Shawn Skinner [left], parliamentary secretary to Premier Danny Williams and vice-chairman of the House of Assembly's Public Accounts Committee needs a lesson in parliamentary procudre.Less than 24 hours after Premier Williams said he would welcome a review of the GRAP fibreoptics deal by the PAC and the Auditor General, Skinner and the three other government members on the committee voted down a motion by the Liberals on the committee to do just that.
Skinner's explanation is that the Liberals added the public hearings at the last minute.
As vocm.com put it: "Skinner says that's not the way things work...".
Well, it's not the way if Skinner hopes to turn his current position into a cabinet seat.
If the government members, who make up the PAC majority, had simply amended the motion, the whole thing would have carried on consistent with the Premier's stated commitment. The entire affair would have proceeded according to what Skinner says is the route: AG report first and then hearings if necessary.
Instead, Skinner led his fellow Tories into handing the opposition a gift richer than their wildest dreams: the Premier's assistant in the legislature doing exactly opposite to what the Premier himself said publicly he would welcome.
Only Homer Simpson could have killed his own career with greater aplomb.