Ongoing YYCCC (Chu + Farkas) Transgressions Threat

[Jiggy]

Chestermere Coun. Yvette Kind spoke to LoVecchio on Tuesday after attempting to submit a formal complaint twice over the past week and a half. Kind was listed on one of Magliocca’s receipts for a $330 bar tab at an upscale Quebec City hotel, but she said she never drank with him.
She said she submitted her complaint for a third time on Tuesday and finally got confirmation it had been received.
But LoVecchio says he won’t be able to look into it.


That is not suspicious at all.

[MoneyGuy]

They don’t because they can. Until they’re caught.

Many municipal councillors post their expenses online. Does Calgary?

[powderjunkie]

I think there is a competent elections commissioner in this province who's looking for work who might be able to help...

[Yoho]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1227963237217341441

[Slava]

LOL at the "self-admitted" part. Basically the guy lied about who he was meeting, ran through the expenses and got caught. Then he said he couldn't remember. I suppose for some people that's enough, but it's a pretty low-bar if we allow that kind of behaviour.

[Oling_Roachinen]

It's not exactly promising that the guy charged with overlooking the councilor expenses seems to think that paying back a portion of fraudulent charges and a pseudo-apology is good enough. Ray Jones just isn't that stupid. This reeks of someone trying to sweep it under the rug which makes me assume we'd be finding a lot more discrepancies with expenses if someone dug deep enough.

[CliffFletcher]

I don't get why so many politicians (in all parties) routinely make fraudulent expense claims. It has to be part of the political culture. Either they get away with it almost all the time, or politics attracts a lot of risk-takers with poor judgement.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I don't get why so many politicians (in all parties) routinely make fraudulent expense claims. It has to be part of the political culture. Either they get away with it almost all the time, or politics attracts a lot of risk-takers with poor judgement.

I'm not so sure politicians do it at a rate higher than other occupations? Plenty of sales (or other) people routinely pad their expenses too, we just don't hear about it when they are fired or disciplined. Poor judgement isn't necessarily restricted to politics.

[troutman]

I got my articling postion because the student before me was caught using firm taxi chits for going to night clubs. I don't think he ever was admitted by the Law Society after that. Pretty stupid.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I don't get why so many politicians (in all parties) routinely make fraudulent expense claims. It has to be part of the political culture. Either they get away with it almost all the time, or politics attracts a lot of risk-takers with poor judgement.

I think it's just human nature (greed). I have seen managers and salesmen do this kind of thing for decades. Back in the day a salesman I knew would do scams when he was on the road up north where he would just eat a Subway sub for dinner and go around to local restaurants the next day saying he lost his receipt for a steak dinner the night before and some of them would ring him one up and he would expense that for his meal. Also seen at a few companies where the sales guys take each other out for lunch and take turns expensing as dinners with customers. I don't think politicians are any more upstanding than the average person. There's something about a free meal that makes people do stupid things.

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

I'm not so sure politicians do it at a rate higher than other occupations? Plenty of sales (or other) people routinely pad their expenses too, we just don't hear about it when they are fired or disciplined. Poor judgement isn't necessarily restricted to politics.

Well, the taxpayers are not being cheated in those cases, it’s a problem for shareholders.

[Wormius]

Who was approving the claims though? They also could have nipped this in the bud by refusing, no? Or do the councillors have their own equivalent of a company credit card?

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Who was approving the claims though? They also could have nipped this in the bud by refusing, no? Or do the councillors have their own equivalent of a company credit card?

Ray Jones.

[OldDutch]

I have implemented card expense systems in past at large organizations. I have talked to auditors. all expenses at very least should have a superior approve, a policy, and an audit group.

Even with that the type of expenses Joe made often don’t get caught preventively. They are often uncovered due to whistleblowing. There is far too many expenses to catch everytime, and most orgs want to foster a trust system for their employees.

I am not sure how this happened, if someone blew the whistle to someone. Although the media could have FOI request.

All the firings I have heard of came from a complaint (probably someone who disliked the person) and an investigation found a history.

Other councilors should be nervous. I am sure while not as dirty as Joe have their own fudging. Makes sense they would want to park this one quickly.

[OldDutch]

One other question I was thinking.

Who really dined with Joe?

Someone he wanted to impress but not let anyone else know about. That runs a fairly wide gamut of bad possibilities. All lead to poor ethics.

[jeffporfirio]

He probably ate by himself, the guy looks like he enjoys large meals.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

Although the media could have FOI request.

This is what happened. Postmedia submitted a FOI for the expenses of the trip. Notably this was the trip that their golden-boy Farkas had declined to take altogether due to expenses. So it was a bit of an ulterior motive but certainly they got exactly what they were hoping for. If only it ended up being someone like Farrell then they would have felt like they hit the lottery.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

Well, the taxpayers are not being cheated in those cases, it’s a problem for shareholders.

That wasn't my point. But in this case taxpayers are the shareholders so it really is no different.

[81MC]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

One other question I was thinking.

Who really dined with Joe?

Someone he wanted to impress but not let anyone else know about. That runs a fairly wide gamut of bad possibilities. All lead to poor ethics.

Public official, in a far away place, runs up expensive bar tab and lies about whom with?
Hired or not, I think we all know what was really going on.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Public official, in a far away place, runs up expensive bar tab and lies about whom with?
Hired or not, I think we all know what was really going on.

But she looked right into his eyes during the lap dance. They had a true connection!