Cullen formally files complaint with Commissioner

Nathan Cullen has taken the next step in his concerns with Cariboo-Prince George Conservative MP Dick Harris, who found himself under the spotlight over his plans to install Houston mayor (and soon to be Conservative candidate) Sharon Smith as his “go to person” in the riding which he doesn’t represent.

The move has resulted in a fair amount of debate over the ethics of such a move and the role of elected MP’s in the House of Commons if they aren’t a member of the governing party.

The NDP MP believes that Harris is in violation of the MP’s code of ethic and wants the ethics commissioner to investigate and punished the Conservative MP for his behaviour.

In Monday’s Daily News, Cullen outlined his concerns and what he hopes will happen with the case.

CULLEN WANTS RIVAL HARRIS PUNISHED FOR ‘GO-TO’ FIASCO
Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP files his complaint with the ethics commissioner
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, September 9, 2007’
Pages one and three

Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen expects the federal ethics commissioner will begin an investigation in to the behaviour of the Cariboo-Prince George MP within a week.

“We hope to have this resolved quickly and certainly prior to the Christmas season because people here need to feel like when someone does something wrong, there is some kind of ramification to that otherwise there are no watchdogs, just paper tigers,” said Cullen.

He spoke after filling a complaint with the ethics commissioner following Prince George MP Dick Harris issuing a press release in late August announcing the appointment of Sharon Smith as the ‘go-to’ person for Skeena-Bulkley Valley constituents looking for access to the federal government.

Smith, the Mayor of Houston, is also the nominated Conservative candidate for the next general election.

Harris suggested that those in ridings not represented by Conservative MPs have difficulty getting government projects approved or even basic government services, like passport applications, processed.

Cullen said he believes Harris violated the MPs code of ethics by using his public position to further Sharon Smith’s private interests in the next election.

While Harris has dismissed Cullen’s concerns in the media, Cullen noted that even the Conservative Party has said Harris’ stance is not official public policy.

“I’m not sure what I find more upsetting – that they did this in the first place, which was just not very bright, or that the Conservatives tried to defend it in the face of such a public outcry… it was a stupid move.”
Cullen said that the response from complaints to the ethics commissioner is usually quick.

“She is new to the position and we don’t think she has a lot on her plate just yet,” he said.

He expects an initial interview will be conducted in the next week followed by interviews with other sources. If the ethics commissioner chooses to launch a full investigation, Cullen said he expects that could take up to a month to complete.

While the decision to launch a full investigation is out of his hands, Cullen said he would like to see a tightening of the rules so government can’t keep “undermining the democratic process,” and “bullying or tricking people.”

“We would imagine there would be some handing of a decision to Mr. Harris himself, asking him to issue a public apology or not to do this again because it’s not about Dick Harris or the Skeena-Bulkley Valley alone, it’s about sending a signal to MP”s everywhere that the ethical bar will be higher than has been portrayed by this government so far. Of course, the final decision that she makes will be up to her.”

Cullen has also written the prime minister asking him to tell his member to step down as chair of the B. C. caucus.

Laughing all the way to a reprimand?

“I’m sure the ethics commissioner will have a chuckle about this one,”
Prince George-Cariboo Conservative MP, Dick Harris, responds to the uproar over his appointment of Houston Mayor Sharon Smith, to act as his “go to person” in Skeena-Bulkley Valley.

His representation without the need of an election plan has been disavowed by the Federal Conservative party, become fodder for bloggers across Canada and raised the temperature of man of the residents of the riding he cast his glance at. So for Mr. Dick Harris the last week or so has been one in which a low profile seems to have been the advice offered.

Frequently found unavailable for comment in the last seven to ten days or so, the Conservative MP surfaced long enough this week to try to deflect some of the storm that has come his way. Suggesting that the ethics commissioner will be finding much humor in Harris’ plan to redirect constituency questions away from the NDP MP Nathan Cullen, who while serving as the elected member to the House of Commons for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, isn’t up to snuff as far as Mr. Harris is concerned.

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Suggesting that the riding's needs appeared to be a situation which apparently requires an agent more in thinking with the Conservative viewpoint, to process the needs of democracy to the “proper channel”.

The incumbent MP, Mr. Cullen of course wasn’t too impressed with his fellow traveler in the House of Commons and made much of what he called unethical behavior, which has resulted in the MP drafting a formal complaint about Mr. Harris for the ethics commissioner. Mr. Cullen is asking Ms. Mary Dawson to investigated his allegations the Mr. Harris has violated the Parliamentary code of ethics.

