How Much for Harper's Make-Up?

[jdobbin]

Well, thanks for clearing that mess up. Gotta remember clothes - not ok, image -ok. Got it.

I think what Harper was really saying to Manning was taxpayer money...okay. Party money...not okay.

[Fortunata]

I think what Harper was really saying to Manning was taxpayer money...okay. Party money...not okay.

That's our new government. Honest, ethical and principled. Gee, kinda makes you wonder what would happen if they weren't.

[Michael Bluth]

That's our new government. Honest, ethical and principled. Gee, kinda makes you wonder what would happen if they weren't.

They'd divert $1.14 Million in taxpayer money to their friends. Then deny it requiring a multi-million dollar judicial inquiry to uncover.

Kinda pales in comparison.

[Shakeyhands]

That's our new government. Honest, ethical and principled. Gee, kinda makes you wonder what would happen if they weren't.

They'd divert $1.14 Million in taxpayer money to their friends. Then deny it requiring a multi-million dollar judicial inquiry to uncover.

Kinda pales in comparison.

again with this? its getting old, perhaps you could ask how long this excuse will be used to cover all *new government* deficiences...

[jdobbin]

again with this? its getting old, perhaps you could ask how long this excuse will be used to cover all *new government* deficiences...

I guess it diverts from the fact that Harper needs someone to dress him and apply make-up and possibly give him some clairvoyant advice. I wonder if she saw this coming.

[Michael Bluth]

again with this? its getting old, perhaps you could ask how long this excuse will be used to cover all *new government* deficiences...

I guess it diverts from the fact that Harper needs someone to dress him and apply make-up and possibly give him some clairvoyant advice. I wonder if she saw this coming.

It will be used as long as Martin's gang of cronies is running the OLO. The Liberals aren't going to change until they get some new blood in the leadership.

OK, Harper needs somebody to help him dress and somebody who applies his makeup. Not a diversion that's just the facts. Nobody ever denied it.

Clairvoyance? That's a stretch.

[jdobbin]

That's our new government. Honest, ethical and principled. Gee, kinda makes you wonder what would happen if they weren't.

Sadly, the Conservatives denied that Harper had an image maker and made sure that evidence was not available in an ordinary search for the information.

[Michael Bluth]

Sadly, the Conservatives denied that Harper had an image maker and made sure that evidence was not available in an ordinary search for the information.

Now you are backing off your FOI falsehood. It's an "ordinary" search. Please explain.

I'm sure you won't. Easier to just provide more and more unbelievable attacks.

[jdobbin]

And here is how it all started:

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national...43ff3ba&k=82287

After two days of ducking media and opposition questions, the Conservatives finally revealed Wednesday that Michelle Muntean is on Harper's government staff. But the revelation raises two more big questions: How much is she being paid? And why is there no government record of her employment.

However, there is no record of Muntean as an employee of the Prime Minister's Office, according to an official at the Privy Council Office. And an Access to Information request turned up no record of contracts paid out to Muntean.

It is unacceptable that Canadian taxpayers can't find the expense from regular freedom of information access requests.

[Shakeyhands]

so, how long does it take for someone to dig up how much this womans services are costing me?

[jdobbin]

Commentary from Paul Samyn, Ottawa correspondent for the Winnipeg Free Press:

http://winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/co...p-4560684c.html

The problem with stylist Michelle Muntean being part of Harper's entourage is also not the fact she is dabbing makeup on the face of someone who once slammed Preston Manning for having a $30,000 clothing allowance when he led the Reform party.

Instead, the problem with a prime minister who sees himself as a hockey dad in touch with the values of the hard-working voters at Tim Hortons is the length he has gone to avoid coming clean about how much Muntean is being paid by taxpayers for her wardrobe and grooming services.

For a prime minister who came to power talking about the need for accountability, that is an extreme makeover that no consultant can fix.

43 days to go before it goes to Parliamentary committee.

[Michael Bluth]

It is unacceptable that Canadian taxpayers can't find the expense from regular freedom of information access requests.

So now you are back on to the FOI falsehood?

[Shakeyhands]

It is unacceptable that Canadian taxpayers can't find the expense from regular freedom of information access requests.

So now you are back on to the FOI falsehood?

Ricki, can you call Stevie and just ask him? you seem to be connected pretty well... surely this is just a trivial niggely amount of our tax dollars, it shouldn't be this big of a deal... should it?

[jdobbin]

Ricki, can you call Stevie and just ask him? you seem to be connected pretty well... surely this is just a trivial niggely amount of our tax dollars, it shouldn't be this big of a deal... should it?

It would seem the Tories don't want people to know how their tax dollars are spent.

CP press service made their request through normal freedom of information channels. Their request came up blank. After that, the PMO dodged answering for days. Finally when they revealed she was being paid by taxpayers, they said it was nobody's business what she earned.

[Michael Bluth]

can you call Stevie and just ask him? you seem to be connected pretty well... surely this is just a trivial niggely amount of our tax dollars, it shouldn't be this big of a deal... should it?

Do you have jdobbin's posts blocked? Probably smart.

There are only 43 days until it goes to committee. That's when you'll hear.

It isn't that big a deal. If it weren't for jdobbin's obsession it wouldn't even be on this board anymore.

Could somebody ask jdobbin why he persists with the FOI lie?

