You know its sordid when they bring in Satan's bald guy:
Top Liberal political advisers plotted damage control in the wake of a startling TV broadcast exposing an insider win scandal at the Ontario Lottery Corp., according to documents obtained by Sun Media.
Warren Kinsella, Jim Warren and others met four days after the Oct. 25, 2006, Fifth Estate program which revealed the story of Bob Edmonds, a 78-year-old lottery customer and cancer survivor who was ripped off of his $250,000 prize by a lottery ticket retailer, the documents show.
Kinsella, who once claimed that his granny cleaned toilets, has recently been employed in a similar line of work for Dalton McGuinty's bunch. Unfortunately, this particular political latrine looks like its overflowed over the whole province.
...But probably not enough to threaten McGuinty's election hopes. However, I am starting to wonder about this guy's future in cabinet, even though David Caplan is a pretty solid and has served both Dalton and his constituents well over the years. If the scandal drags on much longer (and it may: 198 stories on it are presently available through google news) there may be a sacrificial lamb required.
PS. Probably more Kinsellanalia coming up over the next couple of weeks. He is apparently getting to set to sue an old enemy.
I don't understand why this is complicated. All they will have to do is make employees and family members ineligible. McDonald's figured it out I can't understand why provincial governments don't get it. Anybody want to hazard a guess as to which Kinsella enemie he is going after?
ReplyDeleteThe "optics" on this are really bad. Having an ethically-challenged attack dog with ties to the Ontario Liberals anywhere near this scandal is probably something Dalton McGuinty would want to avoid.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this should be fun to watch. Too bad I hate popcorn.
Whooee! I know whatcha mean about the popcorn. All air. Gives me gas. Hulls get stuck between my choppers.
ReplyDeleteThis lottery scammin's sorta got me confuddled. How do they do it?
I ain't a lottery player but I stand behind 'em in line over t' the corner store all the time. I guess the players can hand in their tickets t' the store guy an' he sticks 'em in some kinda reader that sez if they're winners or they ain't. Anyways, that's what it looks like over at the Magic Mart.
The only way t' scam would be t' tell the player he lost. Wait fer him t' throw away the ticket. Go through the garbage an' pull out the winner. Claim it.
If that's how they're scammin', the easiest thing would be do-it-yerself scanner/readers that keep the lotto seller outta the pitcher.
If that ain't how they're scammin', then how?
An' yer right about Kinsellerfeller but I reckon mostly his work goes on behind the scenes an' we may never know what pivotal role he plays in the rehabilitation of the numbers racket.
JB
The OLGC story is going to get much worst for McGuinty before it gets better. This is the tip of the iceberg. The OLGC has been used for some, um, shady practices by certain politicians and staff over the last 2 years (ie - since Jim Warren started working their). By shady practices I mean fundraising, superbowl tickets, etc. This could be their "donated fridge" story (see Ashworth, Gordon).
ReplyDeletePays the bills I suppose...
ReplyDeleteSo let me see if I've got this straight: Kinsella "volunteers" his time on the Liberal campaign but gets paying contracts from his buddy Jim Warren at OLGC to provide "communications advice"? Question: how much is he being paid? Is he being paid by any other government agencies? Are any other Liberal "volunteers" on the payroll at the OLGC? How about any other agencies?
ReplyDeleteSomething smells here...
Come on BCL.
ReplyDeleteNext, you will claim that Stephen Taylor of BT fame is doing some sort of work for the OLGC and/or Kinsella in Ottawa.
"See his March 15 post entitled 'CBC investigates' which could not have been written at the behest of his PMO handlers", you will say.
Enough already!