Nepotism is Alive and Well in NL

Nepotism is Alive and Well in NL

By: Ryan Young

It all started with Bill 1. Ah yes, the Liberal’s flagship legislation that was supposed to take the politics out of political appointments.  I don’t think that anyone would argue with the spirit of the bill, but the actual legislation seems to be already falling short of public approval. Bill 1 covers the appointments to provincial boards, agencies, & commissions but it does not include core civil service appointments such as Deputy Minister and Assistant Deputy Minister Positions.

This flaw in Bill 1 became glaringly apparent last week when it was made public that 3 core (and highly paid) civil service positions had been awarded to blatant Liberal insiders. Lynn Sullivan, George Joyce, and Paula Buckle were all former Liberal election candidates, Sullivan in 2015, and Joyce in 2011 and 2007, and Paula Buckle (as Paula Walsh) in 1999. This in itself should not disqualify these particular individuals, all of which are certainly qualified, but it certainly should not allow them a fast track into juicy government positions either. If this government was really committed to taking the politics out of political appointments, they should include an open application process for all civil service positions.

On Friday we found out that another former Liberal candidate, Geoff Gallant, has been appointed as the new School Board Election Coordinator. Gallant ran for the Liberals this past fall. He also ran under the NDP stripe in 2011 and reports suggest that he is a close friend and colleague of Education Minister Dale Kirby. That in itself is not an issue per se, but as PC critic David Brazil Pointed out in an article published in the Telegram by James Mcleod, “I don’t know what Geoff’s qualifications are, because, again, we don’t know what they’re looking for, because nobody put out a call for proposals,”

As the aforementioned David Brazil pointed out, the problem is not that the appointees in question are unqualified, it is that there may have been other people more qualified that never had a chance to express an interest in any of the appointed positions. This would have been a great opportunity for the government to open the hiring process at the top levels and prove that they were totally committed to creating a non-partisan bureaucracy. Instead, they decided to appoint people to these positions with blatant Liberal connections. Whether or not these new appointees are qualified is no longer a question of significance in the public eye. All we can see is the same kind of patronage and nepotism that has existed for as long as Newfoundland and Labrador has been a "democracy."

The people of Newfoundland and Labrador were still fuming from the Cathy Dornan patronage spending, when we were hit with the news of the firing of John Ottenheimer from the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation. This should have been our first major signal that Ball and Co. were not really serious about their political appointment rhetoric. No doubt, Ottenheimer, a former PC cabinet member and leadership candidate, was appointed to the job by pure patronage by the former administration, but by all accounts, he was very dedicated and was doing a good job in his position of CEO at NLHC. The government’s explanation for Ottenheimer’s dismissal was simply that they “were not satisfied with the way this position was filled in 2015.” Call me silly, but I didn’t think that the spirit of Bill 1 was to remove former PC appointments under jobs covered under the bill, while at the same time appointing Liberal “cronies” to jobs not covered under the bill. If nothing else, it all makes for very bad optics and leaves a bad taste in the public’s mouth.

It is interesting to note that no less than 4 Liberal MHA’s made time to call the open line programs on Friday to defend the appointments. The common theme between them all was that Bill 1 did not cover core civil service appointments, and therefore there is nothing wrong with such blatant political appointments to core government positions. It is true that no part of these appointments violate the actual Bill 1 legislation, but no matter which way the Liberal members wish to spin this, the people are not fooled about the fact that it is business as usual for our current government.

No matter how much rhetoric and spin we hear from the Liberals, actions speak louder than words. At every turn we hear of our government clearing spots at the trough for their own, while publicly patting themselves on the back for taking the politics out of appointments. Sometimes you have to step back and wonder that if they keep saying enough, that they will really start believing it themselves. The truth that we all know in Newfoundland and Labrador, is that nepotism is alive and well…and don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

Another Government Move, Communicated Badly

Another Government Move, Communicated Badly

By: Ryan Young

In an attempt to maintain my promise to my readers to stay fair and level with my commentary, I would like to bring attention to a potentially positive move from our government. At least the government should be touting it as a positive move. The reason I feel that I have to talk about it, is that, as usual, the government has done a very poor job of communicating a significant change that they have made.

