Rathgeber predicts ‘outrage’ over Duffy legal fees at Conservative convention

OTTAWA – Former Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber predicts outrage at this weekend’s convention over the fact that party funds were used to cover thousands of dollars in Senator Mike Duffy’s legal fees.

“The Conservative base is going to be completely outraged,” said Rathgeber.

“I would not be surprised if you see a noticeable drop in donations for the next few months until people get over this.”

The now-independent MP for Edmonton-St. Albert believes members will not be impressed that $13,560 in Conservative party funds were used for what he alleges was “the negotiation of some sort of deal” with Duffy.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has offered no explanation for what the money was used for, only to say it’s common for political parties to cover valid legal fees for caucus members. Harper’s former chief of staff Nigel Wright also paid $90,000 to cover Duffy’s expenses to the Senate, although Harper claims he didn’t know and would not have approved.

Rathbeger quit the Conservative caucus in June after his own party worked to gut his public service disclosure bill, claiming the party was no longer transparent and had “morphed into what it once mocked.”

But he will be at the Calgary convention on Friday – partly out of curiosity, partly to do some interviews, and partly because, well, technically he’s still a Conservative.

“I’m only a party member because my membership is paid up until sometime in 2014,” he said.

With an ongoing Senate scandal engulfing the upper chamber and the suspension of three Harper appointees still unresolved, Rathgeber said cracks are starting to show in Harper’s leadership.

“You are seeing some cracks. And I mean I think you were seeing some cracks even back in the spring,” he said, citing the so-called backbench rebellion, and his own departure from caucus.

“It is growing, where you have very loyal foot soldiers like (Conservative Senator) Don Plett speaking out against the prime minister’s position with how these three senators are being handled.”

Coupled with recent weak polling numbers, Rathgeber said Harper faces some challenges to his leadership.

“I think it is absolutely incumbent upon him to reassure the delegates this weekend, Friday night during his keynote, that he’s still manning the shop, that he’s still in charge, that he’s running a clean and transparent government,” he said.

However, Rathgeber believes the hard-core delegates attending the convention – the voting members who have paid up to $900 a pop to attend – will stand by their leader.

And Harper’s hard line on stripping Senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau of pay, if not benefits, will resonate with the “mob mentality,” he said.

“I think they still unequivocally support him. And I think the fact that he seems to be trying to deal with these three impugned senators in a judicious and expeditious way, that’s probably red meat to the Conservative base,” said Rathgeber.

“It’s those Conservative supporters and even Conservative members who haven’t paid the money to go to this convention that I think he has to be more concerned about.”

Party president John Walsh has said he expects 3,000 members at Harper’s speech on Friday.

Rathgeber thinks the predominant discussion around watering holes and hallways will be the Senate expense scandal and an alleged cover up by the prime minister’s office.

“It’s just been sort of a comedy of errors, although not a funny comedy of errors,” he said.

Rathgeber has joined the chorus of Plett, Conservative Senator Hugh Segal and former cabinet minister Peter Kent, saying the senators deserve due process in the form of an unbiased tribunal where they can examine the evidence against them.

But he said he believes Harper did not know about Duffy’s deal with Wright – although that in itself is a problem.

“The prime minister consistently blames everything on his former chief of staff, and there’s some of us who believe, many of us who believe, that leaders have to take some responsibility for their employees,” he said.

As for his own political future, Rathgeber said he plans to run again in 2015 – as an independent.

And what will it be like when he runs into his former Conservative colleagues in Calgary?

“There may be the odd awkward encounter,” he said.