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Paul Coffin Testifies and Publication Ban Lifted
The Globe and Mail reports that Justice Gomery has partially lifted the publication ban on a deposition given by Paul Coffin so that the testimony would not prejudice his June trial for fraud. The Inquiry today heard and his testimony emphasized how regular government procurement rules were flouted in the program:
-Mr. Coffin’s firm twice was retained by bureaucrats to act as a front and pretend to do work that was in fact farmed out to BCP, a Liberal-friendly firm, and Gingko Group, an ineligible ad agency
–Mr. Coffin lied in his application to get his firm, Communication Coffin, selected as one of the agencies managing federal sponsorships. And the very day his agency was selected, he received hefty federal contracts right away
–He agreed with Judge Gomery’s suggestion that he submitted deceptive invoices at the request of Chuck Guité, the bureaucrat who ran the sponsorship program, as a way to circumvent the normal tender process.
Read the remaining article here.
Captain Ed over at Captain’s Quarter’s has this piece on today’s testimony:
Coffin’s testimony shows that the corruption extended so far into the government that even the career bureaucrats understood the scam and furthered it on behalf of the Liberals. Coffin received plenty of cash for his front in the scam; he received $86,000 just to secretly redirect work to Groupe BCP. He also picked up almost twice that amount to serve as a beard for Gingko, an agency that never received certification to do government contracts.
Guité has plenty to worry about if Coffin keeps going in this direction. Guité is the only government employee facing corruption charges — at least so far — and Coffin apparently dealt closely with him. Coffin, in fact, submitted fictitious invoices on a regular basis, apparently encouraged to do so by Guité in order to make sure that the Sponsorship Program money had been thoroughly fleeced. Canadians will be surprised to learn that not only did Liberal Party functionaries loot the program, but they conscientiously went back over the books to ensure that every last dime went out the door and into the waiting pockets of Liberal cronies.
Coffin continues his testimony tomorrow. Guité has to wonder what more damage he can possibly do.
Indeed
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City of Thousand Oaks Accepts City Manager Resignation
The City of Thousand Oaks has finally accepted the resignation of City Manager, Phil Gatch. Flap previously reported the resignation here, here, and here.
The Ventura County Star has the story here:
After weeks of controversy sparked by allegations the Thousand Oaks city manager was being forced out, the City Council on Tuesday announced the end of Phil Gatch’s 38-year tenure with the city.
Voting 3-2, the council accepted his resignation, said City Attorney Amy Albano. Council members Andy Fox, Jacqui Irwin and Dennis Gillette voted to accept his resignation.
Councilman Ed Masry and Mayor Claudia Bill-de la Pena voted “no” in the closed session.
“I think Mr. Gatch deserved better, and he dealt with a very difficult situation, a very controversial situation, that he handled to the best of his ability,” the mayor said of the resignation.
At the special meeting, the council also announced the appointment of Scott Mitnick as interim city manager. Mitnick is the assistant city manager.
Earlier in the night, while watching the council members walk into the closed session, Gatch said, “It’s kind of a painful way to go.”…
In a split vote, the council turned down a motion by the mayor to hire outside counsel to investigate possible violations of city code…
The Thousand Oaks Council deserves a city manager that has the support of the entire council.
Move on Councilmembers.
Update #1
The Ventura County Star has an appropriate farewell editorial for Phil Gatch.
Check it out here.
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Hugh Hewitt vs. MSM A Los Angeles Event
Flap had the opportunity to attend “A Blogs and the Commentariat evening”, starring guest-of-honor Hugh Hewitt: author, radio host, constitutional law professor, blogger and opinion columnist, last evening at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. The announcement of the evening was previously made here.
It was a pleasure to meet many members/bloggers of the Bear Flag League.
Hugh Hewitt has posted this piece on his blog about the event.
Patterico who is pictured above with Hugh Hewitt had this to say about the evening’s festivities.
There was also a special apperance by L.A. Times Sunday Opinion editor Bob Sipchen, who edits the Times-criticizing Outside the Tent feature, and other Outside the Tent contributors were introduced including Patterico and Mickey Kaus.
Bob Sipchen from the Los Angeles Times.Others seen in the gathering were the Boi From Troy:
And…. Flap and Justene Adamec
Read Justene’s impressions here.
SoCalPundit will have photos later in the day.
New Bear Flag Member: The Gay Patriot has this piece.
Justene over at CalBog has this round-up of the evening including some criticism from the MSM and L.A. Times apologists: LAObserved and LAVoice.
Here is a new photo of the night. A much brighter one! Thanks to the Big Picture Blog:
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
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Wal-Mart Joins the Methamphetamine Wars
Wal-Mart joins the war on methamphetamine by joining other retail stores in moving non-prescription cold and allergy medicines behind the pharmacy counter. These medicines contain a chemical precursor necessary in methamphetamine manufacture.