The issue received another look in Friday’s paper as the Daily News examined the background and the latest developments in the simmering dispute between MP’s.

CULLEN CHARGES HARRIS’ BEHAVIOR IS UNETHICAL
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Friday, August 31, 2007
Pages one and three

Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen has drafted a formal complaint alleging Conservative Dick Harris violated his code of ethics when he named Sharon Smith as a special appointee to the riding.

At the same time, the federal Conservative Party says Harris, B. C. caucus chair, was acting on his own when he decided to appoint an unelected Tory to symbolically serve members of a riding held by an MP from the opposition.

“This is not an official party policy,” said Conservative spokesperson Ryan Sparrow.

Cullen said he has been flooded by phone calls from people from across his riding who are outraged that the Conservatives are suggesting they need to speak to government MP’s or their representatives in order to have their needs addressed.

“Most times when I talk to the press or people within my own caucus even, they don’t believe it,” Cullen said.

“So I send them the (CBC) transcripts, or just the press releases from the Conservatives and they just kind of shake their heads. It’s very bizarre, not very bright, and deeply unethical.”

In separate letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the federal ethics commissioner, Cullen suggests that Harris was in a conflict of interest for using public resources, such as his MP’s travel budget, to boost the private interests of Smith.

“What Mr. Harris has done has infuriated people across my riding, and across the province of B. C., who have heard about this,” Cullen said.

“It puts a slime over everything. These guys got in (to office with promises of accountability and transparency and ethics – and we thought it wouldn’t be hard for them to improve on the Liberal record – but they somehow found a way to slip under that bar.”

Harris told the Prince George Citizen in his riding that he did nothing wrong because Smith the mayor of Houston, B. C. was acting in a volunteer position to serve residents who, he said, were not getting their money’s worth from their current MP.

“I’m sure the ethics commissioner will have a chuckle about this one,” said Harris.

North Coast MLA Gary Coons agrees with Cullen that the action is improper, unethical and possibly violates the conflict of interest code for MP’s.

“I’m pleased the government spokesperson has clarified the impropriety of such an abusive, undemocratic action and confirmed the government sees this as inappropriate,” said Coons.

“He confirmed that constituents should contact their duly elected MP’s, not friends or insiders of the current Conservative MP’s who are trying to manipulate our democratic process.”

Despite the government’s official denouncing of the practice in question, Cullen isn’t buying into it just yet.

“I think they’re trying to backpaddle out, and they’re having a hard time because what’s done is done,’ said Cullen.

“Sometimes in politics people make bad judgements, they say something wrong or do something wrong. And if you do, apologize, correct it and move on.”

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With files from CanWest News Service and the Prince George Citizen.

Politics 101 for Mr. Harris; getting hung out to dry is fun...

They haven't quite come out and called him a bone head, but the official response to Dick Harris' liaison program is one of distance, as in somebody else can go get him off the cliff thank you.

The Conservatives said all the right democratic things today about who constituents in the Bulkley Valley-Skeena should contact if they have any concerns about government issues, and short of publishing his riding phone number even the Tories grudgingly admitted that yes, Mr. Nathan Cullen, NDP member of Parliament is the duly elected representative of the people from Bulkley Valley-Skeena.

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Government officials have distanced themselves from Mr. Harris's unofficial appointment of Ms. Smith as the riding representative in Ottawa.

"He just kind of did that himself," government spokesman Ryan Sparrow said of Mr. Harris's move. "[Ms. Smith] is the Conservative candidate in the next election. That's her only official capacity."

Mr. Sparrow was unequivocal when asked whom local residents should contact for federal help: "They should contact their local member of Parliament. ... Ms. Smith is working hard to be that person after the next election, but for now, the riding is held by a New Democrat."

This issue heated up last week after Mr. Harris appeared on the Daybreak North program and pointedly directed riding residents to contact his liaison, Sharon Smith who also happens to be the candidate for the conservatives whenever we again trudge to the polls.

The backlash has been rather loud and has made national news as the optics of trying to go around the democratically elected representative backfired on Mr. Harris and his go to gal in Houston.

