The CBC and other media are having a fine time with ‘generatorgate’, the latest term for the daily revelations caused by the Auditor-General’s report on MLA expense claims.
The generator refers to the item Yarmouth MLA Richard Hurlburt had wired into his house and kept there, he said, for the good of local community groups.
We are now treated to the spectacle of one MLA after another rushing to repay the previously-expensed costs of items like an espresso coffee maker, office furniture, a digital camera, MP3 players, a 40-inch LCD TV, GPS unit and website.
While not in conflict with the rules, any reasonable person would consider those expenditures to be excessive, the Auditor General intones.
But all these excessive items don’t amount to much— a little over $40,000. Do you know what’s really excessive? All those salaries going to public relations flacks now working overtime trying to think of ways to soothe the ruffled feathers of the public. Nearly all of those people, indirectly government employees, make over $40,000 a year.
That’s excessive.
