Jamie Carroll turns on the Liberal Party, while Stephane Dion loses control
Jamie Carroll has been relieved of his position as National Director of the Liberal Party. An honourable end to this story? Carroll falling on his sword in order to protect his boss, Stephane Dion? Hardly. Jamie Carroll has spoken to a lawyer, and unless the Liberal Party pays him off generously, Carroll threatens court action for alleged defamation.
Just when you thought things couldn't get any uglier...
Jamie Carroll, the former National Director of the Liberal Party of Canada, lost his job today in the wake of controversial comments he allegedly made in a close meeting with Quebec Liberals. In this private meeting of maybe a dozen people, four went to the press afterward to report that when asked to hire more Quebecers at the top levels of the Liberal Party, Carroll responded that if he hired more Quebecers, he would have hire more Chinese too.
Carroll maintains that his words were misconstrued.
What I found remarkable was that the story went public at all.
Well, the parade of Liberal dirty laundry continues. In a confidential letter to the Liberal management committee, Jamie Carroll aludes to a lawsuit against the Liberal Party, saying that he had been defamed.
Being confidential means, of course, that we are reporting on the contents mere hours later:
The federal Liberal party's national director is accusing the party of besmirching his reputation, and is demanding more than a year's pay to step down following his controversial comments last week about the hiring of francophone Quebecers, CBC News has learned.
In a confidential letter addressed to senior party executives, Jamie Carroll says his name has been publicly and unjustifiably damaged by high-ranking Liberals.
Carroll says he's talked to lawyers who have told him he would be eligible for considerable damages should he pursue the matter in court. In the letter, he says he wants 12 to 18 months pay as compensation.
The management committee will be meeting today in private to discuss the matter.
No word yet on when the live video feed of the meeting will be available.
So who leaked the letter? Jamie Carroll? Not likely given that it could complicate his efforts to get the money (the Liberal Party might be forced to dig in against paying Carroll off now that it is public knowledge). Someone on the management committee? If so, then Stephane Dion has an enemy on that committee, because this threatened lawsuit makes Stephane Dion's leadership a bad joke.
But enough speculation on the leak. What about the payoff? What should the Liberals do?
If the Liberals pay off Jamie Carroll, a precedent is established, and those Liberals in Quebec who were insulted by Carroll's alleged slur will wonder why Carroll should be so well rewarded.
If the Liberals tell Jamie Carroll to take a hike, the court case could get ugly. And who knows what other dirty little secrets will be revealed over the course of litigation.
Stephane Dion has lost control of the situation and of the party as a whole.
Any bets on whether the management committee will spend at least as much time discussing how Stephane Dion has allowed things to progress this far as they do discussing Jamie Carroll's threats?
Maybe they should offer Stephane Dion 18 months of pay to go away.
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Comments
Wouldn't Dion be in an even bigger (how much bigger can it get?) pickle if Carroll decides to call the $30,000 loan he gave Dion for the Liberal Leadership race?
Posted by: alan at October 2, 2007 06:43 PM
Will Dion still be Liberal leader on October 16th, and will he direct his caucus to vote for/against the Throne Speech?
Somehow I suspect Liberal MPs and candidates will not want to enter an election with Dion as their leader and spokesperson.
If it's conceded that Liberals will lose the next election with Dion as their leader (just to give him the honour of an election), why bother having him as leader in the first place?
Will Liberals demand that Dion step down since it's acknowledged he will lead Liberals to a stunning loss in any next election, and instead find another leader to lose with and thus establish that new leader before the Canadian people?
IOW, why bother having Dion lead the Liberals into a losing cause since he is a big mistake, and those that want to follow him into an election should also follow Dion out of the Liberal party??
So many questions .. so few answers. I suppose we will have to wait until October 16th and Liberals proudly applaud their leader, whoever that may be ....
Posted by: Observer at October 2, 2007 07:11 PM
So who leaked the letter?
The Liberal Mole (tm) leaked it of course....
Posted by: Davide at October 2, 2007 08:29 PM
What's the going rate for 9 months work?
Oh, about two weeks and don't let the door slam on your way out.
Posted by: Lemon at October 2, 2007 08:34 PM
I don't know how Harper can possibly resist poisoning the throne speech and precipitating an election now. The Liberal party is in a critically weak position and things only seem to be getting worse for them.
Imagine if Harper writes a throne speech which explicitly throws away kyoto and commits Canada to five more year in Afghanistan. I just don't think it's possible for the Liberals to abstain from voting on such a motion... we'd be into an election, and Harper would get his majority.
Posted by: Paul at October 2, 2007 09:34 PM
"Being confidential means, of course, that we are reporting on the contents mere hours later:"
LOL !
Posted by: Concerned Torontonian at October 2, 2007 10:09 PM
Gotta love Libranos they eat their young and weak like starved wharf rats...keep those incisors sharp for the next hapless fool to take the helm of these predatory slime bags.
Posted by: WL Mackenzie Redux at October 3, 2007 09:25 AM
Three things:
1. Aren't the LIEberals broke - how can they pay him - although it is for work never done - so ok, he gets his money. I wonder if he will apply for EI?
2. How are the LIEberals, under DeYawn, going to be unified enough for an election if he has lost the grassroots support - although DeYawn doesn't need grassroots since he is going to parachute his "friends and Women quota" into ridings.
I’ve been following a debate on Far and Wide at:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20358187&postID=482745536943390656 where a guy [Sam] tries to ask a simple question and is totally ignored by those “debating” on unifying the grassroots. I like this guy because he copied the spelling that I use for DeYawn – and they hate it for some reason?! His question was: "What about the ridding where your leader parachutes his "person" in without grassroots decision?” With that kind of grassroots unity – not even looking at the question – I think the Conservative has a good chance for a majority and can finally put through bills NOT watered down by the opposition parties. DeYawn has to call an election or he/LIEberals will be laughed at for every criticism he would bring against the Conservatives. All Harper has to ask is for them to consult with their “unified” party. The LIEberals are putting me out of business – I couldn’t have written a funnier script than they are doing at the present.
4. This really blows my chance to carry Cherniak's suitcase when he is placed into the Senate for his loyalty. I asked him several times - he never answered - I have first dibs on this! Lol I’ll charge him the usual pay for doing nothing, about $59,000 a year. I’d even write his scripts for him – sorry, his posts are getting funnier than anything I could conceive.
Posted by: Clown Party of Canada at October 3, 2007 11:15 AM
I wonder how our friendly neighbourhood Liberals (hello Jason Cherniak) are going to spin this one.
Posted by: Brian in Calgary at October 5, 2007 11:41 AM
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