EXPENSES SCANDAL
Officials rebut Plecas report
In detailed reports that deny any wrongdoing, the suspended clerk of the legislature and the suspended sergeant-at-arms dismiss allegations that they misspent taxpayer money, calling the accusations inaccurate and unfair.
For the first time, Craig James and Gary Lenz, the top legislature staffers, have provided in-depth explanations for the most explosive allegations levelled at them in a January report by Speaker Darryl Plecas. They included wasting taxpayers’ money on a $13,000 wood splitter and trailer, a $1,200 suit, a $1,100 suitcase and $10,000 in alcohol, as well as lucrative retirement allowances and life-insurance policies.
“I have not engaged in wrongdoing or misconduct,” writes James, who says he is willing to co-operate with the RCMP investigation, but “they have not taken me up on that offer.”
“The allegations against me are mistaken, I have done nothing wrong,” said Lenz.
James and Lenz, who were suspended with pay on Nov. 20, provided their responses to the legislative assembly management committee (LAMC), which would not release the documents Friday.
However, Postmedia obtained copies of their responses, the latest volley in this high-stakes political story.
James called the Speaker’s criticisms “illogical,” noting Plecas approved some of his expenses as clerk. “He expressed no concerns. How could he approve the claims and ask that they be processed expeditiously if there was anything wrong with them? The concerns that are now raised take me absolutely by surprise,” James writes.
They both defended their record at the legislature.
James argued he made many changes that vastly improved oversight, and Lenz said he focused on improving security.
James and Lenz admitted to minor transgressions, such as inappropriately claiming magazine subscriptions as expenses and a few mistakes when claiming daily meal allowances.
On the larger, more explosive items contained in Plecas’ 76-page report, James and Lenz offered defences, although they said they had to rely on their memories for explanations because they were denied access to legislative files while suspended.
Among the allegations was James claiming a $13,000 wood splitter and trailer that was kept at his house.
But in his report, James said the purchase was approved by the legislature’s audit working group, so that the splitter could be used in the case of an earthquake to make firewood if there was no heat or electricity.
James said the splitter and trailer were stored at his house until a concrete pad and path was built on the legislative grounds, and he said it took longer than anticipated to find a contractor to build the storage area. Lenz said he has never used or even seen the wood splitter and trailer.
Another eyebrow-raising issue documented by Plecas was James receiving a $257,000 retirement allowance in 2012, and then asking for a second hefty payment in 2018. In response, James said former speaker Bill Barisoff approved the first payment but afterwards brought an end to the program that allowed for it.
Barisoff could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
As for the second retirement allowance request, James said it was Plecas’s idea to offer “transitional allowances” to permanent legislature employees, akin to what MLAs receive following a defeat. Then, James claimed, Plecas rescinded the offer because he worried it would not be “politically popular.”
“We will have a response presented at the next LAMC meeting,” he said. LAMC is the legislative assembly management committee, made up of MLAs from all parties.
Meanwhile Friday, the B.C. Liberal caucus confirmed MLA Linda Reid has stepped down as assistant deputy speaker of the legislature but will remain a Richmond MLA.
Reid was the previous speaker and was named in the Plecas report for part of his criticism of previous management of the building.
Plecas alleged she double-billed for taxis and personal vehicle mileage — although Lenz wrote in his response that his investigation determined she did nothing wrong and that she merely took a taxi to the Helijet terminal in Vancouver and then drove her vehicle from the Victoria Helijet terminal to the legislature in Victoria.
Green Leader Andrew Weaver had called on Reid to resign from her legislative role because his caucus lacked trust in her.
Plecas, in January report, said that after Lenz said he thought a forensic audit was needed of Reid’s expenses, James allegedly told his deputy clerk to “rein Gary in and put a stop to this, otherwise we will all wear it.”
James denies this: “I never suggested anything should be covered up, suppressed or concealed.”
Plecas’s report also accused James and Lenz of regularly receiving “unbudgeted cash bonuses” by not claiming all their vacation days and then collecting large cheques that paid out as many as 30 unused days. James and Lenz, though, argue that they worked so hard they could not take all their vacation days.
Lenz’s response said he has worked “well over 400 hours each year over and above my expected work hours.” The pair also deny allegations by Plecas that they were rarely in the office on Fridays.
Another element of the Plecas report was an allegation that James, in 2013, loaded $10,000 in liquor from the legislature into his pickup truck and drove it to Barisoff ’s Okanagan home.
James denies the load of booze was that valuable and said Barisoff gave him a cheque payable to the legislative assembly once he delivered the bottles. Added Lenz: “I assumed at the time that the alcohol was unused and being returned. … I had no reason to believe that anything wrong was happening.”
Detailed at great length in Plecas’s report were allegations of excessive travel expenses, starting with a trip to the U.K. on which he accompanied James and Lenz. Plecas said the pair arranged to stay in expensive hotels, expensed pricey clothing that was deemed to be a work “uniform” and did little work.
In their response, both men said the Speaker approved the itinerary and travel arrangements, and they insisted it was a valuable work trip. James said he bought a $1,200 suit to try to modernize what was worn in the legislature when the house is sitting — to replace “cumbersome and expensive gowns.”
“Transitioning to modern business attire for everyday use in the legislative assembly will lead to a savings of money, given the thousands of dollars that we spend each year on garments,” James writes.
Added Lenz: “I purchased a new hat for my obligatory ceremonial uniform to replace the hat I had inherited from my predecessor, which was over 20 years old and falling apart. I also purchased a set of cufflinks for the deputy clerk — for her uniform.”
James’ report also accelerates a tit-for-tat war of words with Plecas over partisanship, as both the clerk and the Speaker are supposed to be politically neutral roles.
Much of Plecas’s report centred on allegations that James was a partisan Liberal, pointing to meetings with people such as former Liberal leader Christy Clark. In his response, James alleged Plecas favoured the NDP when he declined to take the clerk’s advice about disciplining a member of the current NDP government over rancorous behaviour in the house. Plecas “did not want to upset the NDP,” James alleges.
It is anticipated that LAMC will discuss the James and Lenz reports at their next meeting. Both men say they want their jobs back.