Wally Oppal defends Speaker
The questions: “Why does the Speaker need another special adviser and why is it Wally Oppal?” were partially answered on Friday.
Oppal himself showed up for his new job at a legislature seething with intrigue about the suspension of the clerk and the sergeant-at-arms.
Whatever his job description is, it seems to involve being an image consultant and public relations man for Speaker Darryl Plecas.
Meanwhile, Plecas’s first special adviser — Alan Mullen — took on the additional load of media critic Friday, with an exposition about how off-base reporters are in dwelling on his boss’s initial idea for replacing suspended sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz.
Plecas had suggested Monday to three party house leaders that Mullen be made acting sergeantat-arms, prior to Lenz and clerk Craig James being suspended by house motion on Tuesday. That move was taken on the basis of an RCMP investigation and the appointment of two special prosecutors that is at least partially based on information that Mullen developed earlier.
Plecas’s idea of slotting a friend he direct-hired just 11 months ago into such a top job — after the man had played some role in events leading to the sudden vacancy — was dead on arrival. The house leaders rejected it firmly.
But just the idea he pitched such a nonsensical notion caused a stir.
With much attention focused on the Speaker and his special adviser, friend and confidential investigator, Plecas brought Oppal on board.
The eminent former judge and former attorney general on Friday stressed the need for confidentiality in what he said was a “criminal investigation.” The short-lived idea of naming Mullen acting sergeant-at-arms is “peripheral stuff,” he said.
He praised Plecas as a “wellspoken, intelligent person with a great academic record” and said he had been acting on sound advice.
Oppal said he’s now on hand for legal advice. But this mystery started developing months ago. Why wasn’t he on hand from the start?
Later, Mullen told reporters: “We sort of need to redirect this — it’s sort of focused on me and the Speaker and I get that, but there is a criminal investigation ongoing and I think we need to refocus on that.”
He said the media were focusing on “whoever the face of the story is.
“It kind of goes with the job. I’m happy to talk to media all day long, that’s not the issue. I just feel the issue needs to focus on what’s going in this place. It’s not about me, it’s not about the Speaker.”
The idea he would become acting sergeant-at-arms was “taken so out of context. It was a brief suggestion, it was shut down.
“All the Speaker was saying was: ‘I’m thinking we need someone from the outside.’
“It wasn’t predetermined or set up. As things roll on here, that will become obvious.”
What has been rolling so far is an extraordinarily serious matter being handled in a distinctly strange manner.
Important developments are being dealt with by a mysterious $75,000-year adviser no one has ever heard of. Misdirection plays are being used to tease media.
You can measure the weirdness by the number of special advisers to the Speaker, which is now two more than anyone else ever needed.
In the midst of all that, a flaming lawyer’s letter on behalf of James and Lenz arrived at the legislature raising numerous objections to the handling so far.
As the day closed, the scrambling has started on the original decision to suspend, with Liberals wanting an emergency meeting of a management committee — chaired by Plecas.
They also released 11 questions for their counterparts about how the suspensions came to be — four days after they and everyone else voted in the space of seconds to impose them.
More to come Monday — if not sooner.