Glen Pearson, who was recently called London’s Mother Theresa.
“Ontario MP Glen Pearson acknowledged the matter, telling iPolitics he chose to reimburse the House of Commons out of his own pocket rather than take the former staff member to court because he didn’t want the affair to become public and embarrass Parliament.”
He took the money from his kids’ education fund.
Interesting. Does not pass the sniff test.
but to charge the embezzler with forgery would make him “tough on crime” and that’s a nasty Conservative thing…
kind of makes you wonder how much he thought he was saving by laying out $25K though…there’s a little more to this to come yet methinks
What was the staffer’s last name and why hasn’t this person been charged by the RCMP? A criminal fraud charge has nothing to do with any monies owed.
Yukon Gold
Oh it pases the sniff test all right. It smells like dung.
The entitled protecting their own even children’s expense. How sixties. Whit color crime is an embarrassment in Canada for how its protected.
Who drinks that much booze without ending up in a hospital?
JMO
More likely that he didn’t want it to blow up during an election campaign…
It’s too bad it’s from his kids’ education fund, but his MP pension or severance should cover it off.
From the first link
“Pearson said he became aware of the problem when he was contacted by the House of Commons’ internal liquor store”
The H of C liquor store??? WTF???? Do they cahrge taxes? Can I buy booze there? How much does it cost for the Federal Government to run an F’n liquor store???
yeah WTF beat me to it! I would be interested to see the list of accounts and sales for that outlet.
In addition to no remorse on the part of the embezzler there was was still a crime committed and regardless of Ontario MP Glen Pearson’s reimbursing the House of Commons, he is now an accessary to the crime.
Pearson calls it an “affair” and says he didn’t “want to take the embezzler to court”.
Reporting a crime to police is “taking” it to court?
If you report a crime the police take the criminal to court.
This isn’t a law suite we’re talking about here.
“he(Pearson) didn’t want the affair to become public and embarrass Parliament”
I wonder what “affair” Pearson is talking about and who exactly would be “embarrassed” if it became public?
Why doesn’t Pearson name him? He could be working in another MP’s office. Or forging and stealing from someone else in the private sector.
This is pure Bulls**t.
Bring in the cops Pearson. And what about your fat pension. Pay with that instead of taking it from your kids. What a douche.
WTF
I heard the store doubles as subsidized housing for John Mcallum.
Believe me, this will…………disappear into ether, never to be remarked upon again. Like a certain polititian once said…”what’s a few millions?”.
Even the Elections Canada crowd will turn a blind eye to a crime if it only gets the youts out to vote.
The Cons are turning a blind eye to it all. They got their majority, so what’s all the fuss about?
Next time I get stopped by the cops I’m asking for a re-do.
The printing for the titles of the posts are all messed up and weird. Or is it just me getting that?
Affair? Hmmm…..
Methinks there’s more to this than meets the eye.
He allows a male staffer to access the Commons Boozateria on his dime. When the little rascal effs off without paying the tab, MP Pearson picks it up.
My spidey sense tells me there’s a lot more to this story.
I’m going to give Pearson the benefit of the doubt for now. I have never heard of the man before now and he may be an honest guy. But I have to admit this smells a little bit fishy. $25,000 from his kids education fund????? Last comment, what the heck did the PM spend $6.95 on?
Holy Cow that’s a lot of booze! I should drink more.
Seriously, why can’t these creeps travel economy class, rarely, and pay for their own parties?
“What the heck did the PM spend $6.95 on?”
Beer and popcorn.
And yeah, this Mr. Pearson could easily be the most generous man in the whole world. There’s no need to assume that he needed anything covered up, that would be awefully cynical.
I wonder if Cretien is aware of this story …..
Well who knew? You can commit fraud / embezzlement / theft and it’s ok as long as someone agrees to pay it back sometime later!
What upstanding, charitable role models our Liberal politicians are!
Anyone who works with cash in any way, just remember this – feel free to help yourself to cash register whenever you’re a little short and there will be no negative consequences as long as you (or someone else) pay it back next payday!
Aaron Wherry will be so sad. Glenn was his hero…proably still is.
Pearson is sanctimonius and hypocritical. Couldnt happen to a nicer guy.
HoC liquor store, HoC barbers-privatise and rent the space.
BTW there is a poll at that site that needs some help.
Is this “staffer” related to Mr. Pearson, by any chance?
jeezuz murphy.
the guy tries to do the right thing and your all over him.
fcukin’ right wingers.
here’s the deal: ANYTHING remotely similar out of this set of 160+/= ‘heros’ and YOU demand blood. m’kay?
ping – I could really use $25.00. Care to help?
