If politicians are good at one thing, they are usually good at telling a story that serves their purpose even if it isn’t, strictly speaking, actually what happened. Last week’s cabinet shuffle is a fine example of that. The story started on the day of the shuffle. The story appears,
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The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Constable Contempt #nlpoli
Paul Davis fired Judy Manning from cabinet on Wednesday. He didn’t meet with her in person. Davis called her on the phone. Short of sending her an e-mail or a text message, Davis couldn’t have shown less class, tact, or respect for the job he holds and for Manning herself
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Judge Headroom #nlpoli
The Crown Prosecution Service lost an application last week to overturn a decision by a Provincial Court judge. That’s not the newsworthy thing. The Crown wins applications and loses them all the time. What’s important about this is the back-story. The Telegram covered the decision itself, although you can read
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Devil’s Snare #nlpoli
The latest eruption of the Manning political controversy volcano is evidence of many things. Not the least is that Premier Paul Davis and his team have a monumental problem in their organization. It’s the one that steps in to manage political crises. Davis and his crew don’t have one. So
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Public Service and Bad Judgment #nlpoli
Shortly after she was appointed to cabinet, Judy Manning told CBC that she was taking a significant cut in pay from her solo law practice to take the new job as an unelected minister. “I’m doing this from a public service perspective,” Manning said at the time. That was part
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Questions and Answers #nlpoli
Unelected cabinet minister Judy Manning was “surprised” that her personal relationship with Paul Davis’ political bagman came up in a recent CBC interview. Surprised? That’s an interesting choice of words. Just like it is interesting for Manning to say that: “Quite frankly, in terms of my predecessors, I don’t recall
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Pension Judy #nlpoli
Judy Manning will go down in history as the only unelected cabinet minister in Newfoundland and Labrador since the country gained responsible local government in 1855 who went into office with no intention of seeking a seat in the legislature unless and until she was ready to do so. The
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Madness #nlpoli
The day after she took the oath of office, Judy Manning, the province’s new attorney general and minister of public safety, and Premier Paul Davis, her boss, are facing intense public criticism. It’s hard to tell whether people are more upset by her evident, and admitted, lack of experience practicing
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