Sunday, October 22, 2006
Call that a raid on a legislature? Pfft.
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You call that a raid on a legislature? Pfft.
By Rob Cottingham
1 Sept. 2006
www.robcottingham.ca
Near the end of 2003, BC was stunned when the RCMP swooped down on the provincial legislature and walked away with boxes and boxes of papers marked “Evidence”.
It was a huge scandal. Apparently, Alaska felt jealous.
And competitive buggers that they are, they’ve been scheming to horn in on our action. Today, they made their move:
The offices of at least six Alaska legislators, including the son of Sen. Ted Stevens, were raided by federal agents searching for possible ties between the lawmakers and a large oil field services company, officials and aides said….
Four different teams of at least six federal agents each spent hours searching offices on each floor of the Capitol.
Among the offices searched was that of Republican Senate President Ben Stevens, the son of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
Agents left Stevens’ Capitol office Thursday evening with 12 boxes of documents labeled “Evidence” and loaded them into a vehicle.
Frankly, I’m unimpressed. (Tempted to make “the penal system is a series of tubes” jokes, but unimpressed.) It’s all so derivative… and misses some of the key elements of our scandal. Where are the drugs? The unbelievably lengthy trial delays? The teased-out contents of search warrants?
We can kick Alaska’s ass on this, folks … but we have to all get on board. And it’s got to start with the province’s media. The folks who so tenaciously dogged every step, real and imagined, in the Bingogate scandal and Glen Clark trial have apparently stepped aside for a more docile generation; months go by without a reporter saying “Oh, yeah – whatever happened to that Basi guy?”
Come on. We need some BC pride here. This is a scandal. We rock at these things. If we allow Alaska to best us at this, what’s next? Wreck Beach relocating to Seattle? Portland becoming Douglas Coupland’s new home? Let’s get off our duffs, people.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
.
You call that a raid on a legislature? Pfft.
By Rob Cottingham
1 Sept. 2006
www.robcottingham.ca
Near the end of 2003, BC was stunned when the RCMP swooped down on the provincial legislature and walked away with boxes and boxes of papers marked “Evidence”.
It was a huge scandal. Apparently, Alaska felt jealous.
And competitive buggers that they are, they’ve been scheming to horn in on our action. Today, they made their move:
The offices of at least six Alaska legislators, including the son of Sen. Ted Stevens, were raided by federal agents searching for possible ties between the lawmakers and a large oil field services company, officials and aides said….
Four different teams of at least six federal agents each spent hours searching offices on each floor of the Capitol.
Among the offices searched was that of Republican Senate President Ben Stevens, the son of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
Agents left Stevens’ Capitol office Thursday evening with 12 boxes of documents labeled “Evidence” and loaded them into a vehicle.
Frankly, I’m unimpressed. (Tempted to make “the penal system is a series of tubes” jokes, but unimpressed.) It’s all so derivative… and misses some of the key elements of our scandal. Where are the drugs? The unbelievably lengthy trial delays? The teased-out contents of search warrants?
We can kick Alaska’s ass on this, folks … but we have to all get on board. And it’s got to start with the province’s media. The folks who so tenaciously dogged every step, real and imagined, in the Bingogate scandal and Glen Clark trial have apparently stepped aside for a more docile generation; months go by without a reporter saying “Oh, yeah – whatever happened to that Basi guy?”
Come on. We need some BC pride here. This is a scandal. We rock at these things. If we allow Alaska to best us at this, what’s next? Wreck Beach relocating to Seattle? Portland becoming Douglas Coupland’s new home? Let’s get off our duffs, people.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
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