Angry in the Great White North

Are Richard Brennan and Guy Giorno on a collision course?

Back in October, I wrote about Richard Brennan, who is works for the Ottawa Bureau of the Toronto Star [ed, incorrectly identified Brennan as the bureau chief], and the president of the press gallery.  Brennan had given an interview to a hard-left online magazine, and revealed some harshly critical views of Stephen Harper and the Conservative government, using language (Stephen Harper is a "bully") that made me wonder just how Brennan could be trusted to report in an unbiased manner.  Certainly giving an interview on the subject would raise doubts, since most reporters would prefer to keep their personal opinions private so as not to colour perceptions of their reporting.

As a follow-up, I wrote about what seemed to be a reporter manipulating a story, or worse, manufacturing a story.  In a nutshell, this is what happened, as reported by Christina Blizzard of the Toronto Sun:

• Richard Brennan hears a rumour that people working for Mike Harris removed material related to the events at Ipperwash
• Richard Brennan doesn't write the story
• Richard Brennan relates the story to Murray Klippenstein, lawyer for the family of Dudley George, who was killed by police at the standoff at Ipperwash
• Murray Klippenstein, quoting an unnamed source (Brennan), files a legal "Request to Admit" that outlines the allegations that documents were being removed and demands that the defendant (the Mike Harris government) answer to the charge
• Richard Brennan then gets a copy of the Request to Admit (later it is learned that Klippenstein faxed the request to Brennan directly), and is able to report on the rumour of the removed documents by reporting on the legal case instead, a legal case he essentially created 
• Richard Brennan interviews Murray Klippenstein to get reaction to Brennan's story

Kippenstein's motion was challenged, and the Harris government won the argument that Klippenstein could not make allegations without at least a modicum of evidence.  Since the evidence was the word of a source, the court demanded that Klippenstein reveal the name of the source.  Perhaps people were expecting Klippenstein to name a member of Mike Harris' inner circle.

Instead, the source was the reporter who wrote the story, Richard Brennan. 

After fighting the order for months, Klippenstein revealed that the sole source of the story was Richard Brennan.  Klippenstein tried to salvage the situation by having Brennan reveal his source.  Brennan declined, and the whole case of removed documents simply fell apart.

Brennan moved from Southam News to the Toronto Star.  The Star, on learning of this story, made it certain that Brennan not cover the Ipperwash story.  Eventually, Brennan was moved to cover Ottawa.

Hey, you're thinking, this is all very interesting, but so what?

Let's move forward to today.  The news is that Ian Brodie is leaving the Prime Minister's Office:

Ian Brodie, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief of staff, is expected to leave the Prime Minister's Office this summer, signalling a shake-up in time for a fall election.

Mr. Brodie is one of Mr. Harper's closest confidants and a chief architect of his 2006 election victory. Mr. Brodie is expected to leave in July, sources said last night. A rumoured potential replacement is Guy Giorno, a onetime chief of staff to former Ontario premier Mike Harris.

Guy Giorno?  Mike Harris?  A connection, but you're not quite sure where this is going.  All will become clear.

On Politics with Don Newman, the news of Ian Brodie's departure was discussed.  Richard Brennan was a guest, to discuss what he knows of Guy Giorno.  He seems to be complimentary, but then there is a sharp dig that is profoundly personal.  Guy Giorno is very bright but "socially challenged'. 

Socially challenged?  What the heck does that mean?

Is that political analysis or an outtake from Blind Date?  Richard Brennan thinks that Guy Giorno is not cool?  Maybe it's because Guy Giorno is a practising Catholic -- we're not a lot of fun at parties.

Or maybe it's something else.  How did Christina Blizzard learn about all that stuff about Brennan and Klipperstein in the first place?

So what were the documents, and who was the source of the allegations against the premier and his staff? Legal and court documents obtained by the Sun show the original source for the allegations contained in this "news" story was the reporter who wrote it - Rick Brennan. Here's how it worked: Some time in the fall of 1998, probably in October, Brennan met with Murray Klippenstein, lawyer for the George family, who had launched a civil wrongful death suit against Harris and other provincial politicians on behalf of the family.

Did someone point the Sun to the right documents?  Did someone set the Blizzard on the path to reveal Richard Brennan's role in the document-destruction story, a role that seemed to go well beyond merely reporting the news?

Well, I'm told that it is an open secret among those in the know that Guy Giorno had a hand in revealing Brennan's actions.  I wonder if Richard Brennan is indulging in a bit of ridicule aimed at Giorno as a way of payback. 

There aren't too many good reasons to call someone a geek or a dweeb by way of political analysis.

The funny thing is that there is an opportunity here to improve the relationship between the Press Gallery and the PMO.  Turn the page.  Fresh start.  But is this a sign that the Press Gallery won't be interested in making things better?