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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Money and politics a marriage built to last
What is it about Quebec Liberals and cold hard cash?
This week, we get word of yet another political financing scandal in Quebec. A former provincial Liberal cabinet minister has alleged his party accepted cash donations from fundraisers to avoid limits on corporate and union donations.
The allegations went on to claim donors were allowed to dictate the appointment of provincial judges, and that Liberal Premier Jean Charest was aware of what was going on.
Charest on Tuesday called an inquiry, but only into whether influence was unduly peddled in the appointment of judges; the issue of how the Liberals conducted their fundraising is not part of the inquiry mandate.
Calling a public inquiry is always a calculated risk for a political leader. No matter how much is known about a scandal prior to the inquiry being called, you can bet much more will come out in public hearings. Federal Liberals known this only too well after Adscam and the Gomery inquiry.
Charest is facing the same risk here, although he has cleverly picked the issue that gives him the best chance of avoiding a full-blown scandal.
Judicial appointments are pure political decisions. Although no government would draw solely from among their own supporters for judicial appointments, being known as a supporter, a contributor or an ideological ally has never hurt someone's judicial aspirations. Appointing a lawyer who is known to, or popular with, Liberal contributors may fall short of a scandal.
The entire process for vetting judicial candidates also works in Charest's favour. Although there are regional and jurisdictional variations, in general a vetting panel examines a short list of candidates and then provides an analysis of the suitability of each candidate.
No one candidate is recommended, which gives political leaders plausible deniability if questions are raised about the viability of the selection.
Why would Charest pass on an inquiry of political donations? Despite efforts across the country to make political fundraising and election financing more transparent and accountable, the ways parties raise and spend money are just as murky and morally ambiguous as they have ever been.
It was once thought the banning of corporate and union donations, and limiting individual donations, would fix the system. We now know that was a complete pipe dream.
The federal Conservatives, for example, moved large sums of money in and out of riding accounts to conceal overspending on national advertising and artificially drive up expenses to generate larger rebates. It was a cynical strategy but the Tories have been, to date, shamelessly unrepentant.
In Manitoba, the NDP government has been dogged by allegations it circumvented election financing laws in the 1999 election by wrongly claiming expenses -- and the rebates they generated -- for which it received offsetting union donations.
The party was forced to repay part of its rebate and later introduced a ban on union and corporate donations that would prevent future abuses of this kind. Despite that clear admission there was something wrong in the 1999 election, the NDP refuses to admit there was any wrongdoing.
And then there is the shamelessly unaccountable system that oversees donations to municipal campaigns. With virtually no limits and incomplete reporting, there are lots of opportunities for special interests to buy their way into the hearts of local government representatives.
The Winnipeg Citizens' Coalition on Tuesday challenged Mayor Sam Katz to lead the charge for a ban on union and corporate donations to municipal campaigns. It's the right thing to do, and quite frankly, it's something the unpredictable Katz might be able to get behind. But as we can see from examples at the provincial and federal level, it's not a panacea.
The problem is political financing is a lot like a leaky roof; no matter how many times you fix it, the rainwater always seems to find a way over, through or around. As Quebec Liberals, federal Tories and Manitoba New Democrats have shown, there isn't an election financing law drafted that cannot be circumvented. In large part, this is the predictable result of a legal framework built by the very same people it was meant to police.
For the time being, political parties will remain shamelessly unrepentant about how they raise and spend money. And cash-stuffed envelopes will, in some quarters, continue to be very much in vogue.
dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 14, 2010 A6
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