Angry in the Great White North

Ruby Dhalla's problems just got a lot worse.  Until now, the he-said-she-said allegations of mistreatment of in-home caregivers was bad, but I think it's safe to say that Ruby Dhalla was holding her own.

I don't think we'll be able to say that tomorrow.  Today it has been revealed that Ruby Dhalla's people got endorsements of Ruby Dhalla under questionable circumstances, and those endorsements are being revoked:

A distraught 81-year-old Filipina is accusing embattled Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla of "taking advantage" of her to falsely claim the support of the Brampton Filipino Seniors Club.

"They took my signature," Aurora Villanueva, 2007-2008 president of the Ontario club, said in an interview Thursday. "I need to clear my name. I don't want to die with a black mark on my name."

Ms. Villanueva says she wrote a letter on May 13th to the Commons immigration committee retracting a May 7th letter that said Ms. Dhalla had been "unjustly smeared" by allegations of mistreating caregivers, had a character of the highest integrity and had the support of the club.

Ms. Dhalla "took advantage of my being an old lady and being friendly" to secure her signature on a prepared letter a Ms. Dhalla representative brought to her home two weeks ago, when she was ill and unaware of the caregivers' allegations, she said.

And as before, Ruby Dhalla is alleged to be directly involved:

Villanueva says Dhalla called and asked her to retract her May 13th retraction. She refused. "They took advantage of my age. They thought I'm not going to fight back. I am fighting back."

Unlike the original allegations of mistreatment of the in-home caregivers, Ruby Dhalla is not denying that this happened:

In response, Ms. Dhalla issued a brief statement Thursday:

"I appreciate Ms. Villanueva's clarification; however she is not speaking on behalf of all the Brampton Filipino Seniors Club. Many members of the Filipino Seniors Club and community have expressed their support in letters, phone calls and e-mails. I appreciate the words of encouragement and support from constituents and Canadians."

We can discuss just how Ruby Dhalla seems to be dismissing Aurora Villanueva's role in the community, about how callous it seems.

And it does seem callous.

Or how it seems that Ruby Dhalla might have been taking advantage of a confused elderly woman?

And it does seem that Villanueva had been taken advantage of.

What I'm curious to know is who approved of this?

Did Ruby Dhalla and her people go after these endorsements on their own?

Did Ruby Dhalla's lawyer Howard Levitt know about this?

Or was this a Liberal Party action?

Who was this representative who seemed to trick Aurora Villanueva?  Was this person a paid Liberal Party worker?  Does that draw the Liberal Party into the Ruby Dhalla story in a way that it has managed to largely avoid up until now?  Were there other "representatives" fanning out for endorsements?  More Liberal Party staff working on the party dime to drum up material for Ruby Dhalla's public relations campaign?

If so, how will Howard Levitt react?  It seems that either Ruy Dhalla or the Liberal Party has made his job a lot harder.  Or was this Howard Levitt's idea?

I think there is an interesting story under this one, but no one is asking the right questions.

Another (similar) question: Who wrote Ruby Dhalla's statement in response to Villanueva's withdrawal of her endorsement?  Is that Ruby Dhalla, or Howard Levitt?    Howard Levitt's strategy has been to go after Ruby Dhalla's accusers, but this statement thanks Villaneuva for her clarification.  Let's just say that if someone said that release did not get approval of Howard Levitt, I wouldn't be surprised.  It's a small thing perhaps, but I get feeling that there is confusion in the Ruby Dhalla camp.