Perley Holmes, Stephane Dion supporter and alleged drug dealer, triggers union audit
The CBC is reporting more detail about the arrest of Perley Edmund Holmes, the BC union official arrested in the US on charges of possession of cocaine. In particular, there will be an audit to see if money was used illegally. That could be very interesting for this supporter of Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion.
The story of Perley Edmund Holmes continues to get airplay, perhaps because of the tangental connection to Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion.
Some people have taken issue with my post. I made it clear that I don't think there is much of a scandal here for Stephane Dion, since he could hardly be held responsible for the actions of others, including his supporters. But his own actions are his to account for, and the speed with which the endorsement was removed from the website, even though Holmes has yet to be found guilty of anything, speaks volumes. From a comment I left at the Western Standard:
As I point out, if Dion and his people had not panicked, I might have just ignored the story altogether. But that they were so spooked by a supporter's problems seemed weird. Really weird. The more paranoid might say that they don't want anyone sniffing around for some reason. More reasonably, though, it suggests a certain brittleness -- that they can't even trust themselves to handle a "scandal" which even I admit has nothing to do with them. Their frightened reaction is the story here.
What could drive this frantic attempt to erase evidence of a relationship? I suggested in my post that one reason the Dion people might have been so spooked could be that the cocaine trade is very lucrative. If Holmes is indeed a cocaine smuggler or dealer, he would have had vast sums of cash to use to pursue his own agenda. Apparently his union is concerned, as reported by the CBC:
An auditor will be brought in to review the finances of the local to ensure no illegal activities were conducted with union funds, he said.
In his endorsement of Stephane Dion, Holmes encouraged everyone to support Dion's campaign. I suppose no one likes the idea of drug money being used in a political race. But trying to erase evidence that Holmes was connected to the Dion campaign is not the way to go. It makes me wonder if Holmes' support for Dion went farther than just and endorsement and a $100 donation.
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Comments
I do find Dion's yanking of Holmes from the Web site to be curious.
However, maybe they just didn't want to deal with the embarrassment of seeing an alleged drug dealer giving Dion such a big thumbs-up. Someone panicked instead of wanting to endure the necessary "not guilty by association" defence once a link to the Web page spread across the blogosphere.
Maybe it was the embarrassment they were trying to avoid and, in the process, they caught the attention of an "angry" investigative conservative. lol
I mean, I'm one guy who has put Dion under the microscope a lot on my blog over the last few weeks. So I guess I feel it necessary to play a bit of devil's advocate on this one.
Posted by: Dennis (Second Thoughts) at January 25, 2007 09:12 PM
There seems to be a number of seedy connections to Citoyen Dion. Of course there is Mr. Smith and now we have Mr. Holmes. And wasn't there a connection to the anti-semite pamphlets at the leadership convention? Could it be that Dion isn't quite as dissconnected to the Cretien/Martin scandals as he would like everyone to believe. Even if his dog's name is Kyoto.
I know, lets ask Cherniak, he seems to know almost everything. And he is a lawyer, after all.
Posted by: Horny toad at January 25, 2007 10:48 PM
Trying to tie Dion's reputation to Liberal corruption is easier said than done. He's got a good reputation and people already cringe at efforts to tie Dion to past scandals, even though he was there through it all.
Posted by: Dennis (Second Thoughts) at January 25, 2007 11:22 PM
Boy, this blog has really gone downhill.
It used to focus on discussing important conservative issues.
Lately it has been one partisan smear after another.
There isn't a politician out there -- conservative or liberial -- who would not have removed Holmes endorsement from their website. To pretend otherwise in order to cast aspersions is dishonest and smarmy.
This seems to be a perfect case study of what happens to blogs when they become "professional" and focus more on drawing traffic than writing quality posts.
There are too many good conservative blogs out there. This one is delisted.
Posted by: altacan at January 26, 2007 04:16 AM
In the world of partisan politics you are damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Take the link down and he must be hiding something. Leave the link up and he would have been accused of being proud of an endorsement from an accused drug dealer.
As others have pointed out -- attempting to tarnish Dion's reputation, which even conservatives such as Andrew Coyne admire, reflects more on the mud slingers than the target.
Why not focus on Dion's legion actual problems than imaginary ones?
When will conservatives learn that voters do not respond to campaigns of "We are not the Liberals" and focus on substantive policy issues instead. Returning to Coyne, "After a year of Conservative rule, it is now clear, conservatism isn't just dying--it's dead. And it's the Conservatives who killed it."
Posted by: bob at January 26, 2007 04:46 AM
Sorry Steve, but you can't have it both ways.
You claim that "even I admit [the Holmes drug scandal]has nothing to do with them."
But you follow this up by speculating that "Holmes' support for Dion went farther than just an [sic] endorsement and a $100 donation."
If you think Dion did nothing wrong then why bring him into it at all? If you believe that by pulling the endorsement from the website is an indication of Dion's guilt, then have the guts to say so.
But you can't sit on the fence pretending that you aren't insinuating Dion is guilty of something when you very clearly suggesting just that.
Posted by: teddy at January 26, 2007 05:09 AM
Put the shoe on the other foot--remember the smear campaign the Liberals fomented over a Reform supporter who turned out to be a white supremacist? Just change the incident and the Liberals are afraid of others acting like them.
Dion is afraid--afraid he will be treated like they have treated others.
Posted by: George at January 26, 2007 06:38 AM
Criminals know what the Liberal Party is like so of course they're attracted to it - prisoners are solid Liberal voters, so it only makes sense that anyone who might get caught would support Liberals too.
Posted by: Philanthropist at January 26, 2007 05:28 PM
Where I "live", 75% of the working population work for DIRECTLY for GOVERNMENT. We have TWO Lieberal MPs', because they are the "vote-for-me hospital-workers-and-schoolteachers-and-we'll keep-your-jobs-SACRED" kind of guys. The Police admit that Millions upon millions of illegal narcotics are consumed here monthly. So...do the math. Who doin' all the CRACK up here? Lieberal-voting civil servants. Why is it that the Politicians, Judges, Cops, Lawyers, Doctors, Teachers, and Civil Servants NEVER have to piss into a drug test bottle, like the lowly proles and plebes who drive the trucks, swing the hammers for the railroad, or drive tree planters around, etc etc.
Posted by: Feldwebel Wolfenstool at January 29, 2007 10:01 AM
Hello!
Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but here is the story of my dog called Shandy.
He was my favourite pet and he was very lively, lots of fun and very obedient. His main
passion in life was to be taken for a long walk, culminating with a big run out in his favourite
park. I would try to take him on this walk everyday, weather permitting. The park itself
was about three miles away from our house. What do you think?
Wow, I've found the same to be true too! Where did you get that at?
Bye, bye - Wendy!
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Posted by: wendywonder at February 6, 2007 10:20 PM
Good day!
How do you change the size of your monitor?
Wow, I've found the same to be true too! Where did you get that at?
See you soon! Girly Girl
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Posted by: mygirlisgood at February 15, 2007 02:29 PM
This could be a lot nicer I think :)
Posted by: Stuart at May 6, 2007 02:37 PM
 
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