Payback's A Bitch

Justice Gomery's first report on the Liberal Sponsorship Scandal was released yesterday. The party's mass-mail servers immediately began churning to spit this headline at my inbox:

Liberal Party Announces Measures in Response to the Gomery Report

In the release, I was informed that the LPC was to immediately remit to the Canadian taxpayers the sum of $ 1,142,818.27 to represent the "full and complete repayment of improperly received funds, and contributions called into question by Justice Gomery, by the Liberal Party of Canada and its Quebec wing."

When millions of Canadian tax dollars were mismanaged, misspent, missssssteriously evaporated, this sum seems to be a little shy of acceptable. However, we have to accept the Gomery findings of actual identified and documented transactions. This does not, in any way, include the envelopes, briefcases and sacks of cash which traded hands through the sponsorship years. It's hard to keep the exact value of a sack consistent from one occurrance to the next. Therefore, your ledgers would always be out of whack if you tried to record such transactions. I'm starting to appreciate that the Liberals were just trying to go easy on the accountants during a frenzied period of spending and procuring.

So, in my reconciling with the pittance remittance, I decided to view for myself the Resolution of the National Executive of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Whereas the Liberal Party of Canada’s Code of Conduct, adopted on September 10,
2005, along with other sweeping measures adopted by this Executive, governs Party staff
and volunteers in order to further ensure that the same irregularities cannot repeat
themselves;

Of course they can't repeat themselves. We'll all recognize them. Watch for new and improved irregularities.
This, undoubtedly, will take time to develop through long and arduous strategy sessions.

Volpe???!!!! More Pizza!!!