Saturday, October 26, 2013

Duffy, Wallin, Brazeau: Ask Me If I Care That They Are Being Denied Due Process?

I get it, Prime Minister Harper demanding that the 3 expense padding cheats should be kicked out of the Senate is an affront to our justice system where you are innocent until proven guilty.
True, however, each has agreed to pay back monies that the accounting audit said they claimed incorrectly, and so, isn't that an admission of guilt.
Besides, it's our money they were trying to defraud us of. Kicking them out of the Senate, denying them a life long pension so they aren't rewarded for being admitted cheats sounds like a nice way for me to get some of my money back.
So, do I care about Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau, NO, NO, NO.
The thing that is so disturbing is that everyone knows that they aren't the only 3 cheats. The fact that Duffy had to ask if his claiming his home residence as a fishing cottage that he visited less than 1 week a year could be considered his primary residence shows how when he was a young and naive Senator, he couldn't even believe what a set of dishonest rules Senators lived by when it came to declaring their expenses.
Does Wallen have a case saying that she didn't book flights to home but had to stop over in Toronto for a day or two or three because a direct flight to Saskatoon or Regina would have gotten her into the airport, with still a 2 1/2 hour drive to home way too late in the evening. I've traveled for business all my career. Here's a simple solution, SLEEP AT AN AIRPORT HOTEL and drive home the next morning. Look at the math. A ticket from Ottawa to Toronto, one way, with 2 weeks advance notice is approximately $467 for executive class. A night in Toronto at a downtown hotel is approximately $300. A one way ticket to Saskatoon or Regina is $1,000. So, to get home from Ottawa with a stop over in Toronto costs the taxpayer approximately $1,800. On the other hand a ticket from Ottawa to Saskatoon or Regina, with a stay over at the airport $1,200 because the airfare from Ottawa to Regina is approximately the same as the airfare from Toronto to Regina, and the hotel for the evening is approximately $100 cheaper. In round trip dollars, Senator Wallin overcharged the taxpayer by $1,200 ($600 times 2) every time she went home.
Least we forget Senator Brazeau. The audit committee found that he overstated his expenses by $48,745.
It seems to me that when we the taxpayers agreed to reward certain worthy people of a lifetime job, with pension, we did it because we considered them to be among our finest citizens. These three are a bunch of petty cheats. Not a trait that is worthy of a Senator of Canada.
We don't need a court of law to kick them out of the Senate. Courts of law send people to prison. We just want them out of our taxpayer Senate. And, we want our other Senators on the taxpayer dime to do what is right. Get rid of the bums, and I suspect, as the digging continues, which I hope it does, there will be many more bums to get rid of.


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