Like clockwork, about two weeks after Danny Williams last got his mug on the news, the most thin-skinned media hound on the planet got himself a ton more ego-stroking attention.
Every two weeks or so.
Like clockwork.
If you don’t believe it, just do some google searching.
Anyway, this time Williams decided to make news by getting Steve Marshall to file a defamation suit against the Telegram. You can read Williams’ statement of claim in the CBC story about the suit.
Williams apparently believes that the Telegram defamed him by mentioning his political contributions to municipal candidates in an editorial that decried the lack of strong laws to limit political donations to candidates.
Read both. You’ll have a hard time seeing what Williams claims the editorial says. CBC also does a nice job of listing all the failed lawsuits Williams has launched for defamation in recent years.
What’s really newsworthy about this suit is actually the fact that Danny Williams himself raised exactly the same concerns about power, money, and political influence. It was February 2003. Williams wanted to be Premier. He had serious concerns. He promised to introduce campaign finance reforms along with a raft of other things to clean up politics.
Williams became Premier.
Williams did some of what he promised in February 2003. But conspicuously, in light of this latest lawsuit, Williams didn’t do anything to change provincial laws about campaign donations.
Mark it down as another one of Williams’ many unkept promises.
Expect Williams to quietly drop the lawsuit a few months or so down the road. He doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Besides, if he fought it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, Williams might find his case being heard in front of Justice Clement Gascon.
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