Rodney’s bounce flops

The Tory backroom boys are at it again – trying to make Rodney MacDonald look like a buffoon.

And they’ve really done him today.

On the front page of the paper today, he’s shown bouncing on a trampoline like a six-year old.

Poor Rodney. He doesn’t even realize what they’re doing to him.

It would be different if this were a fresh face with no track record. Then a little hop on the old tramp would be sort of cute, a good little kick start to a campaign.

But when you have the sort of history of political bungling, abuse of taxpayers’ dollars through patronage and general lack of sophistication and know how, the trampoline just makes you look like a fool.

Heather Foley Melvin: the mistake that Rodney keeps on making

The Tory backroom boys who want Rodney out must be laughing out loud this morning. Rodney keeps handing them easy points in their quest to depose him.

Rodney has extended the contract of the highly-paid patronage appointment of Heather Foley Melvin. You will recall that she is the former car executive and former member of Rodney MacDonald’s staff who was given the appointment to Conserve Nova Scotia.

And now Nova Scotian taxpayers are on the hook for another two years of $140,000 per year and 12 months termination if she goes before her contract is complete.

Rodney quietly extended the contract on this patronage appointment before it was up.

So, here is the score card thus far:

Heather Foley Melvin – 10 points. for hanging onto her sinecure on the back of Nova Scotia taxpayers.

Nova Scotia taxpayers: 0 points for having their money squandered on patronage appointments

The Environment – 0 points because a former auto executive with no experience or knowledge of environmental issues has been appointed to an important environmental post in this Little Tartan Republic

Tory Backroom Boys - 100 points because this is going seal Rodney’s reputation as a small-minded, patronage-driven politician who has no idea how bad this makes him look. They must be laughing as he fries in his own juices.

Now they are shovelling the dirt over poor Rodney

Clearly, the backroom boys want Rodney out.

Otherwise they wouldn’t allow him to shoot himself so magnificently in the foot.

This morning he’s all over the media contradicts his own senior cabinet ministers – including Finance Minister Jamie Muir – on the small matter of the “balanced” budget he presented.

Rodney says it’s balanced.

Well the opposition didn’t buy that. They took down Rodney’s government.

The budget would only be balanced if the law were changed to allow monies legally allocated to the the $12B debt to be allocated to non-debt spending.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that. But then nobody’s accusing Rodney of genius.

With little wriggle room Rodney does what Rodney does best: he denies. Even if he’s dealing with the truth, he just denies because the poor man doesn’t know what else to do.

And the backroom boys let him. They are hanging him out to dry.

They know that if left to his own devices Rodney will fry himself. They also know that this is the best thing that could happen for their par-tay.

Here’s a scenario: Rodney trips and bumbles through this campaign. We get a Dipper minority. Tories dump Rodney and have a leadership convention to elect a – wait for it – leader!

And we have another election in two years.

It sounds like more of the same to us, but at least Nova Scotia will be spared of poor Rodney MacDonald.

And that has to be something.

Rodo McDodo finally falls

He dug the hole for himself.

And he dug it deep.

Then he fell into that hole.

Let’s see. What did Rodney do to cause this fall:

Spending money allocated by law to the $12B debt.

Delaying the budget in the middle of the worse economic crisis since the 30s.

Cabinet ministers smashing up cars after an evening at the bar.

Cabinet ministers’ sons taking the people’s SUV to the ice cream shop and smashing it up.

Buying kiddie ATVs on taxpayers’ money

Failing to enact safety rules on ATVs recommended by medical experts.

Dancing with Bully Harper to negotiate a bad Offshore Accord deal for Nova Scotia.

Ripping off immigrant entrepreneurs coming to this province for a new life.  Nice way to prop up that expensive Come to Life Nova Scotia campaign

Blatant patronage: appointing former car dealership executive/member of staff to a Conserve Nova Scotia

Defending this patronage appointment.

But Rodney MacDonald’s biggest mistake of all was underestimating the intelligence of the Nova Scotia public.

Nova Scotians are certainly no geniuses. If they were they would never have voted the likes of Rodney in.

But Nova Scotians are not as dumb as Rodney assumed. He couldn’t pull the wool over their eyes.

Back room boys let Rodney MacDonald hang himself

Rodney MacDonald is a desperate man who has run out of ideas and is blaming the opposition for his failings.

He’s spend money legally required to go on Nova Scotia’s gargantuan debt and now he’s trying to change the law after the fact so he won’t appear to be breaking the law.

That’s like engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct in a hockey game, and then trying to change the rules afterwards so you don’t get the penalty.

Even if you don’t care about this province’s $12B debt, a move like that looks very bad indeed. If the opposition didn’t call him on it, they too would be failing Nova Scotians who carry one of the heaviest debt burdens in Canada.

But Rodney – the unsophisticated political strategist that he is – is attempting to blame the opposition for his failings.

He says this will delay shovel-ready construction work. This is a premier who hasn’t bothered with a budget, the only premier in Canada to fail to pass a budget. The man doesn’t know the meaning of the word hypocrite.

No one expects much of Rodney MacDonald. His record shows that he is not a clever politician. He’s desperate to hang onto power because he likes the job and importance of being premier, even though he doesn’t know how to run a province or its finances.

You would think that those around him would guide him.

