Nobody said it was going to be easy, but Peter Donolo’s first official week as Chief of Staff to Michael Ignatieff is off to what could only be generously described as a “rocky start”:
Did the Ignatieff Liberals really plant one of their own to complain on national television about the shortage of vaccine? … The staffer in question is Mark Sakamoto, formerly a lawyer with the CBC. He is one of Mr. Ignatieff’s senior strategists and part of the so-called Toronto gang who have been with him since 2006.
Now, granted, it would be unrealistic to expect Mr. Donolo to immediately impose discipline on absolutely everyone within a few short days. But Mr. Sakamoto’s indiscretion wasn’t an isolated incident:
Not only are people upset over the CBC piece but also over a note sent by Liberal Party President Alfred Apps late yesterday, comparing the H1N1 controversy to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
And, yes, it is possible for that letter from Mr. Apps to have been in the hopper before Mr. Donolo’s arrival. But, unfortunately, it didn’t end there:
New Conservative slogan–“Pork before Swine” #lpc #cdnpoli #roft
So what we have here is a pattern. Three high-ranking Ignatieff staffers; who all predate Mr. Donolo, having been with Ignatieff since his return from Harvard. With three independent outbursts, all playing politics with the same issue.
Or are they?
This is the type of thing Mr. Donolo was supposedly brought in to put a stop to. At least that is what we were led to believe…
Which raises two important questions:
- Is the gang that has been around Ignatieff from the beginning essentially declaring Mr. Donolo a lame-duck, flaunting his new found authority and continuing with business as usual? or;
- Was Mr. Donolo’s installation nothing more than a PR exercise designed to give cover to the same-old smear tactics we’ve come to expect from the Ignatieff Liberals?
I think it’s fair to say that we deserve an answer.
The Libs and media are suffering from Whine Flu!
So let’s clear up a few things that you have wrong, shall we?
Alf Apps and Rocco Rossi don’t report to the Chief of Staff of the Office of the Leader of the Opposition. Mr. Donolo does not have any authority over what these gentleman do. It is misleading and false to suggest otherwise.
The brief clip of Mr. Sakamoto is not complete, and we have no idea whether or not he identified his LPC affiliations to the reporter interviewing him. As a parent of an infant, he did qualify for the vaccine, and unless you have evidence that he and his wife left the line after being interviewed, the suggestion that he was a “plant” is spurious.
Mr. Apps’ letter was not an official release from the Liberal Party of Canada. While it may have been unrealistic to assume that an email sent to Liberal friends would remain private, it was not intended for the general public. In his email, Mr. Apps expressed (perhaps in unfortunate terms) the frustration that many Canadian’s are feeling in regards to the Government’s mishandling of the H1N1 vaccination program. This is hardly politicizing the issue.
Finally, the Conservative Government has spent significantly more money telling Canadians about all the great things they have done with our tax dollars than they have telling Canadians the facts about H1N1. While you may not like Mr. Rossi’s tweet on the subject, it has basis in fact.
And, for the record, it is not fair to suggest that you deserve anything from the LPC or the OLO in regards to Mr. Donolo or its staff, especially when the conclusions you are drawing are based on half-truths and faulty logic.