the month of April, what with the burden of working March and May and November. Maybe I'm being too hard on her. I know that if my daughter got caught stealing at school, and the kids were being mean to her, I'd let her stay home until she felt ready to face the music.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

No one will remember that she no showed after getting the boot. Honestly this whole outrage over her absence is a joke. Her party has a majority, it's not like her absence is hindering any legislation from being passed. The only people who might suffer is her riding, but even then I doubt it. Everyone wanted her gone, now they want her to show up in shame, for what? To exact some moral justice? It's not like we would get any additional value out of her. Never seen people hate someone so much for perceived slights.

No is it too much to expect her to do her job? Something she's clearly not doing as she has pretty much locked her constituance office and fled town.

Your talking about the moral outrage being a joke. Its in her job description as an MLA to represent her constituents in the legislature. She's not doing that. She's not showing up for work she's missed a bunch of days in which the mechanism kicks in to reduce her salary, and she applies for a non reduction in her salary which is put in place for people with real issues or real health problems, and given her litany of entitlement issues, something that she's probably not suffering from.

Last time I checked, having hurt feelings or being butt hurt is not an excuse for someone being paid by tax payer dollars to skip work and continue to get paid.

The outrage is legitimate. She's basically spent a ton of money on using the Alberta plane as her personal airline at a cost to us. She tried and thank god she failed to build her own version of the Tsar's winter palace to house herself and her daughter. She basically lied and made up excuses, and then when she got busted for it, she fled from her job and demanded that she did get paid.

She's the very picture of why Canadians don't trust their leadership.

She's the poster boy of excess and really if you look at it corruption.

And our outrage is false?

Hilarious.

If this was Danielle Smith as premier doing it, the outrage on this board would physically feel like a 6000 pound gorilla throwing a falcon punch.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

No is it too much to expect her to do her job? Something she's clearly not doing as she has pretty much locked her constituance office and fled town.

Your talking about the moral outrage being a joke. Its in her job description as an MLA to represent her constituents in the legislature. She's not doing that. She's not showing up for work she's missed a bunch of days in which the mechanism kicks in to reduce her salary, and she applies for a non reduction in her salary which is put in place for people with real issues or real health problems, and given her litany of entitlement issues, something that she's probably not suffering from.

Last time I checked, having hurt feelings or being butt hurt is not an excuse for someone being paid by tax payer dollars to skip work and continue to get paid.

The outrage is legitimate. She's basically spent a ton of money on using the Alberta plane as her personal airline at a cost to us. She tried and thank god she failed to build her own version of the Tsar's winter palace to house herself and her daughter. She basically lied and made up excuses, and then when she got busted for it, she fled from her job and demanded that she did get paid.

She's the very picture of why Canadians don't trust their leadership.

She's the poster boy of excess and really if you look at it corruption.

And our outrage is false?

Hilarious.

If this was Danielle Smith as premier doing it, the outrage on this board would physically feel like a 6000 pound gorilla throwing a falcon punch.

OK, let's play a game and don't cheat to spoil it. How many days a year should an elected MLA spend in the legislature 'representing constituents'? Don't look at how many days it sits or any of that. I mean from a purely ethical, working hard to represent you kind of standpoint. My number would be about 150 days, personally.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

No is it too much to expect her to do her job? Something she's clearly not doing as she has pretty much locked her constituance office and fled town.

Your talking about the moral outrage being a joke. Its in her job description as an MLA to represent her constituents in the legislature. She's not doing that. She's not showing up for work she's missed a bunch of days in which the mechanism kicks in to reduce her salary, and she applies for a non reduction in her salary which is put in place for people with real issues or real health problems, and given her litany of entitlement issues, something that she's probably not suffering from.

Last time I checked, having hurt feelings or being butt hurt is not an excuse for someone being paid by tax payer dollars to skip work and continue to get paid.

The outrage is legitimate. She's basically spent a ton of money on using the Alberta plane as her personal airline at a cost to us. She tried and thank god she failed to build her own version of the Tsar's winter palace to house herself and her daughter. She basically lied and made up excuses, and then when she got busted for it, she fled from her job and demanded that she did get paid.

She's the very picture of why Canadians don't trust their leadership.

She's the poster boy of excess and really if you look at it corruption.

And our outrage is false?

Hilarious.

If this was Danielle Smith as premier doing it, the outrage on this board would physically feel like a 6000 pound gorilla throwing a falcon punch.

Seriously, are you really "outraged"? Really?

I don't like her either, but really, her not showing up means nothing. It doesn't change anything. It's not like everything has ground to a halt without her. It's not like she's needed there. Now maybe if she's your MLA, but even then... I honestly don't even know if my own MLA has been at work this year.

Now sure, it's annoying that she continues to collect her paycheque, she was a terrible Premier, and her sense of entitlement is at dangerously high levels, but it seems to me that what people are really looking for is a little bit of comeuppance. They want to see her do the walk of shame. See her eat eat some crow, with humble pie for dessert (totally just made that up, very proud of myself).

That's all we'd get if she did show up for work. It's not like she'd do anything that anyone would notice, and it's not like we're missing out on anything with her not being there.

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by fotze

Would not surprise me if she has a lot and has probably carried over vacation over the years.

This isn't earned vacation time... that's the controversy.
I wonder how much of this is a directive of the PC party... She's been a firestorm of controversy in question period and if she resigns the seat the PC's would likely lose it in a by-election. Better for her and the party if she just stays away, the only people it screws over are her constituents. win/win/who cares for the PC's?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by monkeyman

This isn't earned vacation time... that's the controversy.
I wonder how much of this is a directive of the PC party... She's been a firestorm of controversy in question period and if she resigns the seat the PC's would likely lose it in a by-election. Better for her and the party if she just stays away, the only people it screws over are her constituents. win/win/who cares for the PC's?