Having been thrown under the bus as it were by the federal office, we suspect that there won't be much more in the way of sending anyone off to spend some time with Ms. Smith, which is probably good news for the folks in Houston, who probably would prefer their mayor to just concentrate on her duties for the city until she makes her attempt to be the elected liaison between the people and the government, providing of course that Mr. Harris' party still holds that title after the next election.

The Globe and Mail provided full details on the backpedaling machinations from the National office, unfortunately neither Mr. Harris or his liaison were available to provide feedback to the Globe regarding these differing interpretations about how the elected process works in Canada.

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Though apparently not for lack of trying, the Globe reportedly made attempts over a 48 hour period to get their side of the story, without success, makes you wonder what kind of success a mere constituent might have had trying to get in touch.

Want services? Forget your MP, Tory chair says
Dick Harris tells radio listeners to go to Conservative candidate instead of NDP MP
ALEXANDER PANETTA
Canadian Press
August 30, 2007

OTTAWA -- Forget your duly elected local MP. If you want government services in your riding, you'd be better off going to the local Conservative running in the next election.

That's the message the Tories have been peddling in a British Columbia riding they don't hold - and now they're vigorously backpedalling.

The Conservatives' caucus chair in the province had been telling radio listeners and public audiences in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding not to bother with their elected New Democrat MP.

For a better chance at federal funding, speedily returned paperwork and help with infrastructure projects, Dick Harris told them they should talk instead to the woman who will run for the Conservatives.

"Realistically, to have access to the ministers you know - realistically - you have to be part of the government," Mr. Harris, who is also a B.C. MP, said in a radio interview. "There is sort of a little bit of a pecking order in Parliament."

An area newspaper also quoted him urging constituents to approach the federal government through Sharon Smith - the mayor of Houston, B.C., and the federal Conservative candidate.
"Constituents ... will derive a huge benefit from having direct contact with the government, something they have not had since 2004," Mr. Harris said in a story in the Terrace Daily Online.

That unorthodox tactic for raising the candidate's profile came as a surprise to Nathan Cullen, who was elected by residents of Skeena-Bulkley Valley to represent them in Parliament. The New Democrat was first elected by an almost 1,300-vote margin in 2004 and more than quadrupled his margin of victory in 2006.

Government officials have distanced themselves from Mr. Harris's unofficial appointment of Ms. Smith as the riding representative in Ottawa.

"He just kind of did that himself," government spokesman Ryan Sparrow said of Mr. Harris's move. "[Ms. Smith] is the Conservative candidate in the next election. That's her only official capacity."

Mr. Sparrow was unequivocal when asked whom local residents should contact for federal help: "They should contact their local member of Parliament. ... Ms. Smith is working hard to be that person after the next election, but for now, the riding is held by a New Democrat."

The sitting MP said his jaw hit the floor when he heard Mr. Harris on the radio recently. "It's the vulgarity of it. ... Mr. Harris is essentially trying to contest the last election," Mr. Cullen said in an interview yesterday.

"He's also suggesting that the whole voting process is almost unnecessary by the Conservative perspective - because they'll just simply appoint whom they wish to hear from, as opposed to whom the people have chosen. And that's so fundamentally wrong."

Mr. Harris and Ms. Smith did not respond to interview requests made to their offices over two days.

Is this a little helpful assistance, or the subversion of democracy?

A raging debate is breaking out in the Northwest, over moves by the Conservative Party of Canada to set up a “go to person” in Houston, apparently designed to help voters in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley gain better access the current government of the day. It would seem that the now century old route of going through the elected representative isn’t a method that is receiving the Conservative seal of approval.

The issue first came up last week on the CBC’s Daybreak program, as the Prince Rupert based host Russell Bowers’ inquired of Cariboo-PrinceGeorge MP, Dick Harris just what his new liaison, Houston Mayor Sharon Smith might be able to do for constituents of the riding. .

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Mustering up as much humility as seemingly possible, he kindly suggested that riding's that vote for the “fourth party, like the NDP party – simply don’t’ have the access to the minister or the government that allows them to get things done for their riding.” It would seem that in the view of Mr. Harris, having someone call up Ms. Smith or drop in for coffee might help spin those wheels of governance just a little bit quicker. And oh, by the way, the helpful Ms. Smith is coming to a ballot near you soon, as the Conservative nominee for the riding, a bonus we're sure and purely a coincidence, eh!

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However, if one were to turn that argument around, perhaps we might ask our government of the day, why our locally, democratically, elected representative might be having so much trouble accessing Canada’s New Government.

