THE CANADIAN PRESS/Edmonton Sun – Perry Mah
No, that headline doesn’t make sense outside of the Twitterverse. But it could have grave implications for the future of Status of Women Minister Helena Guergis and the relationship she has with her boss, Stephen Harper.
That’s because the Toronto Star dropped a bombshell this morning about former MP Rahim Jaffer, and allegations that the night he was arrested for drunk driving, speeding, and possession of cocaine, he was in a business meeting with Nazim Gillani, four business associates, and three “busty hookers”.
According to the Star article, Rahim Jaffer has used his former connections with the Conservative Party to boast to business connections that he has strong influence inside the PMO. The Prime Minister is livid today, with his office vociferously denying the allegations as “absurd”.
On the night in question, Rahim Jaffer wasn’t drunk, although he was drinking heavily. He apparently has a big reputation as a heavy drinker, even when he was an MP. Cocaine is a notorious inhibitor to alcoholic intoxication.
The media have been all over this story today like feral animals, which means you can expect the opposition will be ravenous when the subject comes up tomorrow in Question Period. The Conservative Party will do all they can to deflect the questions, but there’s only so much you can do after your ship has been hit with an iceberg.
This morning the CBC were quick to note that Rahim Jaffer’s website still contained the Conservative Party logo next to his name, which has since been pulled. This would seem to support the allegations that Mr.Jaffer has been using his former status as an MP in order to sell “insider” status to business contacts. Whether he actually has that insider status is debatable.
It’s time to throw Helena Guergis under a bus of some kind. The taint from the Rahim Jaffer scandal is strong enough that there is no escaping it for the junior Minister. Worse yet, there’s something a little uncomfortable about the fact that her husband appears to be an alcoholic, coke-snorting purveyor of “busty hookers” in strip clubs, and that she hasn’t tried to distance herself from it, or denounce the behaviour, if only for the sake of her career.
I will be very surprised if the Conservatives don’t kick her out of caucus at the very least, although even stronger action might be warranted. Let’s face it: if Rahim Jaffer is telling people that he can get insider access to the Prime Minister, with Helena Guergis being as close to the Prime Minister as she is, it seriously compromises the integrity of the position she holds. The optics alone are mind-blowing.
Hence the fact that currently, the term #bustyhookers is spreading through Twitter like the ILOVEYOU virus. Like the song goes, you have to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. With Jaffer and Guergis, it’s definitely time to throw in the hand as run as far from ground zero as you can possibly get.
I forget who wrote this, but one of our national newspapers published an opinion piece arguing that Guergis is useful to have around because every minute spent talking about her and her drug abusing ex-MP of a husband is one less minute spent talking about things that could hurt the Conservatives more permanently.
I’m not sure if I buy it, (seems a little too complex for our MP’s), but it might have some validity.
After all, if you fill the news with “Guergis is a self-entitled jerk” and “Rahim’s a coked out nut”, there’s not a lot of space left for headlines that “Gun registry still exists despite promises” and “Massive deficit continues from supposedly fiscally conservative government”.
And at the end of the day, all the PM really has to do is kick the pair of them to curb when they become too much trouble and the problem probably goes away.
Of course things like this DO tend to piss off your base. A lot of solid conservatives frown on things like drugs & hookers. I suppose they could try not having to need any headline bait because they’ve got no massive screw ups to embarrass them, but that might be a lot of work.
There’s a lot of sympathy out for there Guergis on the “blue blogs” rights now. And while I don’t want to cast aspersions on her, I can’t imagine she’s totally in the dark about all of this. I mean, you can’t exactly be a coke fiend and not have your wife know about it.
If you wonder why our MSM is losing any credibility look no further.
The big issues are being ignored for a Tabloid yellow journalism product.
How many weeks on Tiger Woods? Bubble boy and now the “power couple” meme.
Anyone notice if Kevin Page has explained why his projections seem to be looking rather silly?
To be fair, this article isn’t total fluff [unlike tequila bottles, airport shenanigans]. If Jaffer was telling his buddies he has the hookup in the PMO, the CPC should drop a boulder on him.
I don’t believe for one second that the “blue blogs” would have an ounce of sympathy if Guergis was a Liberal or NDP shadow minister.
At least the hookers were busty. Can you imagine the outrage if he was caught with flat hookers?
What a nothing story. These liberal scandals of the day are PATHETIC!
I don’t know why “Blue” Blogs are so sympathetic to Guergis, she’s acted like a spoiled ass. To be a member or supporter of ANY political Party doesn’t mean you have to support everything the Party members say or do.
