The Alison Redford transgressions thread. Update- Redford quits.

[darklord700]

A lot of the so-called human right lawyers, like Alison Redford, are simply feasting on people's misery without making any meaningful contributions.

[Dion]

Lukaszuk says being Redford's deputy was 'longest two years of my life'

The Edmonton MLA says his time as ex-Premier Alison Redford’s deputy premier “took a lot out of me. It was the longest two years of my life.

“I did speak out. Some of the most infamous fights I had ­— the shouting matches with the premier — it was a very odd position to be put in, because I had so much respect for that office.”

Lukaszuk doesn’t detail the disputes, except to say they were sometimes about how people should be treated.

“It got to the point where I simply could not do it.

“My demotion was not a coincidence. I was literally put in the basement of the legislature. That ministry (Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour) was invented. That ministry didn’t exist.”

Lukaszuk isn’t shy about making those comments. For a time he was central to the Redford regime, and being pegged as an insider is not a good thing for anyone who wants to be premier.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/po...002/story.html

[WilsonFourTwo]

So I said it when she resigned, but I'll say it again....

She was elected in 2008 and had her constituency office about 40 steps from my home. In all that time I never ONCE saw the office open or the lights on.

To be honest, after her resignation, I half expected the office to lit up like a Christmas tree as proof that "I'm here, working for Albertans..." but instead she f'd off to the States for several weeks.

Now I don't live nearby anymore, but on the few occasions I've been in the neighborhood during the day since her return from the US, I still haven't seem a single watt of electricity getting used in the building.

Full disclosure: I haven't actually tried to open the door.
Super-full disclosure: I've never been so horribly disappointed in a political figure and am convinced that she only entered politics to fill her own pockets and/or ego.

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm sorry I don't think that Lukaszuk is doing anything but covering his a$$. He was one of the shouting defenders of Redford publicly. He can say whatever he wants to about his behind the scenes stuff. But the proof to me is in the pudding, he was riding her coattails to the top of the party, and when she fell he changed his tune.

[Resolute 14]

No kidding. Lukaszuk is talking out of both sides of his mouth there.

[darklord700]

Where was Lukaszuk when we needed him the most to stop Redford from wasting our money away? He didn't do a thing and now he came out with this diatribe to save his butts.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Where was Lukaszuk when we needed him the most to stop Redford from wasting our money away? He didn't do a thing and now he came out with this diatribe to save his butts.

Shouting down people for criticizing Alison. I still remember his rant about people assaulting her over her choice of being a working mother.

[1stLand]

Politics is a dirty game.
I am surprised people aren't being threatened with slander and libel lawsuits for comments made in this thread.
It wouldn't surprise me !

[darklord700]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/po...224/story.html

Lukaszuk's bashing of Redford makes him look like he's running for the Wildrose top job.

[1stLand]

I think the WildRose Party's new motto should be
"We will Travel By Horse, if Necessary"

The PC Party is finished. Slava will either have to support the Liberals or the Wild Rose. There is no between

[Resolute 14]

And the hits keep coming!

We paid at least $330,000 over two years for Redford to send an "advance scout" to international locations and find the best restaurants and hotels for her.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...osed-1.2688054

Lukaszuk is right about one thing at least. She should just resign entirely. And though the question has been asked before, one has to wonder at what point all of this becomes a criminal matter.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

And the hits keep coming!

We paid at least $330,000 over two years for Redford to send an "advance scout" to international locations and find the best restaurants and hotels for her.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...osed-1.2688054

Lukaszuk is right about one thing at least. She should just resign entirely. And though the question has been asked before, one has to wonder at what point all of this becomes a criminal matter.

It has to be getting pretty close to the point where enough evidence is present to begin a criminal investigation at the very least.

[darklord700]

Redford shamlessly sticking around probably is a ploy to collect or enhance her pension. With this much evidence, if Prentice says he'll bring Redford to court and nullify her pension, he'll beat Wildrose for sure.

[CaptainCrunch]

The question is, and I can't believe I'm saying this. Are her actions criminal? Is there proof of a criminal conspiracy, or were her actions just based around self entitlement, and she believed that what she was doing was in line with her executing her position?

At the very least, this really illustrates the need for a recall mechanism outside of the ability to fire someone for a criminal act.

I would expect that the only thing that can be done right now is to expel her from the party and she sits as an independent for the rest of her term and collects her pension.

[darklord700]

Criminality is hard to proof and most of the crook politicians were caugth by expense scandles in Canada.

In reality, there's not much we can do about Redford. Do we have codes to charge politicians for failure to perform their duty? Don't think so but just a thought.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

The question is, and I can't believe I'm saying this. Are her actions criminal? Is there proof of a criminal conspiracy, or were her actions just based around self entitlement, and she believed that what she was doing was in line with her executing her position?

At the very least, this really illustrates the need for a recall mechanism outside of the ability to fire someone for a criminal act.

I would expect that the only thing that can be done right now is to expel her from the party and she sits as an independent for the rest of her term and collects her pension.

I believe they have written guidelines and it's a matter of how much you can sell the "self-entitlement" angle based on interpretation of the rules. It's pretty obvious she knowingly went above and beyond proper spending habits for a public servant. I imagine there's more stuff that hasn't yet been uncovered as there appears to be no end to how much taxpayer money she was willing to use for personal reasons. At the very least there should be a way to strip her of her pension or force her to pay back any money deemed over and above what is deemed acceptable for most of her trips and expenditures.

[Resolute 14]

Whether the actions are criminal likely depends on how strongly one believes what Redford did is fraud. Truthfully though, I think a skilled lawyer would be able to argue most of it away, even if flying her kids and their friends around at our expense screams theft from the public purse to me.

[Resolute 14]

Incidentally, when poking around the Criminal Code for anything specific about this, I did come across section 323, which deals specifically with theft of oysters:

http://www.lawyers.ca/statutes/crimi...nada_theft.htm

That is one of those things where I wish I knew where it came from. Though, the story is probably less exciting than I hope.

[troutman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_Soc...rta#Discipline

The Law Society has supervisory and disciplinary functions over its members. This responsibility includes the task of enforcing the rules of the Law Society, and to discipline offending lawyers. To aid in this task, the Society has passed a Code of Professional Conduct which is in essence a written code of ethics to which all lawyers must abide. The ultimate sanction the Society could impose is disbarment. A lawyer that has been disbarred is no longer legally able to practice law in Alberta.

[DuffMan]

was she the premiere or the queen?