NO SHORTAGE OF SCANDAL, OR OF POLITICAL PURE WIND

What is it about the changing of the annual calendar that brings scandal to
our B.C. Liberal government?

Twelve months ago, 2003 was barely a couple of weeks old when Premier
Gordon Campbell downed one too many martinis and wound up in the Maui drunk
tank.

And how else would we ring in another year, but with the sight of cops
carting off boxes of evidence from the legislature in Victoria?

The police say the search warrants executed at the legislature and in homes
and businesses in the Vancouver and Victoria areas are connected to what
began 20 months ago as a cross-border drug smuggling investigation.

That probe has apparently led to investigations of other crimes, and is
somehow connected to a police corruption probe within the Victoria Police
Department.

What is known is that the cops are interested in David Basi, ministerial
assistant to Finance Minister Gary Collins, and Bob Virk, ministerial
assistant to Transportation Minister Judith Reid.

Premier Gordon Campbell and Collins remain on vacation, technically, but
found time to have Basi fired and Virk suspended with pay.

Why was Basi fired and Virk suspended? Why was Pilothouse Public Affairs, a
consulting company that lobbied on behalf of a company bidding for BC Rail,
searched by police?

What, exactly, did the cops seize from the legislature?

What is known is the latest intrigue in Victoria can not surprise even the
most casual observer of politics in this wacky province; remember the
trials and tribulations of Bill Vander Zalm, Mike Harcourt, Moe Sihota,
Dave Stupich, Glen Clark and Bill Bennett?

When listening to the comments of various politicians and pundits, keep in
mind the words of George Orwell: "Political language - with variations,
this is true of all political parties - is designed to make lies sound
truthful, a murder respectable and give appearance of solidity to pure wind."