No Smoking Gum?

Ah yes, there's no better feeling than to be able to rub someone's nose into something, eh Dave? David Dingwall is busy today waving the just released independent auditors reports from the Mint for all to see, reports which Dingwall says exonerates him from any wrongdoing while he ran the Mint.

It was only last week that a Parliamentary committee had hauled Dingwall up on the carpet to go over his expense account while he counted the coins and bills at the Mint. During the sometime heated exchanges, Dingwalls less than parsimonious ways were called into question. Things deteriorated so much, that even a simple purchase of a pack of gum became the subject of intense scrutiny by the MP's on the panel. Leading to some rather ugly words between Dingwall and Tory MP Brian Pallister, when Pallister suggested that Dingwall benefited from his daughters position in the public service. A charge that certainly brought some colour to Dingwalls cheeks and probably shot his blood pressure points up a bit.

Pallister has found his attempt to slay the Dingwall has made him a bit of a hot commodity on the Hill these days, as the Hill reporters sit back and enjoy the show. With Dingwall holding some cards now it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

It was interesting to hear Revenue Minister John McCallum get to the microphones today, suggesting that some MP's (surely only Tory ones John?) were quick to rush to judgment on this case. McCallum it seems is conveniently forgetting that some members of his own party seemed to head for the exits once the latest Dingwall story first broke.

However, in the end, like always it will be all about the money. That golden handshake that Dingwall requested when he resigned from the Mint looks a lot more secure today than it did at the end of the hearing last week, unless of course Pallister has some more background papers to share. Then again a suddenly emboldened Dingwall is said to be considering his legal options now suggesting that he may just sue those that questioned his ways at the Mint.

It will be interesting to see who blinks first in this one, it could all go away by the weekend, or this may only have been round one in a lengthy brawl for it all.