Darryl Plecas, Speaker of the House, claims he had no axe to grind with Linda Reid, MLA for Richmond South Centre when writing his January report about alleged lavish spending by two former staffers in the Speaker’s office.
Plecas released his initial report in January and the two staffers, Craig James and Gary Lenz, responded two weeks later. Plecas wrote a counter-response, and the Legislative Assembly Management Committee voted to release all the documents yesterday.
Reid’s expenses were referred to in the January report as a staffer had complained to Plecas that Lenz had dismissed a concern about them. Reid’s name was not mentioned in the report, but Glacier Media saw the connection between identical receipts – those in the report and those submitted by Reid.
In his counter response, Plecas writes “Mr. James suggests that I have an axe to grind with Ms. Reid in raising these matters, or was ‘gleeful’ about the matter. That is a lie. I left Ms. Reid’s name out of my Preliminary Report because my concern was with Mr. Lenz and Mr. James’ conduct, not Ms. Reid’s.”
Reid was Speaker of the House from 2014 to 2017, and was Assistant Deputy Speaker until last week when Opposition House Leader Mary Polak put forward a motion to have Joan Isaacs in that role.
Currently, there is an RCMP investigation into the activities in the Speaker’s office as well as a workplace review. In addition, the auditor general, Carol Bellringer, will perform a forensic audit and a judge will be asked to conduct an independent review process.
In his January report, Plecas alleges James and Lenz made personal purchases including expensive suits, claimed for trips “with questionable business rationales” and hundreds of thousands of dollars in “inappropriate payouts,” and misappropriated alcohol. James responded by saying the report was “inaccurate” and that he didn’t engage in “wrongdoing or misconduct,” and further, the report was often “illogical.”
Lenz response calls for a “fair process” and sufficient time to respond. It also states he hasn’t had “fair treatment” and was removed from his duties before he knew the allegations and could respond, and further asks for him to be returned to “active duty."
