Nigel Wright was only doing his job, which is why he now has to go

By all accounts Nigel Wright is exceptionally capable, unfailingly conscientious and thoroughly proper. Mutual acquaintances insist he is someone you would always want on your side. Whose intelligence is obvious. And whose integrity you would never have cause to question.

The same cannot be so easily said of Mike Duffy, the good Senator from Payday Loans.

Duffy’s grasping, pathetic and contradictory account of his conduct has erased all trace of his once avuncular image, revealing a portrait of avarice, entitlement and indignity. He has become a living attack ad against the Upper Chamber. A sixty-six year old poster boy for Senate abolition. Now he’s even been forced from the Conservative caucus, condemned to sit as an Independent. All of which invites the question: Why? Why would a guy as brilliant and as powerful as Nigel Wright spend $90,000 of his own money to purchase the Conservatives an even larger portion of this mess? Why would he place his own reputation at risk, invite such searing scrutiny of the Prime Minister’s Office and flirt with the Code of Ethics?

It seems to make no sense. Which is why people are so quick to murmur darkly that there must be some greater mystery. A conspiracy of some vast and inky depth that, once revealed, will shake Canadian politics to its core.

Perhaps.

As explanations go, it’s at least as plausible as the version offered by the PMO, who maintained that the payment was motivated by “friendship and compassion.” Nice try. But if Mike Duffy and Nigel Wright are fast friends then Bev Oda and Stephen Harper are Tuesday night euchre partners.

There is a less spectacular but more realistic explanation. Nigel Wright was doing his job. And his job is, like that of all senior political aides, to fix things. To smother tiny flames before they become raging fires. To protect his prime minister and his prime minister’s government from political threat.

Does that typically involve stroking a cheque for tens of thousands of dollars to someone at the centre of a forensic audit? No. Should it? Never.

But if our goal is to reconcile reports of Wright’s intelligence with such reckless behaviour, this is where we will begin to understand what he could possibly have been thinking.

In the pressure cooker of the PMO, senior aides are expected to oversee every file and manage every feasible threat. They juggle weighty policy issues, prickly cabinet personalities and tender caucus egos. And deal with probing questions from the Parliamentary Press Gallery. They must brief the prime minister, execute his instructions and guard his interests. Above all, they must be skilled at issues and crisis management, because crisis is a constant possibility when in government.

So let’s assume that Nigel Wright — shrewd as he is — recognized that the audit of Mike Duffy’s expenses was headed straight to hell. Let’s assume also that his natural impulse was to shelter Duffy, probably because of the former broadcaster’s popularity within the party and success as a fundraiser. He would have known that Duffy’s refusal to reimburse the crown could only invite political embarrassment and might eventually force the government to remove Duffy from caucus. So Mr. Harper’s Chief of Staff indulged his inherent instinct as a political aide: he decided to fix things. He cut the cheque, indirectly repaid the public treasury, and kept it quiet from his boss. And probably hoped that, since neither he nor Duffy had any cause to talk, it would all remain unspoken.

Viewed through a certain lens, his efforts are almost admirable. Possibly the purest example of paying a personal price — literally — to help shield one’s government from risk. But even if we can understand his actions, we cannot condone them.

In bankrolling Duffy’s reimbursement, Nigel Wright appears to have interfered with a serious investigation of the Senator’s conduct. He shielded Duffy from full accountability – for a time, at least. And concealed these actions from the public, probably because he knew that they would look utterly inexcusable.

It is still Mike Duffy for whom we should reserve our greatest disdain. He chose to submit claims that auditors have determined to be unjustified — enriching himself by tens of thousands. He balked at reimbursing what he owed taxpayers and then later boasted about his character while paying with what we now know was Wright’s money. And, to beat all, according to some new media reports, he supposedly secured a bank loan to repay the Senate without telling PMO — raising the question of what use he made of Wright’s $90,000 “gift.” Although he’s been shamed into resigning from the Conservative caucus in light of still new revelations, he remains a sitting Senator drawing a large salary and benefits. He is, quite simply, an unqualified disgrace.

For all his talent and ability, Wright cannot stand at the centre of this debacle and expect to emerge intact. Why did he do it? Probably because his every instinct told him that this was a situation he must make better. But his instincts let him down. He made a horrendous error in judgment. He worsened this scandal considerably and brought it right to the prime minister’s doorstep. It is not possible to believe that his position is tenable. Ultimately, he will have to go.

Original Article
Source: edmontonjournal.com
Author: Scott Reid