The move seems more like setting the table for a possible election campaign, than it does for providing access for the community. The Conservatives perhaps hopeful of wrestling the Northwest away from the NDP, may somehow think that setting up a conduit may help them come Election Day.

While it’s not uncommon for political parties to set up shop in those riding's in which they don’t have a seat, normally it’s more of an informative nature. It’s a bit of an unusual step to set up almost a parallel constituency office, designed to sidetrack the riding’s residents from their “elected” representative. Surely the Conservatives have a candidate that can win the seat on her own merits and not through an organized campaign of disinformation and subterfuge.

While Mr. Harris goes about with his plans to better understand his neighbouring riding, there is a question for the fine folks of Houston to ask.

How come their current mayor, seems to have the spare time to become the "go to gal" in the riding?

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Surely they haven’t run out of things on the Houston “to do” list for the “go to gal” accomplish, before she launches herself onto the National stage.

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The percolating issue is burning wild in blogger land, one of the best items of which, is this blog item in the Galloping Beaver which makes the case for the prosecution if you will and asks a few questions that perhaps the new "liaison lady" can provide answers for.

The Daily News provided front page coverage of the tempest in Monday’s paper.

TORIES’ GO-TO PEOPLE GET MP NATHAN CULLEN SEEING RED
Conservatives urging voters to contact government through Mayor of Houston
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Monday, August 27, 2007
Pages one and three

Many residents of Northern British Columbia, and perhaps throughout Canada, were shocked to learn that the Federal Conservatives have appointed what they call ‘liaisons’ to represent ridings where MP’s are of another party.

On Russell Bowers’ morning Daybreak North radio program last week, he interviewed Cariboo-Prince George Member of Parliament and Chairman of the B. C. Caucus of Conservative MP’s Dick Harris, who announced that Houston Mayor Sharon Smith had been named a “go to person” for the Conservative government in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding, which MP Nathan Cullen currently represents in Ottawa.

“Well, we think that the folks in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding should have access to government, and in other areas of the province as well, where we are finding that opposition MP’s – particularly from the fourth party, like the NDP party – simply don’t have the access to the minister or to the government that allows them to get things done for their ridings,” said Harris in his CBC interview.

“Realistically, to have access to the ministers, you know, realistically you have to be part of the government.“

MP Nathan Cullen was upset about the announcement, and says he wants the public to know about it.

“What they’re trying to do as a principle upsets me quite a bit, and what he’s gotten permission to do is such a slap in the face for people and they’ve been riled up,” said Cullen.

“To have him shouting out from the top of the mountain about how bad I am, I don’t really worry about that. The only people I worry about are the people I actually represent, and their opinions of me.”

Vancouver Island North MP Catherine Bell has already had a similar situation happen to her in her riding. Several months ago, the Tories named a candidate as the “go-to person” for the Conservative party, in what Cullen feels is an effort to undermine her and give the perception that she is not doing her job.

However, he is not sure yet if this practice is something the government has been doing across the whole country or not.

“I’m on my way right now to Montreal, where by coincidence, we’re having a caucus meeting to find out if this is happening across the board, but I don’t know,” said Cullen on Saturday afternoon.

“But according to what Dick Harris had to say, this is an accepted policy, and that they’re going to do this in ridings where they want to do it. We’ll be taking this to the next level obviously, the prime minister and the Ethics Commission, because this is unethical and likely illegal.”

According to Duff Connacher, coordinator of Democracy Watch, not only is what Harris said generally improper, but may be crossing ethical boundaries in the Conflict of Interest Code, a code of conduct for MPs.

“There are general principles in the code that say, for example, that you have to fulfill your public duty, upholding the highest standard, so as to avoid real or apparent conflicts of interest, and to maintain and enhance public confidence and trust in the integrity of each member of the House of Commons,” said Connacher in a subsequent interview with CBC Radio 1’s Daybreak North program. “And I think in this situation, that standard is not being met.”

Connacher went on to cite two specific rules of the code that he feels have been violated, and into which, in his mind, the Ethics Commissioner should be launching an investigation.

“There are also specific rules: Rule Eight of the Code says that when performing their duties. MP’s shall not act in any way to further – improperly further – another person’s private interests,” he said. “And Rule Nine says that MP’s shall not use their position as a member to influence a decision of another person in a way that improperly furthers another person’s private interests. And I think it’s – these are highly questionable actions by the Conservative MP.”