A staffer allegedly commits fraud, Lib MP pays the bill the staffer goes on to work for who exactly? And frankly I don’t care if he paid the bill there should be a criminal investigation.
ping,
ulm….the right thing to do is bring in the cops….you know kind of what Harper did on his own MP when there were allegations that were bad. Sits in contrast doesnt it ping? The cons took the hit and called in the cops and Pearson and the Libs protect the perp.
The guy stole. repaying the money is only part of the justice equation.
Oh common, he’ll get the money back, one way or another and he knows it. That’s just operating costs until the big heist comes into play.
ping: How’s Pearson’s paying for this staffer’s wrong doing, going to help the staffer, aside from keeping him/her from being charged and/or jailed?
S/he’s being protected, shielded, and bailed out. What usually happens when this happens is that the miscreant learns nothing and sins again/commits another crime.
Just great.
Canuckguy: I get the same, weird date thingies that only show up when I slide over with my mouse. Started yesterday.
the guy tries to do the right thing and your all over him.
The cover-up of a criminal offence is never the right thing, especially if you plan to, one day, be writing the laws of this country.
(I can’t believe I have to explain this)
Where is the deterrent factor in covering up this malefactor and letting him/her go on their merry way to do more of the same?(no-doubt the perp’s mother never made their little darling face the consequences of his/her actions either and now they are exhibiting criminal behaviour)
Might make sense if the “former staffer” was also the one that the education fund was set up for.
conservative mpp=embezzlement !!!
(where is the outrage????????)
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/70224402/Alan-Eagleson
Glen’s kids aren’t old enough to be staffers. Glen is known as a really nice guy, by those who know him well. I’ve no reason to suspect he is not, which is why this story seems even weirder to me. My impression was that his sense of justice was strong.
Sense of justice misdirected, IMO
Oz: “I can’t believe I have to explain this.”
Sorry to say, Oz, that’s the direction in which we’re heading: astonishing numbers of entitled individuals who are, most positive light on it, amoral or, in light of our laws and consensus views of civilized, law-abiding, behaviour (up to now), immoral.
Canuckguy
The printing for the titles of the posts are all messed up and weird. Or is it just me getting that?
Me too. Once I hit the refresh button the font reverts to normal.
????????????
ping, ‘can’t believe you’re bringing up Alan Eagleson!!!
There was lots of outrage about him when he disgraced himself. He became a social leper, including on the part of Conservatives.
Kyla – I don’t know anything ’bout the guy. But, I do have kids and I have a wife. And I do know that my wife would require some very powerful reason to take 25k out of my kids future.
This is just a question – is it common (or not) for MPs to hire people known to them for staffers?
@Canuckguy and Grandad
Same here headers weird rectangles until refresh.
Canuckguy, grandad and oldfart. I have been getting strange fonts on the titles and sometimes blocks inted of characters on the “posted by” line the last two days.
Kate, are you being hacked?? 😉
Me too with the fonts. I just assumed my computer was getting more broken. But shouldn’t we be whining about this in Readers’ Tips?
Alan Eagleson? I’m supposed to be outraged about a 30-year-old crime?
If that’s the best you can do, ping, the Conservatives must be squeaky freaking clean.
Mr. Pearson also had a spot of trouble about a half-dozen years ago with another one of his staffers. This fellow Gary Burghart was his communications director. He communicated a few thoughts that some found offensive,actually many people found ofensive.Surprisingly or not, the matter received very little media attention. The fellow said;
Regarding same-sex marriage; “the God given right to making a life long commitment to anal sex.”
On Belinda Stronach; “all of this demonstrates one more reason why women shouldn’t be allowed to run for office, much less vote.”
Maybe Mr. Pearson is a swell guy,but he does seem to have made some hiring mistakes.
My comment about Mr. Pearson was trapped in the filter,I think I know why. To find another hiring mistake that Mr. Pearson was embarrassed by google ” Dave Burghardt , Glen Pearson”. A major faux pas that was given scant coverage by the compliant media.
The liquor store caper sounds more like a civil than a criminal matter. Any lawyers out there in the blogosphere?
How did the guy make off with the rest of the $20,000?
They don’t call them “LIBRANNOS” for nothing.
So Zog, you figure if I got 4 new tires for my ’93 Ford Tempo (with factory floor mats) on your account at your tire shop, without your knowledge and approval, it’s a civil offense?
Good thing his name wasn’t Helena Guergis…
The CBC would have been calling for public floggings.
Kyla: “Glen’s kids aren’t old enough to be staffers. Glen is known as a really nice guy, by those who know him well.”
Glen has three children from a previous marriage.
you want recent? ok, google ‘brian mulroney income tax’.