Perhaps Guergis gets the “pass” attractive people often do in life.
I always thought it was only brainwashed Liberals,Greens, and NDP’ers who believed “my Party,right or wrong”.
I was wrong. And that’s one of the reasons I haven’t joined a Party since my Socred membership lapsed in 1987.
The supporters of the political Parties should keep in mind that the politicians are supposed to work for US, and unless MP’s conduct themselves with integrity and class, should be held accountable.
Jaffer may be a coke head, lots of people in ,pardon the expression, “high places” are, it’s the drug of the rich and successful. Perhaps Parliamentarians should be given drug tests before they’re allowed to go to work, like the employees of Home Depot.
I’ve put Guergis on my list of “MP’s I’d not want to run in MY Riding”, along with Ralph Goodale,Scott Brisson,and Libby Davies.
What a nothing story.
Hm, don’t agree. The airport tantrum and the letter writing were lesser stories. But this is a little more dangerous. I expect Harper to shoot back here by distancing himself from Jaffer even more, and possibly getting Guergis to resign.
If she recovers from this one without losing her position, I’ll be very impressed.
In my wildly random and completely unlicensed opinion, the tantrum was evidence that she was self-absorbed, (a common fault among people seeking power).
The letter writing demonstrated she makes poor choices in hiring staff and did not manage her staff well. (A professional fault, but not an uncommon one.)
The behaviour of her drugged out husband DOES reflect on her because it’s reasonable to expect anyone to go the extra mile for their spouse. The romantic company you keep DOES affect whether or not you’re appropriate for an important job in government.
Of course Guergies should be dropped from cabinet at this point. I’d argue that they need a new candidate for that riding in the next election too, but that’s a different thing.
And yes, dmorris, “defend our own no matter what types” have every political affiliation.
Not that I think either Guergis or Jaffer are the sort of people I want to hang with, but this whole situation has turned into the type of witchhunt that should give most reasonable Canadians shivers down their spines.
To recap, an anonymous airport worker accused Guergis of throwing a tantrum at Charlottetown airport. For some reason that escapes me, he complained to his (Liberal) MP, not to Transport Canada. There has been no corroboration of the incident, although many colourful descriptions from folks who weren’t there. Guergis apologized, which would normally have been seen as good PR strategy, but apparently in this case simply inflamed things.
Then there were the letters. In themselves, pretty inconsequential, and let’s not pretend that this is the first occasion that a political staffer has omitted to state his/her allegiance. Why just the other week, Pat Martin’s assistant turned in a fine incognito performance at Ann Coulter’s visit to Ottawa U. Clearly this is never OK, but on the other hand it isn’t a hanging offence by any means.
Then there was Jaffer’s arrest. Obviously cocaine was found, but to my knowledge, it is not normal practice for police to search a DUI supect. Breathalyse yes, but since Jaffer was clearly co-operating, nothing more should have been done, and the illegal search is likely why the drug charge was tossed.
Then we come to the article in the Star, which was written apparently without the co-operation of either of the two principal characters, Jaffer or Nizam. So the whole thing rests on allegations by some unnamed people who may or may not have been at this dinner, and may or may not have been associates of Nizam, but are in any case being investigated themselves.
And let’s not even get into the detail on the arrest itself helpfully provided by the arresting officer. It is surely not normal police practice for the officer concerned to provide the media with a play-by-play of the incident.
Are there problems with this couple ? Probably, and pretty serious ones, but the way this story is being played is both vicious and deliberate. Politics can be a dirty game, but there is no excuse for this kind of character assassination, and I find it very depressing that this sort of personal vendetta can be carried out by the media in this country.
As Tom Flanagan said today, anyone would have to be extremely naive to think that Jaffer, a Conservative who actually managed to LOSE a seat in Alberta for goodness sake, had any kind of access to the government or the PMO. Nevertheless, I imagine when Parliament resumes next week, the Liberals will be all over this issue, and the NDP will be demanding a public inquiry. And people wonder why there is a lack of interest in politics in this country ????
Jad,
I agree on the airport count. I couldn’t believe it survived in the media for longer than a day, or that the opposition continued to flog it long after the horse corpse started decomposing into the Earth.
The letters, too, were relatively inconsequential, as you say. But they were also fairly amateur hour, and she’s been called out on that.
Yeah, this story is probably being played for political reasons as well, but unlike the other two, it probably has a little more traction. If for no other reason than it sounds bad, I expect Harper to do something about it.
