Joe Lougheed cleared of illegal lobbying
Lawyer didn’t try to sway government
A Tory insider paid $5,000 a month by a Calgary postsecondary institution for “government relations” has been cleared of illegally lobbying the provincial government.
An independent investigation released Monday found there was no evidence Joe Lougheed set up a 2011 appointment between the Alberta College of Art and Design’s president Daniel Doz and then minister of Aboriginal Affairs Len Webber.
While Lougheed attended the spring meeting at Webber’s legislature office, lobbyist registrar Bradley Odsen said everyone present agreed the prominent Calgary lawyer never said a word, let alone tried to influence the government.
“The entirety of the conversation consisted of Mr. Webber providing information and advice on how the ACAD might reach out to the aboriginal community in Alberta,” Odsen said in his report. “It was not a communication that could be characterized as lobbying.”
Provincial legislation requires paid lobbyists to register if they are communicating with an MLA or minister in an attempt to influence the awarding of any grant or official benefit.
Questions arose last fall about why Lougheed had never registered, after details of his contract with ACAD from July 2009 to October 2011 became public.
Odsen found Doz had asked his executive assistant set up the meeting with Webber.
Though his recollections were vague, Webber had told the Herald in a November interview that the meeting was held at Lougheed’s request.
“I met with Joe because he was a family friend and I will give him the time of day any day,” Webber said at the time.
Odsen also found Doz wanted to meet with Webber to seek advice on how to reach out to the aboriginal community.
Minutes from ACAD’s board of governors meeting in April 2011 note the school’s president had met with the minister on how the province could “assist” with the initiative.
Lougheed’s invoices to the school mentioned discussions and meetings with other key officials and prominent Conservatives including Ron Glen, then premier Ed Stelmach’s chief of staff, and provincial party president Bill Smith.
But Odsen found the “discussions” were actually references to conversations between Lougheed and ACAD’s top administrators regarding approaches they could take themselves in discussing issues with these office holders.
He found the “meetings” were instances in which the lawyer had attended functions at which Tory ministers or government officials were present and was merely reporting back to ACAD’s president on what he had seen and heard.
Wildrose justice critic Shane Saskiw said the investigation report is proof the province’s lobbyist legislation needs to be tightened. “We want a law to ensure that taxpayer’s money isn’t wasted by public institutions trying to influence their own government,” said Saskiw, “but after 42 years in power it seems the Tories want to preserve the cosy status quo.”
Odsen did find Lougheed invited Doz to a Tory fundraiser at his expense in September 2010 where he introduced him to several cabinet ministers, including Webber.
Lougheed is also under scrutiny by the province’s chief electoral officer, after documents released by the University of Calgary showed he was providing tickets to party fundraisers and then billing the school for legal work he did not perform.
The university’s then general counsel put a halt to the practice in 2008. When the documents were released last year, Lougheed said the e-mails in which he explained his billings had been poorly worded.
Campaign finance laws prohibit provincially financed institutions from making political contributions directly or indirectly.
Lougheed did not reply to messages left with his office at the Dentons law firm on Monday.