JAFFER PLEA BARGAIN REEKS OF FAVOURITISM

If you're feeling like former Conservative Member of Parliament Rahim
Jaffer got a sweet deal this week by pleading down to single count of
dangerous driving, from impaired driving and possession of cocaine,
you're not alone.

Instead of a one-year driving suspension and the minimum $1,000 for a
first-time drunk driving conviction, and a permanent criminal record
for cocaine possession, the reputed party animal, who lost his
Edmonton seat in the last federal election, escapes with a $500 fine.

The light treatment, at the hands of an Ontario provincial court
judge, smacks of a double standard. Critics have already pointed out
the Conservatives' endless calls for stiffer penalties for convicted
offenders. Now that one of their own has been hauled before the
judge, there has been a legitimate perception that Jaffer, who is
married to junior cabinet minister Helena Guergis, skated on the charges.

It's important to note that, as a first-time offender, Jaffer was
never going to see the inside of a jail cell, either for drunk
driving or for simple cocaine possession. But in Port Alberni
provincial court, a defendant facing those charges would likely plead
out to a lesser driving offence (usually driving without due care and
attention) that carried the same minimum one-year suspension. The
coke charge would be the joker in the deck.

Crown prosecutors don't like to get into impaired driving trials,
which tend to fall into a familiar pattern. The defence typically
picks away, in excruciating detail, at the arresting officer, to
establish that police had absolutely no ground to detain their
client. That strategy is consistent, even if the accused was
apprehended after crashing into a lamppost with a bottle of Jack
Daniels in his lap. It's time (and money) consuming, but if the
client has the money for a good lawyer, that's what he or she gets,
because if the case is argued long enough, there's often a hole in
the case that's enough to establish reasonable doubt, ergo, acquittal.

By contrast, B.C. Liberal MLA Jane Thornthwaite, who was charged
after being stopped at an RCMP road check last month, took, from the
Crown's point of view, the A choice. She simply admitted guilt,
entered an early guilty plea and will receive the minimum penalty,
which is exactly the same as any other first-time offender.
Thornthwaite has received the usual calls to resign as an MLA, and
that is a legitimate thought. But it's not a requirement under B.C.
law or Legislative tradition.

With his 2003 arrest and conviction for impaired driving in Hawaii,
Premier Gordon Campbell made it difficult for his government to
impose that sort of standard. For Campbell, the conviction wasn't a
career-killer, and in fact, may have served to humanize him a bit,
for some who considered him a little too remote or too judgmental.

But again, in this instance, the Premier suffered the indignity of
the woozy-faced mug shot and took responsibility for his actions. One
can imagine it's extremely unlikely he's going to get behind the
wheel after drinking again.

Remember that Jaffer has little public reputation to protect at this
point. One can imagine his approach was to file not guilty pleas and
serve notice that he would fight the charges aggressively. That he
was offered a plea bargain is not unusual. That the plea bargain
offered was so much lighter than most defendants would receive is the
real issue. And we expect there's going to be some hard questions
directed at the Ontario court and the Conservative party over the
next few weeks.