Where are the backroom boys, the men in war rooms, the strategists in suits who could advise him so he doesn’t appear silly. Why are they letting Rodney MacDonald hang himself?

Perhaps the backroom boys are just going to let Rodney fry in his own juices.

They may not be as dumb as they look.

Hear that?

Listen.

Closely.

Hear it?

No?

Well, then you’ve heard correctly.

That’s the sound of Rodo McDodo and his merry band doing absolutely nothing.

Rodo McDodo is afraid to do anything that might trigger a confidence vote on his weak minority government.

That’s why we have no budget: the only province in Canada to have no budget – in the middle of a global recession and credit meltdown.

We do things our own way in the Little Tartan Republic of Nova Scotia.

And by doing things, we mean absolutely nothing.

Isn’t it great to live in la-la land?

L-word star makes NS Liberals the L-word

Liberal Leader Stephen MacNeil doesn’t seriously expect us to believe he didn’t approve the release of a picture of a topless NDP candidate?

On Thursday the Liberals  released to the media a picture of Lenore Zann who stars in cable TV show The L-Word.

On Thursday night, his communications person Glennie Langille released a self-justifying statement saying the picture WAS in the public domain.

Then on Friday Stephen MacNeil comes out swinging, saying he won’t tolerate these dirty tactics.

Oh please, Stephen.

It would have been more honest and believable if you’d just owned up to your mistake, rather than feigning ignorance and then outrage.

None of this is surprising. This is Nova Scotia, after all.

The political culture here is small-minded, and the old-boys in the old parties feel entitled to their power. That is why they think these tactics are fair game.

Sadly, they will probably steal some votes away because there are plenty of small-minded Nova Scotia voters out there. They are the people who vote for the small-minded politicians.

If you are serious about changing that culture, Mr. MacNeil, you will have to do better.You will have to confront the depth of the problem and sort out the old-boys who hold the strings that will help you get elected.

But take heed of the cautionary tale of Dr. John Savage who tried to change the political culture of this province and who ended up being slaughtered by his own party.

You are walking a fine line, Mr. MacNeil. Be careful

It’s fun watching them disintegrate, isn’t it?

These are the dying days of the Rodo MacDodo government.

We have prisoners escaping, now at a rate of two per week.

Inept ministers are offering to resign and inept premiers refusing their offer.

We have ill-conceived political stunts to spend money that is legally required to go on the debt.

And we have a scared-to-death premier frozen in his tracks, afraid to bring down a budget for the good of the province.

Rodney MacDonald is a pathetic symbol of all that is wrong in Nova Scotia politics.

He is stuck in the old ways of patronage, taking care of your friends and spend-spend-spending before an election. It lacks imagination and vision. But what do you expect? This is why Nova Scotia is perpetually stuck in a made-in-Nova-Scotia bog of mediocrity.

Rodney is unsophisticated. And his backroom boys are equally unsophisticated too, probably glad-handling, hockey-playing, old-boys who were appointed for no other reason that who they know. They feed from the trough of hard-working Nova Scotians and they develop a sense of entitlement that keeps this fine province mired in mediocrity.

Thanks boys.

But that is the essence of Nova Scotia politics. The banal rise to the top. We doubt this will ever change.

That is why we will take pleasure in watching this particular crop writhing as they go down in an undignified end.

Let’s hope that Rodney delays the inevitable a little longer – just so we can enjoy the spectacle of watching their ship sink.

If Joseph Conrad had penned this missive he would have ended it with this:

The banity. The banity.

Release Rodney!

As the funny folks of Monty Python might have put it.

We’re losing prisoners at a rate of two a week.

We’re getting good at mistaken releases and losing prisoners in Nova Scotia.

If we’re so good at that, why not lose a premier? Via an election, of course. This release would be the will of the people.

Of course Rodney MacDonald doesn’t want an election. He would have too much to lose.

But the people of Nova Scotia want one, despite Rodney’s self-interested protestations to the contrary.

They have the look of a government, desperate and disorientated. They’re committing the province to over a billion in debt but not producing a real budget.

The claim the added debt will stimulate the economy but haven’t done the math on how to pay it back.

Cranking up liquor prices and user fees is not going to win them any friends, either.

And they’re losing prisoners.

No one could ever accuse Rodney MacDonald of being politically savvy but if he were, he’d be embarrassed.

We’re all embarrassed.

If Rodney can’t read the mood in this province, then his “people” should be telling him. The people in this province are practically gagging for change.

It’s time to release Rodney.

In the land of Joe Howe’s responsible government

… we have to subpoena financial bureaucrats to give tax-payers and legislators an update on our finances.

And even then we don’t get the financial update.

Deputy minister of finance Vicki Harnish is reporting before a legislative committee today only after she was subpoenaed.

When MLAs ask for information, a government lawyer whispers in her ear and she refuses to to update us. Only December figures will be discussed. She was defiant and when asked about the situation, she made a reference to “political foolishness.”

And she is right. Of course, a senior bureaucrat should not be put in this position.

The premier of Nova Scotia or his finance minister should give us the update. But Rodney MacDonald is running scared with his fragile minority government.

So he hides behind a bureaucrat who he instructs not to talk.

That shows real guts and conviction, Rodney. Especially in this tough economic environment.

You are a poor leader. And an even poorer example.

No wonder Nova Scotia respect you less with each passing day.

Joe Howe is rolling in his grave.