XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: ab.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   It may be in Nigel Wright’s power to destroy Stephen Harper:  Chantal   
   Hébert   
      
      
   Is Nigel Wright, the prime minister's former chief of staff, the evil   
   mastermind behind a scheme to cover up Mike Duffy’s controversial expenses?   
      
      
   MONTREAL -   
   Only a saint or alternatively someone with a guilty conscience would   
   continue to play dead as his former boss wreaks irreparable damage on   
   his or her reputation.   
      
   Prime Minister Stephen Harper can only pray that former chief of staff   
   Nigel Wright falls squarely in one or the other category.   
      
   In the House of Commons on Tuesday, the prime minister depicted Wright   
   as a deceptive political operator.   
      
   Harper openly contended that when his top aide cut Mike Duffy a personal   
   cheque to covertly reimburse a Senate housing allowance on the senator’s   
   behalf he actively engaged in a deception that duped his boss along with   
   all Canadians.   
      
   To listen to Harper, Wright abused his trust.   
      
   As an aside, if the sight of a prime minister who says he is very angry   
   about a dubious scheme cooked up without his knowledge by backroom   
   operators feels like déjà vu, it is because Harper has now replicated   
   former prime minister Paul Martin’s initial response to the sponsorship   
   scandal.   
      
   A major difference is that Martin was not in charge when the sponsorship   
   program went off the rails and he had not hired those who ran it.   
      
   The Duffy affair has unfolded on Harper’s watch and under his nose.   
      
   No amount of prime ministerial finger-pointing can manage to clear up   
   some stubborn grey zones in the evolving Conservative narrative.   
      
   It remains unexplained for instance why Wright felt he had to go to the   
   lengths that he did on Duffy’s behalf.   
      
   It has now been acknowledged by the prime minister that other   
   Conservative associates had a part in what Harper now calls a deception.   
     If Wright was going rogue, if the route he chose to put the Senate   
   controversy to rest was taking the PMO far out of the ethical boundaries   
   set by the prime minister, why did no one feel compelled to give Harper   
   a heads-up?   
      
   Only Wright can provide more clarity to these issues. He may have   
   plausible reasons not to break his silence but at this juncture one can   
   only guess what they could be.   
      
   It may be that he truly is the evil mastermind behind this uncommon   
   scheme and that until this week Harper had been covering up for him out   
   of compassion and loyalty to a former staffer.   
      
   If that is the case the prime minister has nothing to fear from his   
   former chief of staff.  Wright should actually be grateful that Harper   
   held off for so long before throwing his body to the sharks who are   
   circling his office this week.   
      
   Or, in the alternative, it may be that Wright is allowing Harper to   
   methodically destroy his reputation because he is ultimately more   
   committed to seeing the prime minister survive this fiasco than to   
   salvaging his own good name.   
      
   Under this scenario Harper can only thank his lucky stars to have   
   chanced upon such a benevolent individual to act as his chief of staff.   
     For it is now in Wright’s power — if he has a case to make for himself   
   to clear his name — to destroy the prime minister.   
      
   Harper’s credibility has already taken a beating over the past two   
   weeks. For the first time since he has become Conservative leader, a   
   poll — done by Ipsos for CTV — had his party in third place in voting   
   intentions.   
      
   Another poll, by Ekos, had the Conservatives tied with the NDP for   
   second place — albeit with barely the support of one in four voters.   
      
   Earlier this week some Conservative strategists found solace in the fact   
   that Ipsos also reported that three out of four Canadians want Duffy,   
   Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin off the Senate payroll.   
      
   But the proportion of those who believe that Harper is lying about his   
   role in the affair is almost as high.  And two-thirds of respondents   
   feel that he has mismanaged the issue.   
      
   According to Ekos, even as they have precious little time for Duffy,   
   twice as many voters believe the discredited senator over Harper.   
      
   How many would it be if the prime minister’s word was stacked against   
   that of a former chief of staff for whose honour he so repeatedly   
   vouched for until this week?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)