Danny Williams’ former law firm got potentially lucrative provincial government legal work without competing in any way.
The information is in Telegram editor Russell Wangersky’s weekend column. The Telegram didn’t turn it into a news story.
Last week, the Dunderdale administration announced that Roebothan, Mackay and Marshall would head up a law suit against the tobacco industry.
According to Wangersky, there was “no tender call, request for proposals or other competition. As for whether other law firms were considered or offered a chance to bid on the work, the Justice Department replied:
The province felt Roebothan McKay Marshall was the local law firm that best met the requirements for this work. As well, a number of local firms are conflicted as they represent the tobacco industry.”
The Dunderdale administration also refused to disclose the financial aspects of the deal. The provincial government has new contractual arrangements with both Roebothan, Mackay and Marshall and an American firm retained in 2001 to handle the litigation.
- srbp -
8 comments:
It is my understanding that legal represenation similar for creative Agency's of Record (ie; Target/Bristol) do not fall under the pervue of the Public Tendering Act and subsequently there is no requirement for a "tender call"
As for a competeive bid process...name one law firm that was successful or unsuccessful after a such a process?
Ed, I can't speak specifically about this contract, but I did work in government at one time, & do know that most work involving lawyers & accountants is not required to be tendered. I remember that the professional accounting firms that got the government work were those that contributed to the party in power. I'm sure that was just a coincidence. One year a firm that contributed $30,000 ended up with millions of dollars in government work. Not a bad return on your investment.
There are still many problems with the Public Tender Act, but IMO there is no will there to make any changes. The rich will continue to get richer.
I am on my soapbox today and I am angry .
I read the Western Star online , and the one thing I did not wish to see was a picture of a candidate and his sad story about "sore knuckles".
If I hadn't called a friend in the city I would not have known that there were three pictures and three stories on page 3 of the Star .
A naive person looking at the online version may just happen to think that the Star was in fact endorsing Granter .
Whether over the day the other candidates stories appear online is inconsequential ,I have read the story ,seen the picture , mission accomplished .
Kudos to the Western Star .
Rosie Myers is getting her "15 minutes in the spotlight".
Yes Everett...you are absolutely correct in your assesment. It is ceratinily not a coincidence!
What is also not a coincidence is that Ed never mentioned that this practise was used during the Wells, Tobin and Grimes' Administration.
When you look at the title of the Post, one can assume that this is something new and isolated to Dunderdale's gov't...nothing is further from the truth!
It is always good to highlight the hypocracy from those that are so obviously partisan.
The Public Tender Act is one thing, Everett, but good practice might sometimes be another. The PTA sets the minimum standard to my mind, not the only one or the only correct one.
Generally, it's a good idea to get some competitive quotes even on creative work of the type that is not required to go through the public tender act.
That's a key thing for me: the PTA doesn't say that such contracts must absolutely be tendered but that doesn't mean they ought to be handed out without some form of competitive process.
The rules line of argument (this is what the law says or doesn't say) is essentially what the pork-barrel crowd used to excuse the hideous system of patronage that ran out of the legislature between 1996 and 2006.
But it is really one that is ethically bankrupt. While the PTA doesn't say one must tender this sort of work that doesn't mean that handing out work without tender is okay.
Everett, it's also pretty weak for anyone (not saying you did) to say that things have always been this way and therefore nothing will change or that the current crowd aren't the only guys to do this that or the other.
What utter foolishness. I think you are right to point out there's no will to change right now, but that doesn't mean that desire can't arise if people point out that certain behaviour is unacceptable or that certain practices need to stop.
Speaking of the pork barrel crowd...I thought the Trans City affair was before 1996?
Yes...what utter foolishness to not mention and point out that this practise also happened during past Liberal regimes....again Eddie...I couldn't agree more
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