Committee requesting more information, says Miltenberger
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Nov 03/00) - Disclosure of a legal opinion has done little to resolve a dispute over a territorial government official's role in the federal election campaign.
 Michael Miltenberger |
It "points to the fact that cabinet has broken its own legislation and haven't bothered to check on whether their employment contract stands legal scrutiny," he said.
At the centre of the dispute is the government's chief of staff, Lynda Sorensen. A long-time assistant to Premier Stephen Kakfwi, Sorensen is chairing the campaign of Liberal candidate Ethel Blondin-Andrew.
Not all MLAs agree with Miltenberger's view of the legal opinion or the legality of Sorensen's role in the campaign.
Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee , a lawyer, believes "the opinion does not provide evidence that cabinet has broken its own laws."
Lee is also involved in the Liberal campaign and Sorensen was also a central figure in Lee's campaign to get elected to the territorial government.
Lee said she did not discuss the issue with the chief of staff, who is on an unpaid leave of absence. Asked if Sorensen had influenced her to speak to the issue in the assembly, she replied, "Absolutely not." Lee said she spoke to dispel any notion that Miltenberger's views were the views of all regular MLAs.
Miltenberger said his views are shared by enough regular MLAs to keep the issue alive.
"The Accountability and Oversights Committee (composed of all regular MLAs) has agreed that this is something that they're interested in and want to get some answers on," said Miltenberger.
He said the committee has written to the premier asking for more information on the chief of staff position -- such as pay ranges, benefits and duties -- to clarify the situation.
Apart from Miltenberger's tabling of the legal opinion yesterday, Lee was the only person to raise the issue.
That was not the situation Wednesday, when Premier Stephen Kakfwi repeatedly challenged Miltenberger to table the legal opinion.
Kafkwi refused to answer questions about the document until it was made public.
Miltenberger took exception to the premier's statement the previous day that there is not and never has been a job description for the position of executive assistant.
The Thebacha MLA produced a nine-page job description of the job in the Ministerial Administrative Procedures Handbook.
