Lawyer: Bring back suspended B.C. officials

VICTORIA • A lawyer representing the two suspended top officials at the British Columbia legislature is demanding they be reinstated as soon as possible while an RCMP investigation continues.

The letter from Mark Andrews to the NDP, Liberal and Green house leaders calls for the legislature to rescind a motion that placed sergeantat-arms Gary Lenz and clerk of the house Craig James on administrative leave.

Andrews says Lenz and James deny any wrongdoing and they do not know why they have been placed on leave.

“They are the most senior and long-serving and loyal servants of the legislative assembly whose reputations are in the process of being destroyed by these events,” says the letter dated Friday, which was released by the Liberals.

“As a matter of basic fairness, they deserved to be told what it is alleged that they have done and to be given an opportunity to respond to those allegations.”

The three-page letter is addressed to the NDP’s Mike Farnworth, Liberal Mary Polak and the Green’s Sonia Furstenau.

“Time is of the essence if some of the damage to our clients and to the public respect for the workings of the legislative assembly is to be undone,” says the letter. “To be clear: our clients are not asking for the investigation to be stopped. They will co-operate with the investigation and any reasonable terms connected therewith, and wish it to proceed with dispatch.”

Members of the legislature voted unanimously Tuesday to place Lenz and James on paid leave.

Farnworth, Polak and Furstenau said Thursday they met with Speaker Darryl Plecas on Monday evening to discuss the motion. The three house leaders also say they rejected a plan by Plecas to appoint Alan Mullen, his special adviser and friend, as acting sergeant-at-arms.