B.C. Speaker Darryl Plecas has handed over a lengthy report to the Legislative Assembly Management Committee looking into alleged wrongdoing by clerk Craig James and sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz.
The committee now must decide whether they make the findings of the report public.
“My strong view is that the entire 76-page report be made public and perhaps including the five-inch binder of associated evidence from that report,” Plecas said.
“These are issues that affect British Columbians and there is a clear public interest is what is happening.”
The committee met on Monday and is currently making a decision behind closed doors.
Plecas promised in December to provide additional information looking into the actions of legislative clerk Craig James and sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz.
“I will give you a long laundry list of my concerns. I won’t be talking about the criminal investigation. I will talk about everything but the criminal investigation,” Plecas said during the committee’s Dec. 6 meeting.
“At that meeting, I will be proposing that we have a full audit, a full forensic audit, on the Speaker’s office — that is, my office — one on the clerk’s office and one on the sergeant-at-arms’ office.”
“You will get every detail of how much I spent. You want full disclosure. The public deserves full disclosure. Boy, are they going to get it.”
Lenz and James have been on administrative leave with pay since Nov. 20. The RCMP are currently investigating allegations brought forward by Plecas’ office. There have been two special prosecutors named to work on the investigation.
Since the pair were put on leave there has been an air of mystery into what they allegedly did to warrant such a large investigation. There has also been significant attention paid to Alan Mullen, a special adviser that Plecas hired to help look into the actions of James and Lenz.
“I want all British Columbians to know. I want them to know what my concerns are, and I want them to know what Mr. Mullen was concerned about. I want that on the public record. I want everyone to know,” Plecas said on Dec. 6.
It was still unclear on Monday if the audits would be approved and how long it may take for those audits to be conducted.
But the results of the audits could have a huge impact on the way the legislature operates. Plecas had promised that if the public doesn’t “throw up” from outrage after seeing the results of the audit, he will resign.
“Again, I’ll emphasize: if there is one single thing about those audits — anything — that says there’s anything other than lots of things wrong, I promise you that I will resign as Speaker. That ought to be enough for you to say that I think we’re onto something here, and it needs to be fixed,” Plecas added on Dec. 6.
“And it needs to be fixed through the Speaker’s office, because it hasn’t been fixed for years.”
–more to come
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