Plecas like a double agent on the trail of spending spree

As Darryl Plecas prepared to blow the lid off the biggest spending scandal the legislature has seen in years, he relied on whistleblowers to feed him inside information.

But, from early on, the Speaker realized there was one whistleblower with access to the best information around. That would be himself. Plecas became a kind of undercover agent at the people’s house, watching and documenting the unbelievable spending spree raging around him.

On foreign trips with the clerk and sergeant-at-arms, Plecas witnessed the purchase of designer suits and accessories, and then carefully reviewed how it was all charged back to B.C. taxpayers. His description of expense claims by Craig James, the clerk, is disturbing.

“Mr. James claimed his suit as an expense and also wrote on the receipt that the suit he purchased was black, rather than grey, presumably to support a claim that it was part of his legislative assembly attire.”

The dress code at the legislature calls for black. The Speaker was watching these two very, very closely.

Plecas noted James filed an expense claim for nearly $1,000 for shirts and ties bought at Brooks Brothers, a fancy London menswear store.

“The word ‘tie’ is crossed off and ‘tabs’ is hand-written in,” Plecas wrote. “Mr. James’s house uniform includes judicial tabs; it does not include conventional neckties. Brooks Brothers confirmed in a recent telephone call that the store does not sell tabs.”

Nothing seemed to slow down the shop-till-you-drop spending sprees, which featured a running gag at every store and boutique: “Part of the uniform.”

Plecas said Gary Lenz, the sergeant-at-arms, busted out the laugh line at the British House of Commons gift shop when Plecas stopped to admire some souvenir wristwatches.

“Mr. Lenz commented, ‘Those are nice watches,’ and he replied to me wryly, ‘Part of the uniform.’ ”

Plecas was later shocked to find one of the watches on his desk in the Speaker’s office.

“I did not ask for this ‘gift’ nor did I ask, or permit, Mr. James to claim for reimbursement for the expense of this watch, which it appears that he did.”

Incredibly, that wasn’t the only time where it appears Plecas was encouraged to get in on the porkapalooza.

Plecas said he bought himself a $1,000 suit in London and James pressured him to stick taxpayers with the bill. Plecas refused. And Plecas said Lenz encouraged him to think of other foreign destinations for dubious “business trips” they could all take together.

“He said. ‘OK, where in the world do you want to go?’ ” Plecas wrote. “The message was implicit, but obvious: We would determine later how to justify the locations we selected as a business purpose.”

But Plecas had a different itinerary in mind, one that didn’t include planes to exotic destinations. It focused, instead, on derailing an outof-control gravy train right here at home.

We’re only beginning to see the fallout from his bold intervention. For that, taxpayers should rejoice.