From Puppies to Plays: Canadian Senator Expense Trial Begins
Source: Bloomberg News
From Puppies to Plays: Canadian Senator Expense Trial Begins
by 'By'Josh Wingrove
3:06 PM CDT
April 7, 2015
Canadian Senator Mike Duffy billed taxpayers for family trips, funerals, a shopping trip for a puppy and other events unrelated to parliamentary business, while operating a clearing house fund to distribute government money, prosecutors allege.
The case against Duffy, a former broadcaster appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, was laid out Tuesday as his trial began in Ottawa. Duffy stood quietly as 31 criminal charges were read out at an Ottawa courthouse before entering his plea.
I am not guilty, your honor, Duffy, 68, said.
The anticipated trial comes ahead of Canadas October federal election, and is expected to open a window into the office of Harper, whose former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, gave Duffy C$90,000 ($72,000) to repay disputed expense claims. It marks the first time scandal has implicated Harpers inner circle, raising questions of what the prime minister knew and when he knew it.
Wright is now in the private sector and living in London, and is expected to testify -- though the court heard today some witnesses may only do so by video conference. The court didnt hear specifically if Wright would be among those.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-07/from-puppies-to-plays-canadian-senator-expense-trial-begins
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)happyslug
(14,779 posts)For people to young to remember when Richard Nixon had been nominated as Eisenhower's Vice President Candidate in the 1952 GOP Convention. After the Convention it was discovered he had accepted a number of gifts. When this was discovered Nixon was hit hard, even through what he did was legal under the law of the time period. Feeling the Political Pressure Nixon made a speech that he had decided to return all of the gift EXCEPT for the Black and White Dog, Checkers. In the speech Nixon made a point of saying WHY he was keeping the dog, that his two daughter, age 4 and 6 in 1952 had fallen in love with the dog and thus he was keeping Checkers even if he had to give up the run for the Vice Presidency that year.
It was a great speech (Nixon disliked the name Checker speech, for he emphasized how the funds were used and that he was returning all gifts, Checker was almost a throw in). Here is the two paragraphs about Checkers:
It was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that he'd sent all the way from Texas. Black and white spotted. And our little girlTricia, the 6-year-oldnamed it Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna keep it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkers_speech
The Checker's Speech was made on the same day of the year that FDR had did his famous Fala Speech in 1944.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fala_(dog)#Fala_speech
More on Fala (and includes comments on the speech):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fala_%28dog%29