Category: Murray Smith

Categories
Ed Stelmach Murray Smith Political Patronage

what will $105,000 get you?

Last week, it was revealed that Alberta’s former Ambassador to Washington D.C. and Calgary-Varsity Tory MLA Murray Smith was paid $105,000 taxpayer dollars after quiting his job in Washington DC five months early. Smith has been replaced by another former Calgary-Mackay Tory MLA and Minister Gary Mar…

It has also been revealed that after trying to hide the fact, Ed Stelmach signed the 2004 contract that gave Murray Smith the $105,000 payout while Stelmach was Ralph Klein’s Intergovernmental Affairs Minister.

Because Alberta’s accountable and transparent Progressive Conservative Government obviously has nothing better to do with $105,000 of Albertans money, I’ve come up with a list to help Ed Stelmach and his Progressive Conservative crew with some ideas.

What would $105,000 buy?

– Approximately 70,000 large double-doubles at Tim Horton’s.

– 39 semesters of tuition for an undergraduate Arts or Science student at the University of Alberta.

– 3.5 taxpayer funded Tory Staffer bachelor parties in Las Vegas.

– 262 $400 prosperity rebate cheques…

– 5962 copies of Stephen Colbert’s new book I am America (and so can you!) on Chapters.ca.

– 1179 youth-size winter jackets from Mountain Equipment Co-op.

– +17,000 Subway sandwiches (perhaps for students at inner-city schools?).

– 21 tickets to an exclusive $5,000 per ticket reception with Tory Premier Ed Stelmach.

– +13,000 regular admission tickets to the Montreal Planetarium.

Feel free to add your suggestions…

Email
Categories
Ed Stelmach Gary Mar Lyle Oberg Murray Smith

better uses for $105,000?

The Murray Smith patronage scandal continues as Ed Stelmach has shown his true fiscal conservative credentials.

After refusing to make the contract public, it has been revealed that as Tory Intergovernmental Affairs Minister, Ed Stelmach put his signature on the 2004 sweetheart contract that gave Murray Smith (the former Tory MLA for Calgary-Varsity) a $210,500 annual salary, his car, his Washington apartment and other benefits, and $105,000 after he quit his job as Alberta’s Washington Ambassador five months early.

I wonder if Gary Mar is going to get the same deal.

Tax dollars at work, folks.

Also, Tory Finance Minister Lyle Oberg will be packing it in after the next election after apparent clash with Ed Stelmach’s elusive ‘leadership.’ Good riddance?

Email
Categories
Ed Stelmach Gary Mar Murray Smith Political Patronage

gary mar is the new murray smith.

Tory MLA Gary Mar was appointed this afternoon to replace former Tory Minister Murray Smith as Alberta’s Ambassador to Washington DC.

One wonders if Mr. Mar, who was dumped from cabinet in January 2007, will be inheriting the taxpayer funded high-life that Murray Smith lived while attending the garden parties and socials inside the beltline.

Smith’s appointment in 2004 was criticized as partisan patronage and his lavish expenses have been criticized since.

Ed Stelmach‘s Tories have come under heat in the past weeks as years of Tory partisan patronage have begun to bubble to the surface.

Mar will begin his new position in October, which would mean that there is potential for another Calgary by-election in the near future.

Email
Categories
Alberta Tories Daveberta à Quebec Ed Stelmach Murray Smith

living the high life in d.c.

I may be all the way in Chicoutimi, Quebec but this still caught my attention. It looks like the Alberta Tories Ambassador to the United States of America isn`t having many problems enjoying a taxpayer funded high life in the District of Columbia…

Bills detail lavish perks for Alberta’s D.C. envoy
Taxis cost $6,000 despite car; annual allowance of $15,000 added to $223,000 salary
Darcy Henton, The Edmonton Journal
Published: 1:50 am

EDMONTON – Alberta’s man in Washington had just the right pitch to get the taxpayers to pay for a GPS for his $42,500 government fleet car.

Murray Smith told provincial officials he needed the global positioning system because he’d been lost for an hour chauffeuring premier Ralph Klein around Maryland during the premier’s visit last year.

“Don’t want to do that again,” he wrote in an e-mail obtained by The Journal under Freedom of Information legislation.

…

But the Canadian Taxpayers Federation expressed shock at the Washington office expenditures, especially the GPS.

“That’s unbelievable,” said Alberta director Scott Hennig. “What does it cost to buy a map? $5? What about a Google map? That’s free.”

Indeed…

Also, Jeffery Simpson has some thoughts on Ed Stelmach`s Alberta Tories 34% approval rating…

Email