But I’ve been wrong before.
Excuse me but when did the actions of those you are married to become a persecutable offense? Jebus I’m sick of the self serving smearing of this woman, you lads better hope you never make a mistake because it’s clear you think the misses should up and dump ya if you do lest it offend the Conservative elites.
I’m beginning to dislike the Conservative party ss much as I loath the liberal party, talk about placing Harper’s survival over common decency.
Now hang on Rose. I don’t know how plausible it is that Ms.Guergis wasn’t aware that her husband is an alcoholic cokehead who uses his former associations as a means of forming business connections with sleazy men who frequent strip clubs.
This is still a “conservative” party, right? Immoral behaviour is still a concern, isn’t it?
Now maybe Helena is simply being embarrassed by her husband, and doesn’t know much about any of this. Or, and this is the question at hand, maybe she knows more about it than the Conservative Party would be comfortable with.
Character assassination? RIDICULOUS!
They’re saying she’s got a sense of entitlement for throwing a fit in the airport. No one, (including Guergis herself) is denying the incident. That’s not character assassination, it’s simply a statement of facts. And throwing a hissy fit in an airport is an embarassment for a public figure.
Next up, we have the letters. It’s not character assassination to call out a manager for the misbehaviour of her employees done on her behalf.
Next up, whining about it not being standard procedure to search drunk drivers doesn’t change the fact that he had COCAINE. It’s not character assassination to call him a coke head.
Next up, we have someone claiming to be an associate of said coke-fiend who claims to be able to get good access to the Prime Minister’s office. That is a PROBLEM! Bringing this up is not character assassination.
Whining about police procedure when someone’s caught with cocaine while driving drunk is a bit like the Acorn losers down south moaning that it’s totally unfair that they were caught on a hidden camera while they were giving advice on underage prostitution.
I also agree with Jad, and think that people are getting way too carried away allegations that rely mainly on hearsay and third-hand accounts. What, no security tapes from the PEI airport? No official statements from the police or prosecutors involved with Jaffer’s case? No copies or pictures of the emails claiming influence with the PMO?
I read something today about an airport witness saying that Helena “slammed her boots into the provided bin”, which is a far cry from THROWING them at someone, as has been widely reported. What else did they get wrong, I wonder? Hmmm…
Adrian, There are thousand of examples of husbands and wives who had no idea that there significant others were playing around or what they do. Do you think Mrs Williams the wife of the Base Commander of Trenton had any idea of what his alter ego was up too, how about the notorious Clifford Olsen, you think his family had a clue, or Paul Bernardo family had a inkling of what he was doing. How about those tragic stories of a suicide in a family where it turns out the person had a gambling addiction and the family and or wife had no idea.
I agree with Jad on this one, when someone besides a Toronto Star writer puts some names to his sources about the hookers, and the rest of his accusations then I might worry about this one. As to how much access he had in the PMO’s office, I totally again agree Jad, with all the crap going on with him since the whole incident started, he had no friends in that office at all, it would be political suicide to even have him in for a coffee and that is without a doubt. Do you remember he couldn’t even get re-nominated in his old riding, that is how much political pull he has right now.
And Rose,
We’re not saying that her spouse’s misbehaviour makes Guergis a bad person.
We’re saying that it’s worrisome when the spouse of a cabinet minister, (powerful position), has spouse who’s a drug abusing drunk driver and accused influence peddler. Sometimes you’re just not right for the job
because your family will get in the way.
And don’t pull this “you lads” crap. That makes it sound like you’re insinuating some kind of sexist double standard.
I notice the Conservative Party has told Jaffer to remove their logo from his website,and the PMO says he doesn’t have access to the PM.
We all have to hold all poilticians accountable, no matter what Party we support or what Party they belong to.
It would be a giant step in the right direction.
Did the main street media ask for Trudeau’s head on a stick when Margaret was snorting and cavorting with the Rolling Stones?
If not why not?
It just cracks me up that Harper appointed a woman Minister of State for the Status of Women who has a husband who frequents strip joints and hangs out with paid hookers. Dennis Thatcher he ain’t. Really, its like a Monty Python skit come true to life.
Peter B.
Yes, the msm did ask for Trudeau’s head on a stick over that – I remember it very distinctly.
Kingston,
I have it on pretty good authority that Jaffer’s coke usage wasn’t such a bit secret. But hey, so long as we’re talking about proven facts, let’s just stick to those.
