Garth Turner is against the use of staff for partisan purposes...except his own
Garth Turner is accusing his former colleagues in the Conservative Party of misusing their Hill staffers to help fight a by-election. The fact is, though, that Hill staffers are partisan workers and are expected to help the Conservative Party. But what is really galling is that Garth Turner's own executive assistant, Esther Shaye, is also engaged in some serious partisan work for the Conservative Party, and Garth Turner never complained about that before.
Back in 2004, there was a Christmas Party in Halton, put on by the Conservative Party and advertised on the Conservative Party website:
Date: December 11, 2004
City: Milton, ON
Location: Halton Country Inn
Time: 6 pm / 18 h
Title: Halton Riding Presents…Halton Country ChristmasDescription:
Cost: $50 per personContact:
Esther Shaye (eshaye@hotmail.com)
Check out the web page -- it was a very partisan event.
Why am I looking at a two-year-old Christmas Party invitation? Look at the name of the contact person. Esther Shaye. Ms Shaye is the executive assistant of Garth Turner, formerly of the Conservative Party.
She's also on the Halton Region Conservative Party Board of Directors as the executive in charge of Election Readiness.
OK, so she's a Hill staffer who works for the Conservative Party. So what?
Apparently, Garth Turner is very upset that Hill staffers are being used for partisan purposes:
The federal byelection battle in London-North-Centre has barely begun, but already charges of unfairness and coercion are flying.
A senior Conservative official has encouraged MPs and their Parliament Hill staff to persuade voters in the riding to back Conservative candidate Dianne Haskett and suggested area MPs' staff volunteer on her campaign.
That urging came in a letter from Doug Finley, director of political operations and national campaign manager for the Conservatives.
The letter was posted on the weblog of MP Garth Turner, who said it amounts to coercion and a politicization of civil servants.
Turner, recently expelled from the national Tory caucus, said yesterday he acquired the letter from his sources.
The letter to MPs urged them to send endorsements of Haskett to Joseph Dow, the party's Ontario organizer.
"Encourage your Hill staff to participate in persuasion calling, which will be co-ordinated by the party's political operations team," it reads.
Finley also asked for volunteers from area Conservative ridings because "this will be great training for the next general election."
Turner said asking -- or encouraging -- such staffers to do such work is "coercion."
He said the Liberals have engaged in similar activities. "Everybody does it. But it's wrong. I don't know how else to put it."
The problem is that Hill staff are partisan.
Under House of Commons rules, MPs are expected to be partisan and are free to direct the activities of their staff as they see fit, including for partisan purposes.
You know, Turner's complaints would carry more credibility if (1) they were factually correct, and (2) they weren't so hypocritical. His own staffer has duties to make sure the Conservative Party in Halton Region is ready to fight an election. So why is now that when his former colleagues in the Conservative Party are directing their staffers to help fight an election, they are suddenly guilty of misusing tax money and engaging in coercion?
If so, why didn't Garth Turner protect Ms Shaye from being coerced into paticipating in these partisan activities?
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Comments
I said this guy was a hypocrite 10 months ago.
Posted by: the bear at November 1, 2006 10:54 AM
No disrespect, Stephen, but why not spend energy fighting Libs and Dippers instead of a lowly Independent?
Posted by: Road Hammer at November 1, 2006 01:17 PM
Esther Shaye is on the board for the Halton Conservative EDA and as such does work for the board on her own personal time. I don't see any problem with that. The email address you quoted is her own personal hotmail account, not a government one. To my knowledge, she has always done any work for the EDA on her own personal time.
Beth Gregg
Board member - Halton EDA
Posted by: Beth Gregg at November 1, 2006 02:21 PM
There is nothing more satisfying than watching the glean fade on a self-rightous peacock.
Great job Steve.
Posted by: northbaytrapper at November 1, 2006 02:22 PM
Turner: “She is the woman behind my meteoric rise to the top ranks of government and the world stage……”
MPtv - Interview with Esther Shaye
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5784181599770843279
Posted by: JM at November 1, 2006 04:15 PM
"The problem is that Hill staff are partisan.
Under House of Commons rules, MPs are expected to be partisan and are free to direct the activities of their staff as they see fit, including for partisan purposes."
So I guess we won't ever hear you complain about a staffer sending out a partisan email from now on, eh? An email that doesn't cost a penny compared to mass mailings. I'm glad to see you've changed your mind on that silly little constant complaint of yours (when it comes to Liberal emails only, naturally).
I'm not sure Garth is the only hypocrite here under your own criteria.
(BTW, you set the above out as a quotation. Can you provide the source.)
Ted
Cerberus
Posted by: Ted at November 1, 2006 04:48 PM
It doesn't matter what Garth does, his constituents have the ultimate say.
He is a sh*t disturber and needs to be watched, as anyone turfed from any party, he has an axe to grind and grind he will, at every opportunity.
An insider becoming an outsider is always a potential threat. Garth has loyalty only to Garth.
Posted by: Biddy at November 1, 2006 08:06 PM
Ted, notice that the email given for the Christmas party wasn't a government one, but a private one. Thanks for coming out though, even though you once again miss the point by several miles.
Posted by: Yukon Gold at November 1, 2006 10:14 PM
No disrespect, Stephen, but why not spend energy fighting Libs and Dippers instead of a lowly Independent? Road Hammer
Even a lowly independent, if he sets himself up for a fight deserves one. He also deserves to be hit hard and often.
Posted by: Pissedoff at November 1, 2006 11:28 PM
Its nice to see that just about everything that Garth says is thrown right back at him. Not only does he get caught by Stephen Taylor when he changed his blog because of leaking caucus confidentiality, he gets caught in another hypocritical remark. Good job Mr. Janke.
Posted by: None at November 6, 2006 02:40 PM
 
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