THERE’S an old Irish
saving: “It’s not nice to
mock the afflicted.”
With that in mind, here
are some thoughts on
the ongoing scandal
involving the premier.

The NDP party machine
has been in overdrive since
word of Glen Clark's mast
recent and, Inevitably, most
damaging misads enture.

Within a lay of the exect-
don of the now infamous
search warrant on Clark's
house, the P brought out
the heav-hitters. No waiting
te see how things evolved this
time, the big guns began fir
ing salvos from the get go,

Chief among these was
Burnaby MP Svend Robinson.

The day after the news
broke, Robinson clambered
ov his hind legs in the House
of Commons and began bay
ing about “collusion” between
the RCMP and the media, in
the form of BCTV’s John
Daly. He demanded an imme-
diate investigation by the
solicitor general

Vell, as any football
will tell you, the best de
is a good offence

In the first place, thi
nothing more than a red her-
ring meant to deflect attention
from the salient questions:
Was the premier involved in
granting a gaming licence to 2
company partly owned by his’
friend, Dimitrios Pilarino:

And perhaps even mo
the point: Why did th
ernment give a casino ji
to a business running an ille-
gal gaming operation with
associations to bikers and
other aspects of organized
crime?

Now, first of f, there was
absolutely no tip from the
RCMP to BCTV concerning
the warrant on Clark's house.

The connection with
Pilarinos was already known
to Daly.

Once it was learned that
Pilarinos was in custody, it
didn’t take much of a leap to
wonder if the police would be
visiting Pitarinos’ residence,
only a few short blocks from

Clark's house.
King that house and
MSTITUCNEY ofl
the police stakeout
, Iy and the
cameraman simply staked out
the cops. A damn fine piece of
work if you ask me.
While on that topic,
Clark's lawyer, David
ertaindy outdid

“MeCarthyism” ,

the police entered the ri

dence in “the dead of the
night” was such absolute driv-
el it’s amazing he could keep a
straight face.

With the warrant they
could have simply torced their
way into the residence and
begun searching. They had
the lawful authority to do
that. But they didn’t. They
waited for someone to show
up at the house and that
turned out to be Clark's
Dale.

As for BCTV “inv

ivacy of the premier, |
checked with Daly and asked
where the cameras were locat-
ed. He said one camera was

sidewaik and the other

in a public park behind the
house. Nothing shown on
television was anything that
could not have been seen by
anyone walking by. If Clark
has a problem with that, then
he should invest in new drapes
or blinds.

Now let's deal wi
of the other information, or
perhaps misinformation would

rising that Clark has
lawyer to represent and advise
him given the fact the police
¢ combing through his
private res i
rant.

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It is not surprising he
engaged David Gibbons in
ibbons is a senior
of the defence bar
highly respected tor his
abilities in aggressively detend
ing his clients. He does his job
weil.

However, it is quite sur:
prising thar Clark had
Gibbons vo our and fice the
assembled media to provide

uses for the events,

Clark has not been charged
with a » He may
never t g
Usually cr Nr oy
fronta situation like that
when a matter is before the
courts, Equally, Clark has
always been a fighter, quick to
rise up and face anvone at
anytime,

faras the claims by the
and the NDP that the
police have said “the premier
Was not suspected of any
inal activity,” let’s be clear —
they have said no such thing.

On March 3, the RCMP
issued a terse press release

ch said, “The warrant did
not allege any criminal activi
on the part of Premier

Nor should it.

he document filed by
police to ger the warrant —
called the Information ta
Obrain — is the one wh
details of the investigation are
outlined and in which the

gest whar the proper-

y starched for will mean to
their investigation. That docu-

P’s big guns firing but m

ment has been sealed by the
courts and is the subject of a
media legal challenge to get it
opened. Phe warrant itself is
incidental.

The investigation is cen-
tred around the applic
and subsequent granting of
the casino licence. The
Mounties said that in the press
release toe. They also said the
INVestigation fs ConunuNng,

That's a tar ery from saving
Clark is not suspected of anv
criminal activity as the NDF
would have us beli

The simple fret that the
RCMP are conducting an
investigation tells us uhis isa
criminal matter. That's what
the police do. They do not
investigate political embarrass-
ments. They investig
crimes. Jt is also interesting to
note that *s law
opposed the court opening,
the Information to Obtain.

Gibbons cla ied the pre-
imier was afraid it would
infringe o the RCMP's abili-
ty to continue its investiga-
tion, Yeah, right.

Asa final observation, any
one inwolved in the justi
tem knows how difficule it is
for the police to get a warrant
for a private residence.

Obtaining a warrant to
search the residence of the
premier of the province must
surely be that much more aif
ficult.

Any judge or justice of the
peace would want to ensure

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Wednesday, March 10,

the police have gone the extra
mile to ensure they were on
very solid ground before sign-
ing off on that document. You
ean be sure of that.

If this was a moral gov
ment we wouldn't be hearing
this stuff, The premier would
have showed us all the receipes
and cancelled cheques for the

1999 - Norin Shore News -— 7

ssing

work done on his house by his
friend, Pilarinos, not had his
jawver spout weasel words to
deflect trom the salient issues.
Finally, the premier would
the honorable thing and
resign pending the con
of the investigation. [f this was
amoral government.
— tknightGilivect.ca

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