[jdobbin]

So where exactly does Michelle Muntean travel to with Harper?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...y/National/home

Michelle Muntean, his image adviser, was on the plane when he went to the Vimy Ridge ceremonies in France this month and the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Vietnam last year. But her expenses are not listed on federal government websites with those of the rest of the PMO staff.

Reporters who have tried to determine her exact employment status have been rebuffed.

Was she on any other flights?

[Michael Bluth]

Politics is about compromise and pragmatism.

Did Harper and Mulroney disagree in the past. Yes?

Trying to bring up the ugly history of the PC/Reform-Alliance split is yet another desperate attempt by the Liberals to sew division.

Not going to work. Even your flack boy Jim Travers at the Red Star has said so.

[jdobbin]

The view from Vancouver Island.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...56002b6&k=64151

The prime minister wasn't always so eager to alter his persona. Back in 2004, when the Conservatives hired consultant Line Maheux to advise candidates how to present themselves, she told the National Post that Harper didn't need to change his average-dad look: "Stephen gets it. He is complete substance. He considers all of that very shallow."

A decade before that, Harper even attacked his own leader, Preston Manning, for not revealing that Manning was enjoying a $31,000 clothing allowance from the party. ($31,000? You could buy 1,500 pairs of Costco jeans for that.) Funny how what Manning did was wrong, but having the taxpayers pick up the tab for an image consultant who doesn't show up on the public payroll is apparently OK.

He got it back then but doesn't now?

[madmax]

Do you have jdobbin's posts blocked? Probably smart.

There are only 43 days until it goes to committee. That's when you'll hear.

It isn't that big a deal. If it weren't for jdobbin's obsession it wouldn't even be on this board anymore.

Could somebody ask jdobbin why he persists with the FOI lie?

Greg Weston of the Toronto Sun was on Question Period on CTV today. The jist of it is, that the Conservatives brought this upon themselves. It has stuck in the media for over a week because the Conservatives have been evasive.

The Television Media know this person well and roll their eyes over the excuses and positions that the Conservatives have given this person.

She is a makeup artist and a psychic adviser.

[Fortunata]

so, how long does it take for someone to dig up how much this womans services are costing me?

It will take as long as Steve wants it to take. He's a smart boy though; he'll figure out that the longer he stonewalls the longer it will stay in the limelight. What I want to know is why her name doesn't show in employee records; why she is not shown in any of the PMO lists as traveling (or even existing). If Steve has nothing to hide then she should appear, her classification, wages and PSC approved job description should all be a matter of public record. I mean it's OUR money. Something that the Steve government, like the Libs before them, seemed to forget.

[jdobbin]

Greg Weston of the Toronto Sun was on Question Period on CTV today. The jist of it is, that the Conservatives brought this upon themselves. It has stuck in the media for over a week because the Conservatives have been evasive.

The Television Media know this person well and roll their eyes over the excuses and positions that the Conservatives have given this person.

She is a makeup artist and a psychic adviser.

Weston ain't exactly a friend of the Liberals either.

If Harper wasn't so sensitive about his image, he might have listened to his regular staff rather than rely on the make-up artist and clairvoyant.

[jdobbin]

It will take as long as Steve wants it to take. He's a smart boy though; he'll figure out that the longer he stonewalls the longer it will stay in the limelight. What I want to know is why her name doesn't show in employee records; why she is not shown in any of the PMO lists as traveling (or even existing). If Steve has nothing to hide then she should appear, her classification, wages and PSC approved job description should all be a matter of public record. I mean it's OUR money. Something that the Steve government, like the Libs before them, seemed to forget.

Harper made accountability one of his priorities. He even signed a document that he would make things more transparent. Why do we have to wait 43 days to find out how our tax money is spent?

[Michael Bluth]

It will take as long as Steve wants it to take. He's a smart boy though; he'll figure out that the longer he stonewalls the longer it will stay in the limelight.

If Steve has nothing to hide then she should appear, her classification, wages and PSC approved job description should all be a matter of public record.

Rita, good work keeping up the ignorant use of Steve.

It's only in the limelight for Harper haters like yourself, jdobbin etc...

PSC doesn't have "approved job descriptions" for PMO staff. Hence the term "exempt staff".

[jdobbin]

This article speculates why Harper can't break into majority territory. The article suggests it is Harper himself who hurts his own cause.

Trust is a big issue and somehow accountability has gotten lost when Harper can't reveal what he pays his make-up artist.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/04...4103056-cp.html

Powers says Harper is in reality closer to a "Tim Hortons dad" - albeit a Tim Hortons dad who employs a publicly funded personal image stylist and still struggles to check a notorious mean streak.

A recent case in point was when Harper sabotaged his own spate of generally positive headlines after last month's budget. He was widely criticized, even by right-leaning observers, for suggesting in question period that Liberal MPs care more for Taliban suspects detained in Afghanistan than for Canadian troops.

Public doubts about Harper linger, said David Docherty, a political scientist and dean of arts at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont.

Even Conservative insiders say their moms don't like Harper.

"My mother doesn't like him," one Conservative insider who didn't want to be named said of Harper. "I don't know, she just doesn't like him. It's something he emanates."

[geoffrey]

I'm not willing to give up on him quite yet (well, I won't vote for him, I still have some hope).

In an ideal situation, the CPC would be under better leadership. Bring in Berrrrnniee. It's only a matter of time.