Saying you can throw the Toronto Star article away because it contains a little speculation is at odds with the facts contained within.
The PMO has already repudiated the claims that Jaffer had influence with the party at the highest levels. You can see they’re trying to distance themselves from it. You can tell that people know that the smoke is likely sign of a fire.
So will Harper throw Guergis under the bus? I’m betting he will, and I don’t blame him. It’s a train wreck, and he doesn’t need this kind of unprofessionalism.
Adrian, I would put a good BC mini brewery ale that unless she throws herself on her sword, she will survive until the summer when he will more then likely shuffle anyway. Harper is starting to remind me of PMJC in the on the surface loyalty that he shows to his cabinet ministers when he adopts his hunker down and ride out the storm mentality. As to his cocaine usage, well I do not know the man, so I will bow to your inside knowledge on that one, but I can totally see how the misses could be kept in the dark on it, unless he was a raving coke head, and just an occasional user it would be easy to hide, I have seen it in my old profession, where drug tests would come back for deployment and you would go, what the f**k, he uses coke. How do you think so many people get away with marital affairs, the aggrieved party looked right through all the signs either willfully or ignorantly, because they didn’t want to know. As to the other stuff about the strip club, be honest with yourself, if you were out with some of the guys and you all went to a strip club, how would you better half know if you didn’t tell her. She wouldn’t, and your going home that night to her, His missus was traveling the country on her job.
I’m surprised with his loyalty as well. Well, maybe surprised isn’t the right word. But he’s stuck by some people I didn’t think he would have.
Anyway, the point of this post wasn’t so much to say that Jaffer is dragging down Guergis, as much as it is the fact that these two have been a media trainwreck for a while, and they desperately need to lay low for a while.
Adrian said:
“This is still a “conservative” party, right? Immoral behaviour is still a concern, isn’t it?”
Oh, so now you’re a social conservative eh?
When it comes to marijuana you’re all “legalize this stuff”, but cocaine is a total no-no.
And what’s this complaining about ‘immoral behaviour’? Who are you to decide if women selling their bodies is immoral?
Just yanking your chain.
I may be in the minority here, but I don’t actually like #busty_hookers. I prefer my wife.
Did the main street media ask for Trudeau’s head on a stick when Margaret was snorting and cavorting with the Rolling Stones?
If not why not?
What has changed for media’s standards, integrity and principles?
Peter – here is a question for you.
In Trudeau’s day, would the media have ignored it if a high ranking cabinet minister had an affair with his much younger aide, resulting in a pregnancy and quickie divorce?
Maybe your answer has nothing to do with the media, and everything to do with the standards of the day.
In any event, I suggest you are well aware of Margaret Trudeau’s history because it was covered extensively by the media of the day.
Margaret was married to the PRIME MINISTER. A subtle difference, that.
I fail to see how Jaffar running his mouth off in a meeting is of any consequence to the government. Was there brown enveloped filled with cash? Evidence of government employees using public funds to promote CPC friendly ad agencies or donate the cash back to CPC? No?
Well then we better be really upset about a temper tantrum at the airport, a husband who used cocaine and then apparently bragged about his influence within the government.
Really, is there nothing more important going on in Canada?
Is Rahim Jaffer a libertine or Liberal Smear Victim?
http://www.libertaspost.com/article/2010/04/jaffer-guergis-smear-campaign-continues
Well, I think all questions have been answered with Guergis resignation this morning. I kind of expected it to happen, and it’s a Friday so the damage control can be managed better.
So who wants to take bets on there being little damage if any?
CPC are 6 points up on Libs. So yeah, I doubt any damage will be done. The Libs are gloating right now on Twitter though.
Any news if it was a #bustyresignation or just a #resignation ?
Well, now that Guergis has resigned and the PM has asked for an RCMP investigation, about influence peddling we have to assume, which will very likely turn up nothing, what will the mainstream media turn to next?
As I was listening to Adler he had a clip of Bob Fife ranting away as if the RCMP had finished their investigation, he thinks it is of Guergis for some reason, and they are all guilty! Not once did I hear him say there were allegations… the word that is used when the actual state of affairs in not known so the person under investigation is given the benefit of the doubt, you know, innocent until proven guilty and all that.
Speaking now from the future it seems the problem does go away. (At least so far)
From The Globe and Mail:
“Just a week after it appeared the Helena Guergis controversy was sticking to the Conservatives and finally moving voters, today’s numbers show it has had no real effect on the political landscape.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/with-guergis-behind-them-tories-climb-back/article1542974/