The move in question is the restructuring of several government departments in an effort to create a more efficient bureaucracy with better communication and less expense on the final budget line. The department of Child, Youth, and Family Services will merge with the department of Seniors, Wellness, and Social Development, becoming the Department of Children, Seniors, and Social Development. The Forestry and Agrifoods Agency will combine with the existing Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture to become the Department of Fisheries, Forestry, and Agrifoods. The Office of Climate Change has been combined with the Environment portfolio to create the Department of the Environment and Climate Change, and the Labour Relations Agency will now be managed under the Department of Advanced Education and Skills. In addition to these changes, the Access to Information Office will now fall under the Department of Justice and Public Safety, Fire and Emergency Services will now be under the Department of Municipal Affairs, and the Office of Public Engagement is now under Cabinet Communications.

The idea, one has to imagine, is to combine like minded departments and agencies to create a more cohesive unit with better opportunities for in-house communication and more efficient service delivery for taxpayers. According to the media reports, five Deputy Minister positions will be eliminated, in addition to a 19% reduction in staffing in the affected departments. The number of related savings has not been released. Reports have also surfaced that indicate that new Deputy Minister positions have been filled by Liberal insiders, but I will address that in another post.

In my last post, I wrote about the recent shake-up in the premier’s communication staff, but it seems that the new crew working on the eighth floor are determined to make the same mistakes as their predecessors. The departmental restructuring news should have been announced with much fanfare and a press conference by Dwight Ball, telling us all how his government is committed to keeping the promises it made last November. Instead, all we got was a few snippets in the local media outlets. The premier was travelling and unavailable for comment, and they did not even bother to add a news release to the government website. You would think that they would be eager to pat themselves on the back and try to win some public support but instead they chose to remain in hiding as they have been for most of the summer.  Did they not have faith in their own decision, or is the new policy to avoid all media and public interaction, good or bad?

I will not pass full judgement on these changes until the full details and savings have been released to the public. All of which should have been included in the news release that should have accompanied the announcements. It reminds me of when Dale Kirby announced changes to the inclusion program in the Early Childhood Development division earlier this summer. The Child Care Coalition of NL had been advocating for those changes for over a year and they were not even consulted or informed of the decision until Kirby made the announcement publicly. It would have been a great opportunity for Minister Kirby to bridge the gap and ease some strained relations with a very important segment of the workforce, but instead the changes were made, almost in passing. At least Kirby gave a press conference to tell us why the changes were being made. With this latest government shake-up, we were not even given the courtesy of being able to ask questions about what the changes really mean.

If this government intends to ever start repairing the damage they have done to their reputation they are going to have to stop running scared and start facing and working with the people of this province. If this is the best that the new communications experts have to offer, maybe it is time to roll the dice again Mr. Premier.

Don’t Forget to Shoot the Messenger

Don’t Forget to Shoot the Messenger

By: Ryan Young

If you are scratching your head about the revolving door turnover of staff in the premier’s office over the last nine months, you are not alone. So far, we have witnessed the departure of the premier’s chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, director of communications, and press secretary. Certainly there is no doubt that the departing team members failed at their task of spinning the government message in a way that would be palatable to the public at large, but are the staff really to blame, or is it the message that they were asked to deliver?

How do you spin a budget like our government delivered last April? Even the top Manhattan ad houses would be hard pressed to find a way to convince voters that taking money out of their pockets every time they turn around is in their best interest. Even the most uninformed voter can understand when they are being taken advantage of, and voters have long memories. Just ask the Tories. The simple fact is that it doesn’t matter who crafted the talking points or media releases or who ordered the posters taken down from the parkway. The information they had to work with was pure crap and there was no way to spin it that would make this budget smell like anything else. They were dealt a 7-2 off-suit and were asked to play it like a pair of bullets.

Over the past few months we have heard countless stories of the real effects of Budget 2016. From seniors who have to choose between food and medications to towns having to cancel plans to hire more firefighters, to food banks who are struggling to keep shelves stocked, this budget is causing real pain to the people of this province. No matter who the government brings in to spin the changes they have made, the people have to look no further than their bank statements to know the real truth. It is much too late for carefully crafted messaging and media relations coaching. This government has lost the trust of the people and it will take more than a few info-graphics and photo-op's with big federal cheques to win that back.

The addition of a new media relations manager and a new content manager to the premier’s office should help the way that future messages are delivered, but unless this government takes a drastic turn away from the path they have chosen, there is no amount of spin doctors or media relations experts that can improve their image in the public eye. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.