The Houston Chronicle has the story here:
The world’s largest retailer — which has nearly 4,000 stores in the United States and another 1,600 international locations — will join rivals Target Corp. and Albertson’s Inc. in making such a move throughout all locations.
All three retailers are trying to make it more difficult for customers to easily obtain medications containing pseudoephedrine, which is a key component for making methamphetamine, a powerfully addictive drug. Popular over-the-counter medications such as Sudafed, Sinutab and Afrin nasal spray list pseudoephedrine among their active ingredients.
Wal-Mart, which had already been making the changes, estimates 60 percent of its stores are already selling such abused products behind the counter.
“We will continue with our plan to move the most commonly abused products containing pseudoephedrine behind the pharmacy counter in all our stores by early June,” said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jacquie Young. “The remaining solid dose products containing multi-ingredients will be moved behind the pharmacy counter by September.”
Wal-Mart had not previously announced a timetable for making the changes.
Young said Wal-Mart has also been in discussions with suppliers “regarding the reformulating of these products with alternative ingredients.” Pfizer is reformulating its entire Sudafed line and expects most of the products to be changed by year’s end.
The move comes as a number of states have imposed restrictions on the sale of some cold medicines, which have resulted in a drop in the number of meth lab seizures. Six states allow only pharmacies to sell drugs with pseudoephedrine, and seven others make retailers lock up the products or sell them from staffed counters. Legislatures in 22 states are considering similar restrictions.
It is estimated the nation has some 1.5 million meth addicts, which represents about 8 percent of the nation’s 19 million drug users. The drug is made by taking over-the-counter cold medicines and boiling them down using highly toxic chemicals to siphon out the pseudoephedrine.
Kudos to Wal-Mart and all of the other stores. This will help eliminate the mom and pop labs.
Now, we need additional federal legislaton and executive enforcement.
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Woman in Wendy’s finger case eager to face charges
The woman who bit into a manicured finger in a bowl of chili at a San Jose Wendy’s restaurant waived extradition from Las Vegas this morning and will travel to San Jose to face charges of grand larceny in the case. Read the story here:
Anna Ayala, 39, appeared before the same judge who issued a warrant for police to search her home outside Las Vegas on April 6. Records from that raid are sealed.
Outside court, Ayala’s lawyer, Frederick Tait Ehler of San Jose, derided charges against his client as baseless.
“Anna says they’re ridiculous,” Ehler said of the charges of attempted grand larceny. “She’s eager to go back to San Jose.”
Ayala was arrested late Thursday, and San Jose police on Friday called her claim a hoax. Authorities said the attempted grand theft charge relates to millions in dollars of financial losses Wendy’s International Inc. has suffered since news broke of her claim.
Ayala maintains she bit down on a 1{ inch-long finger fragment while dining March 22 with her family at a Wendy’s in San Jose. She has denied placing the digit in her bowl.
She hired a lawyer and filed a claim against the franchise owner, but dropped the legal fight shortly after police searched her home.
Ayala, who has maintained her innocence, faces a maximum seven-year sentence if convicted of the larceny charges, and at least another 16 months if convicted of unrelated charges that she allegedly bilked a woman $11,000 over a soured real estate deal two years ago.
Ayala has been involved in nearly a dozen legal battles, including a sexual harassment suit against an employer, an auto dealer over a car and even another fast-food chain for food poisoning.
Authorities have not yet identified who the finger belonged to or Ayala’s connection to it.
A person with knowledge about the case who spoke on condition of anonymity said the finger charge stemmed from San Jose police interviews with people who said Ayala described putting a finger in the chili, statements bolstered by authorities announcing last week that it did not appear the finger had been simmering in chili.
The company maintains that the finger did not enter the food chain in its ingredients. Employees at the San Jose franchise have all their fingers, and no suppliers of Wendy’s ingredients reported any hand or finger injuries, the company said.
Wendy’s, based at Dublin, Ohio, is offering $100,000 for information leading to the origin of the finger.
The real question is: where did the finger come from? And how did it get in the chili?
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Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin Cancels Overseas Trip
Canadian PM Paul Martin, afraid that a no confidence vote would topple his government has cancelled an over seas trip to the Netherlands and Moscow. CNews has the story here:
Worried that the opposition may force an election next week, Prime Minister Paul Martin has cancelled a trip overseas.
Martin was to have visited the Netherlands and Moscow May 7-9 to mark the 60th anniversary of their liberation during the Second World War.
But a spokeswoman said Monday that Martin is concerned about the potential for a non-confidence motion against his government and wants to stay in Canada.