How much vacation time does she get? I have no idea really. I would be shocked if it wasn't 4-6 weeks though. I have no idea what an MLA gets either.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Slava

OK, let's play a game and don't cheat to spoil it. How many days a year should an elected MLA spend in the legislature 'representing constituents'? Don't look at how many days it sits or any of that. I mean from a purely ethical, working hard to represent you kind of standpoint. My number would be about 150 days, personally.

Since this is her job.

52 weeks minus lets be reasonable 5 weeks of vacation. This is the primary job of an MLA. Lets make them act like it.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Seriously, are you really "outraged"? Really?

I don't like her either, but really, her not showing up means nothing. It doesn't change anything. It's not like everything has ground to a halt without her. It's not like she's needed there. Now maybe if she's your MLA, but even then... I honestly don't even know if my own MLA has been at work this year.

Now sure, it's annoying that she continues to collect her paycheque, she was a terrible Premier, and her sense of entitlement is at dangerously high levels, but it seems to me that what people are really looking for is a little bit of comeuppance. They want to see her do the walk of shame. See her eat eat some crow, with humble pie for dessert (totally just made that up, very proud of myself).

That's all we'd get if she did show up for work. It's not like she'd do anything that anyone would notice, and it's not like we're missing out on anything with her not being there.

Her job is to show up, work and get paid for it, if she thinks its too humiliating or she doesn't want to face the music or its just too hard or a job, then stop fleecing the system, step down and go into self exile. Its pretty disgusting to me.

And in this case read into it what you like.

She's a woman that it seems has very little in terms of honorable intent.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Since this is her job.

52 weeks minus lets be reasonable 5 weeks of vacation. This is the primary job of an MLA. Lets make them act like it.

So by both my measure and your measure, none of these guys are sitting enough. I can't really be outraged at Redford when none of them is sitting in the legislature for a reasonable number of days. If one MLA sits for 75 days and another sits for 50 they're both ridiculous in my opinion.

[Resolute 14]

There are any number of excuses that can be used to justify or rationalize Redford's decision to take a vacation right in the middle of a legislature session. Ultimately, however, this is not a case of faux outrage. She is earning this additional grief specifically because she just lost her job as premier due to a sense of entitlement and abuse of taxpayer money. And what this looks like is a sense of entitlement and an abuse of taxpayer money.

She is shirking her responsibility to avoid facing further scrutiny for her actions, nothing more. Problem is, she is only delaying the inevitable while her actions only look worse and worse on not only herself, but her entire party.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Handsome B. Wonderful

So that excuses her behaviour? Because money is wasted elsewhere she's allowed to be an a-hole?

It's the falling over dollars to save pennies that makes me laugh.

I wish the attendance records for the legislature was available by year. I'd be curious to know how much Stelmach showed up after resigning.

I can't wait for the next election, I almost guarantee after all this trashing by the Herald and other media outlets they'll hold their nose and endorse the PCs again.

[Resolute 14]

^Well, except that the Herald didn't endorse the PCs last time. They actually failed to come to a consensus so simply rode the fence.

[RW99]

I really dont care about what party gets talked about. If I can't trust an elected official to be responsible with own duties, how can I trust them to be able to address the bigger issues that need solving?

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by Slava

How much vacation time does she get? I have no idea really. I would be shocked if it wasn't 4-6 weeks though. I have no idea what an MLA gets either.

It doesn't matter how much time she's allotted. This has nothing to do with her taking a vacation. As pointed out by Dion and as stated by Redford's own staff, she is not attending for 1 of 3 reasons.

Redford’s staff advised the Speaker she is declaring her absence under rules that exempt MLAs from being docked pay if;
1. they can’t attend due to illness or injury,
2. bereavement, or
3. public or official business outside the legislature.
I think we can rule out 2 and 3 since both would surly be points of public knowledge and one Redford would surely use to gain public sympathy.
So the only real question is what is her illness? is it legitimate or is it fabricated to avoid further scrutiny in the legislature and still get paid?

[Mister Yamoto]

So....... how much money is the Redford resignation going to end up costing? Seems like a terrible way to get back 45K.

Going forward, it would be a lot better for everyone if we would just concede the fact that world leaders need to travel around the world. And that costs money.

Alberta is one of the richest places in the world. Our provincial government has fallen over a 45K travel expense. And the Federal Government is turning their wheels over 90K.

Sometimes I think I'm living in country full of Rick Bells. These people are world leaders. Let them drink all the 16$ orange juice they want.

[RougeUnderoos]

It's kind of the principle of the thing, really. You know, how you shouldn't steal?

No Senator or our disgraced premier qualifies as a world leader. I mean sure, Mike Duffy looks a bit like Winston Churchill I guess, but that's about as close as it gets.

[Yeah_Baby]

Politics is so much easier on Westeros. When you play a game of thrones you either win, or you die.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by monkeyman

This isn't earned vacation time... that's the controversy.
I wonder how much of this is a directive of the PC party... She's been a firestorm of controversy in question period and if she resigns the seat the PC's would likely lose it in a by-election. Better for her and the party if she just stays away, the only people it screws over are her constituents. win/win/who cares for the PC's?

The optics of her being spotted in Palm Springs and her continued silence is hurting the PC party. The party is trying to create an identity without her but yet she's still in the news.