Suspended legislature staff in limbo
Liberals say MLAs were not given all information before voting on suspensions
VICTORIA — Two suspended legislature staffers won’t be returning to their jobs any time soon after Green and NDP MLAs rejected a move to review the investigation that’s led to the crisis playing out in the capital.
NDP house leader Mike Farnworth and Green Leader Andrew Weaver defeated a Liberal motion Tuesday to review the suspensions, meaning clerk Craig James and sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz will remain on paid administrative leave until at least the next time the legislature sits in February.
B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson had argued MLAs were not given all the information by Speaker Darryl Plecas in advance of the legislature voting unanimously for the suspensions on Nov. 20. He’s said his MLAs were unaware the speaker and his aide Alan Mullen had conducted a secret seven-month investigation into the two officials and then proposed Mullen take over one of their jobs.
“We currently have a very serious controversy about the events of the last week,” Wilkinson told reporters in an end-of-session news conference. “Our view is we have done what we can for accountability in the house and we’ve basically exhausted our channels.”
Wilkinson took particular aim at Mullen, who Liberals have criticized not only for his secret investigation but also his decision on Nov. 20 to call Victoria police officers to have James and Lenz escorted out of the building in what the two men have said was a humiliating spectacle that ruined their reputations.
Two special prosecutors are overseeing the resulting RCMP probe, though the allegations remain unknown. James and Lenz have not been charged with any crime, and both men said Monday they had not been interviewed by police.
It was revealed Tuesday that Mullen was suspended for four days while working for Great Canadian Casinos in September 2006 after allegedly having been intoxicated as a security shift manager.
Great Canadian Casino then fired Mullen after he submitted a claim for 542 hours of overtime at a cost of $11,465.38, which the company alleged in court documents that Mullen refused to back up with supporting documentation.
Mullen sued the company for wrongful termination, failing to offer a fair compensation package and “terminating the plaintiff in a callous, abrupt, and humiliating manner.”
Other court documents show the legal action was dismissed on Dec. 31, 2017 with the consent of both parties, though its unclear if this was by some sort of agreement or settlement. Neither Mullen nor Great Canadian Gaming returned requests for comment Tuesday.
Plecas hired Mullen to his $75,000 aide’s job in January. The two are friends and met when Mullen was most recently a manager at Kent Institution.
The Liberals should have demanded more answers about the source of the speaker’s investigation before agreeing to the suspension plan, admitted Wilkinson.
“Having learned what we have about the dubious credentials of the investigator, we’d do that exactly if we were given this proposition again,” he said. “But that’s hindsight.”
Premier John Horgan continued to express confidence in Plecas, and rejected any suggestion his party is trying to run interference for him because it needs Plecas’ vote in the near-tied legislature.
“It’s a difficult task and I wish him well in his deliberations but his impartiality is not in question as far as I’m concerned,” said Horgan.
The Liberals also asked Tuesday for an emergency meeting of the all-party legislature management committee that oversees building operations. Plecas rejected that idea. Farnworth said a previously-scheduled Dec. 6 meeting would suffice.
When asked if it was fair what happened to James and Lenz when they still don’t know the allegations against them, Horgan said: “They are on administrative leave with full pay and benefits. I have great sympathy for both individuals, but I can’t comment beyond that.