“With the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois threatening to force an election, it makes best sense to ensure that the prime minister is here at home and available to Parliament,†said Melanie Gruer.
“Lots of things are happening these days, so it makes sense that he’s home.
“Secondarily, he’s been wanting to attend the opening of the new war museum.â€
The new Canadian War Museum opens May 8 in Ottawa.
Flap wouldn’t leave the country either.
The NEW government might not let him return without handcuffs and leg shackles!
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
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Workplace Dating – Dangerous Liasons
Flap previously covered the firing of Los Angeles television KNBC reporter, Kyung Lah. Read the updated story here.
Now, there is a column by Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-times that discusses Kyung’s demise and the phenomenon of risky workplace dating behavior. Interesting enough Kyung Lah was a television reporter in Chicago before leaving for Los Angeles. The story is found here:
…Of course, take any workplace of more than a dozen people, and it’s a virtual certainty that somebody there has been involved or is involved with somebody else.
A dozen? Check that. You could put three people in an office, and there’s a decent chance that two of them will end up having an affair, and the third one will be bummed because he won’t have anyone with whom to gossip about it.
Everyone knows it’s a dicey situation when co-workers get together, even in those rare instances where their employment status is absolutely equal and there’s zero chance the relationship will impact their production or anyone else’s.
But it happens — and if you think it’s nobody’s business, you haven’t been paying attention to recent headlines. These days, you can get fired for having an affair. You can also get fired if you know about an affair and you don’t report it to management — or if you allegedly rat out your colleagues for supposedly fooling around.
We’ll get to that last one in a moment. First, the soap opera last month at a Los Angeles TV station that resulted in two producers and a reporter losing their jobs. Former CBS-2 reporter Kyung Lah was working for KNBC-TV and reportedly was having an affair with her field producer, Jeff Soto. Both are married. According to the stories I read, the two were fired not because the affair had led to any on-air or behind-the-scenes problems, but just because they were having an affair and the station considers that “gross misconduct.” The producer of KNBC-TV’s 11 p.m. newscast also was fired, reportedly because he knew about the affair and didn’t inform upper management.
Put yourself in that latter producer’s position. Either you tell management about the affair, or you risk losing your job. Hardly seems fair.
And as you’ll recall, earlier this year, Boeing President and CEO Harry Stonecipher was asked to resign because he had a “personal relationship … [with] a female executive of the company who did not report directly to him,” as the company said in a statement…
Roeper’s take on the story is that people are inclined to this behavior so why punish the Perps or the folks covering up the dangerous affairs.
The story goes beyond individual responsibility and social mores. Corporate America expects and demands certain behavior for the efficient execution of commerce and markets. Corporate mores have seemed to superceded plain old morality.
Go figure.
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Line at San Jose Wendy’s is Now Out the Door
The San Jose community is supporting the beleaguered Wendy’s franchise where a manicured finger was found in their Chili. ABC News has the story:
What a difference a week makes. After an arrest Friday in the Wendy’s finger case and an aggressive promotional campaign, the fast food giant is on its way to recovering from an expensive and headline-grabbing nightmare.
t’s the lunchtime crowd at Wendy’s on Monterey Road in San Jose. Lines so long, some people are walking away.
Chris Combs, Wendy’s customer: “It’s too packed, too many customers here. They’re showing their faith in Wendy’s.”
The turnaround is obvious. This is what the parking lot looked like before Anna Ayala’s arrest. This is the parking lot today.
Shirley Castle, Wendy’s customer: “I think it’s great, after what they’ve gone through. It’s about time.”
And time is what Anna Ayala now faces. The charge? Attempted grand theft for her claim she found a finger in her bowl of chili on March 22nd.
Karyn Sinunu, deputy district attorney: “We believe that a defendant had a hoax, a way of making it appear that the food was tainted, and therefore make a claim and get money that she didn’t deserve.”
After police searched Ayala’s house on April 6th, the Las Vegas woman withdrew her claim against Wendy’s, and the fact that she never did make money is the reason for the “attempted” grand theft.
The charge however carries an enhancement because Ayala’s claim cost Wendy’s millions in lost sales revenue. Wendy’s customers scoff at the mere mention of Ayala’s name.
Joe Hernandez, Wendy’s customer: “Just to make money, but she’s a thief, she’s arrested. Yup, that’s what she deserves.”
The case against Ayala appears to have some missing links: such as, where did the finger come from and how did she carry out her alleged plan?
The deputy district attorney won’t talk about the evidence
Karyn Sinunu, deputy district attorney: “The people issued the case because we believe we have enough to prove she’s guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That’s what I will say about that.”
This is good NEWS!