BELLRINGER’S SMOOTH EXIT
Kudos for last scandal report: Palmer
Auditor general Carol Bellringer came to the legislature this week, fully prepared to defend her recent report on expense spending by the senior officers of the house.
Much to her surprise, no one challenged her over a report that was one of the more controversial produced by her office in recent years.
Speaker Darryl Plecas greeted the report with disappointment and dismay when it was released Sept. 20.
He’d wanted Bellringer to conduct a full-blown forensic audit. He thought her review of spending by the offices of the Speaker, clerk and sergeant-at-arms should have gone back to 2011 instead of just 2016. Five days after those complaints were in the news, Bellringer announced she will retire for “personal reasons” at the end of 2019, almost two years before her term is up.
Then, on Tuesday of this week, she showed up to discuss her report with the all-party legislative assembly management committee (LAMC).
Bellringer and her audit team summarized their review of several thousand expense transactions, totalling about $2.2 million.
They found no “potentially fraudulent transactions” that warranted being passed along to police. They did identify a lack of spending controls along with a lack of respect for the few that were in place.
Those findings led to nine recommendations for tighter controls and tougher enforcement.
Responding on behalf of the assembly, acting clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd reported all nine had been accepted. Six were “substantially implemented,” the other three only partly so.
Bellringer said there will be another audit next year and “four within three years.”
In her opening remarks to the committee, the auditor general made passing reference to the concerns that had been raised about her report in the news media.
She said she would be “happy to answer any questions from the committee.” But none of the members took up the invitation to revisit the controversy.
No questions about forensic audits. No insinuations that she should have dug deeper into the past, or tried harder to find evidence of fraud that could be passed on to the police. Not even Speaker Plecas, who was chairing the meeting, asked a question.
“On behalf of myself — I wouldn’t dare to speak on behalf of the committee — thank you very much for the professionalism and the work done to date,” said Jackie Tegart, chair of the B.C. Liberal caucus.
With that, Bellringer was out of there. Outside the committee room, she stopped to chat with reporters.
In light of Plecas’ criticisms, was she surprised she was asked no questions about those concerns?
“Yes, I am surprised there were no questions today,” she replied.
Was there any truth to suspicions that the Speaker’s criticisms had precipitated the timing of her pending departure from office?
“That there was a direct line between the two — that’s not true,” replied Bellringer.
The 62-year-old says she made the decision to leave early because of an accumulation of stresses in her life and work.
As for the criticisms and controversy around her report — “is that on my stress list? Absolutely.”
So Plecas gets partial credit for her exit.
When Bellringer leaves at the end of the year, she’ll probably be succeeded by an interim auditor general.
The legislature has yet to appoint a selection committee to choose a permanent replacement.
One positive thing that stood out at the LAMC meeting Tuesday was a welcome change of tone on the part of the Speaker toward acting clerk Ryan-Lloyd.
Readers may recall how one evening last May, Plecas acted to take control of the hard drive on her office computer. The incident played out with Ryan-Lloyd leaving Plecas’ office in tears and Plecas denying there was anything untoward in the move.
“It’s simply a case of saying we need to make sure that we have data secured,” he told reporters. “We have continuing investigations. It’s that simple.”
He may have been anticipating the investigation he commissioned into now ex-sergeant-atarms Gary Lenz by Doug LePard, the former deputy police chief from Vancouver.
LePard’s report, released this week, indicates he went to extraordinary lengths to find a missing memory stick, containing key emails to and from Lenz. He also searched computer hard drives to see if the files had been transferred there.
He reports how the Speaker and his chief of staff, Alan Mullen, suspected Ryan-Lloyd might be involved in the disappearance. But eventually the memory stick turned up in a search directed by Ryan-Lloyd herself.
LePard interviewed her at length and found her to be a credible and reliable witness.
“She provided highly plausible explanations for any of her behaviours the Speaker was suspicious of — which can be attributed to failures of communication and an understandably heightened sense of distrust by the Speaker and Mr. Mullen,” writes LePard.
“Ms. Ryan-Lloyd acknowledged that, much to her distress, the Speaker didn’t know who he could trust among the legislature staff and she was trying to assist him.”
Perhaps prompted by that assessment, the Speaker lavished praise on Ryan-Lloyd at this week’s LAMC meeting.
“Thank you, Kate,” said Plecas after she had provided a progress report.
“Once again, it just demonstrates how incredibly capable and hard-working you are.”
Good on Plecas for recognizing her abilities.
An all-party committee is just starting the search for a permanent replacement for departed clerk Craig James.
But perhaps the Speaker’s words will help encourage Ryan-Lloyd to apply. She ought to have the inside track.