PREMIER SHOULD HAVE COME CLEAN, OBSERVERS SAY

Two veteran federal political strategists feel Premier Dennis Fentie made a
big mistake by not telling Yukoners what drug he went to prison for selling.
"My advice would've been you come clean," Tim Powers said today in an
interview from Ottawa.

Powers used to work for federal Tories John Crosbie and Joe Clark, and most
recently worked for the Canadian Alliance during the 2000 federal election.
"If you hide something that is a part of the public record somewhere out
there, come clean or you will pay the price," Powers added.

"Half-truths are time bombs are waiting to go off."

Another strategist, Warren Kinsella, a veteran of numerous Liberal elections
both federally and provincially in Ontario, said he would have made Fentie
come completely clean about not only the conviction for trafficking but also
what type of drug it was the Yukon Party leader had been busted for selling.

"I would say, 'You would have to tell people or I would resign as your
adviser,' " Kinsella said from Toronto.

Both were referring to the fact that it became public on Friday that Fentie
was busted in Edmonton in 1975 for being part of a heroin trafficking ring.

Fentie was initially sentenced to four years in a prison; he spent 17 months
in a federal penitentiary.

During the 2002 election campaign, rumours of Fentie's conviction, which he
was pardoned of in 1996, were circulating before the Yukon Party leader told
the Star he had been convicted of narcotics trafficking and spent 17 months
in prison.

Fentie was asked what drug he was convicted of selling. He would not say. He
just said that the charge was for selling narcotics.

Both political advisers feel the best move for Fentie would have been to
make everything clear when this first came out in October 2002.

Powers noted that by Fentie saying he was guilty but not what he was guilty
of, he kept the issue going.

He noted that in working with the Alliance's campaign in 2000, any questions
left unanswered by the party's leader at the time, Stockwell Day, ended up
getting him in trouble down the road.

Powers added it is clear that Yukoners were willing to give Fentie the
benefit of the doubt on the matter but that can disappear without complete
honesty. "They'll give you the benefit of the doubt but they won't give you
the benefit of the doubt when you don't give them all the information."

He added that voters don't like it if they feel someone is taking advantage
of them.

"The perception of dishonesty is dishonesty."

Powers understands Fentie's embarrassment about his conviction and commends
him for deciding to enter politics with this in his past. However, Powers
thought he should've better thought over how he would address this matter
when it came up.

Kinsella, who admits he is a partisan Liberal and wanted former Liberal
Premier Pat Duncan to win re-election last year, thinks someone should be
going after Fentie's head.

"A key fact is left unsaid and it is appalling and shocking," said Kinsella.

"If people aren't calling for his resignation by the end of the week, I'd be
(surprised)."

The strategist doesn't see how this issue can go away for Fentie.

"Now, I don't see how he continue," he said about the premier.

Kinsella added that anybody within Fentie's camp who knew about this and
kept "their mouths shut" also must answer to the public.

Kinsella added that Fentie realizes there is a big difference between heroin
and just about any other drug he could have been caught selling.

"I think the premier's got to be smart enough to know if he said heroin, the
reaction would have been significantly different than marijuana."

Kinsella said that much like the Watergate incident in the United States in
the early 1970s, the problem isn't so much what happened as the fact that
some of it was covered up by the powers that be.

Fentie probably realized that he wasn't giving all the necessary goods to
the public, the Liberal adviser surmised.

"It's possible he thought his disclosure was enough but I kind of doubt
(that)," said Kinsella.

The Liberal strategist said Fentie could have followed the example of
federal Liberal MP Ivan Grose.

Grose, a 75-year-old MP from Oshawa, Ont., was convicted of armed robbery in
his younger days.

Kinsella said Grose has been so open about his past from the start that
people are used to the matter and don't worry about it.

Fentie's admission in October 2002 about the conviction was the first time
he spoke publicly about it despite the fact he had been an MLA for six years
at that point.

Duncan said she's heard about this matter from a number of people over the
weekend and the fact he didn't come completely clean is the biggest concern.
"It's not about what happened 25 years ago that bother people the most," she
said. "It's the dishonesty today."

According to Duncan, the biggest problem is the fact Fentie didn't come
clean about what he went to jail for dealing when the issue first came up
last year. She's also heard that the problem with Fentie's lack of full
disclosure may not just be with the general public.

"My understanding is that there was a number of people, including his party
and his caucus, who thought it was marijuana," she said.

Duncan questioned whether Yukoners can trust Fentie about other matters
after he didn't come clean on this issue.

"If he wasn't completely honest about this, what (about) other issues?" she
wondered.

NDP Leader Todd Hardy believes Fentie should have come clean about the issue
during the election campaign.

"In hindsight, it would've been because it wouldn't have been the news of
the day," he said.

Hardy added that Fentie has probably spent his first year in power waiting
for the other shoe to drop.

For the New Democrats, this is another indicator of the secrecy of the
ruling Yukon Party.

"We're extremely concerned with this government, the (secretiveness),"

Fentie did not respond to a request for an interview today to tell the
public his side of the matter.