Discover Top Posts Tagged with #craig james

Sea eye to eye

Sea anemones spotted in rock pools in Santa Cruz, California. The low sunset light was perfect to bring out their colours.

Photograph: Craig James

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Beverley McLachlin appointed as special investigator into allegations against Craig James and Gary Lenz

Former Supreme Court of Canada chief justice Beverley McLachlin has been called in to investigate allegations of misconduct against two suspended B.C. legislature officials.

McLachlin has been retained by the house leaders of all three parties in the legislative assembly and will act as a special investigator into charges of misuse of public funds by Clerk of the House Craig James and Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz.

Her role will be to determine if James and Lenz engaged in misconduct while working in the legislature.

#British Columbia #Beverley mclachlin #cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #Craig James #Gary Lenz #canadian

The travel expenses of James and Lenz came under criticism in a recently released 76-page report by Speaker Darryl Plecas.

A provincial-government watchdog group Integrity has demonstrated that the de facto CEO of the B.C. legislature has a history of charging significant travel expenses to taxpayers.

Integrity B.C. compiled data showing that Craig James filed $615,240 in these billings since 2005.

That works out to $43,945.71 per year, on average.

#British Columbia #Craig James #cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #canadian

Clerk Craig James has retired after an independent investigation found he committed administrative misconduct.

Former Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin also found that sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz has been cleared of any administrative wrongdoing.

“I have had enough,” James wrote in a statement. “I have been publicly ridiculed and vilified. My family has been deeply hurt and continues to suffer humiliation. In an effort to put an end to that, I have decided to retire, and reach a settlement with the Legislative Assembly.

#British Columbia #Craig James #cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #canadian

Of the 36 trips James billed for, 25 of them were to see Liberals including Geoff Plant, Bill Barisoff and Christy Clark. Eleven were for some other purpose, two were to see members of both parties and just one to see an NDP MLA.

The Clerk of the B.C. Legislature – suspended during an investigation into his expenses – was travelling much more often to see Liberal party members than the governing NDP – a possible sign of party connection in what’s supposed to be a non-partisan post.

Among other “flagrant” expenses, the Speaker’s report alleges that in those trips Craig James was using “assured loading” on the B.C. Ferries – a $155 a trip perk that added up to almost $11,000 over the period studied with taxpayers footing the bill.

And in most trips detailed in the report, James claims mileage well above the distance calculated by CTV News, suggesting that James was claiming his car was moving when in fact it was sitting still on the ferry deck.

“He didn’t expense visits to me, he did to [former B.C. Liberal Premier] Christy Clark when she wasn’t even a member of this place,” Horgan said at a press conference outside the legislature on Wednesday.

“There are allegations of truckloads of alcohol being delivered to a former member of this legislature. It’s appalling for the people in B.C. We need to get to the bottom of this," Horgan said, adding that "this is a result of years of entitlement and it’s offensive to me, and it’s offensive to British Columbians."

#British Columbia #BC Liberals #Craig James #cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #canadian

Is it appropriate for his representative on the BC Liberal Executive to be acting as legal counsel to the supposedly non-partisan clerk?

The Plecas Report reveals a number of previously unknown connections between Clerk Craig James and senior BC Liberal MLAs and party operatives.

In the period examined, James took trips for 39 meetings. Of those, at least 24 were with people associated with the BC Liberal Party, including:

Three meetings with Christy Clark after she left office.

Meetings with Mike de Jong and Steve Thomson.

A meeting at “Liberal Vancouver Offices” on January 31 2018, three days before the Liberal leadership vote. James did not disclose who he met with.

A meeting with lawyers Geoff Plant and Paul Barbeau on June 20. Barbeau is the current BC Liberal President who at the time was Wilkinson’s representative on the executive of the BC Liberal Party.

This information raises a number of serious questions for Andrew Wilkinson:

Is it appropriate for his representative on the BC Liberal Executive to be acting as legal counsel to the supposedly non-partisan clerk?

Have Wilkinson and Barbeau discussed any business regarding Craig James or the operation of the Legislature?

Who did James meet with at the Liberal Vancouver offices on January 31, 2018?

Why were senior BC Liberals meeting so regularly with Craig James?

For several weeks, Andrew Wilkinson and his MLAs attempted to discredit Darryl Plecas prior to the release of his report:

“There’s a grave concern that the speaker is out of control. We need to be concerned that he’s building his own little empire, staffed with expensive lawyers, with investigators with no credentials and he’s being allowed to get away with it.” – Andrew Wilkinson, Times Colonist, Nov 26

“We have a real problem if we have the Speaker off in his own realm because the Speaker is nothing more than the referee in this chamber. And if he thinks he’s going to run a parallel government with an investigative arm and a legal arm, we have to stop that behaviour.” – Andrew Wilkinson, Times Colonist, Nov 26

#BC Liberals #British Columbia #Craig James #cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #canadian

Suspended Clerk of the Legislative Assembly Craig James showed partisan tendencies, according to a report by Speaker of the House Darryl Plecas

Craig James, the suspended clerk of the legislative assembly, allegedly intervened and shut down an investigation into travel and meal expense violations by former Speaker Linda Reid on the basis that “we will all wear it” if it came to light.

In a special report Monday, Speaker Darryl Plecas outlined how James “shut down” a whistleblower’s claim of improper billing of travel and meal expenses to the legislature — the provincial parliament managed by James.

Plecas’ report to the Legislative Assembly Management Committee concerning allegations of financial misconduct by James and Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz, does not explicitly name Reid. Rather it refers to “the MLA.”

But travel expense documents concerning “the MLA” in Plecas’ report (dubbed exhibit 23) align exactly with Reid’s public disclosures on the government website, making it clear that the report was referring to her. It’s not clear why Plecas redacted only portions of the documents.

Reid, MLA for Richmond South Centre, would not comment on Plecas’ report Tuesday, on grounds the matter of financial misconduct in the legislature is under an RCMP investigation. She also did not respond Wednesday to address the expense allegations.

#BC Liberals #Linda Reid #British Columbia #Craig James #cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #canadian