So there's a scandal in the House of Assembly in which it is alleged that about $4.0 million in public money has been spent improperly and in some cases illegally.
The group that oversees the House expenditures - its executive committee - is called the Internal Economy Commission.
The IEC made decisions in 2000, 2002 and 2004 that both facilitated the scandal to one extent or another and, in April 2004 created a situation where the Auditor General was somehow constrained in his actions that revealed said spending scandal.
There is also the hint of a problem within the Department of Finance involving the Comptroller General either being asleep at the switch or having his hands tied.
One name that runs through the IEC for the entire period?
Loyola Sullivan.
Former Opposition House leader, finance critic and lately the minister of finance and member of the IEC for the enitre period of the detailed audit being conducted by John Noseworthy.
The guy who sided with the Liberals in 2002 against Danny Williams over giving the Auditor General access to the House accounts.
Taken altogether, Loyola Sullivan's work on the IEC would make him a major person of interest to a public inquiry trying to figure out how the scandal occurred and why the response by government has been disjointed, to say the least.
That is, if there was a public inquiry.
Taken altogether, it makes one wonder why the cabinet is adamantly opposed to any public inquiry, the AG is being sent on a snipe hunt...and Loyola Sullivan is suddenly appointed Government House Leader.
and therefore the senior cabinet representative on the IEC.
by the Premier himself, no less. Complete with words of high praise for Sullivan from Danny Williams.
It's enough to make one look about on the parapets for a ghost, eh Marcellus?
