Toast!

My neigbour Senator D Head is back in the news. Seems his tarnished reputation has been tarnished even more. March 11, 2011, he was found GUILTY of fraud and breach of trust. Some say he's toast but it doesn't look that way to me. The judge said Lavigne "committed a false and dishonest act" when he requested $12,365 in expense claims for travel made by a former staffer, to whom he paid only $2,700 (Lavigne cheaped out by giving his staffer $50 for each of the 54 return trips from Ottawa to Montreal, instead of the $217 he was owed (with the senator still claiming the full expenses as his own) I wonder who bought coffee?

Seems another "aide" Daniele Cote testifed that Lavigne did the same thing with him. Mr. cheapskate Lavigne was convicted of breach of trust for directing Cote to cut down trees on Neil and Carol Faulkners property next door. The reason the senator did this was so he wouldn't have to pay the going cost for having hydro poles extended to his own property. I guess this gives a whole new meaning to "small town cheap?". I witnessed Lavigne using his research assistant "bouncer" to do odd jobs around his flood plain property by cutting grass and intimidating anyone (including me and the media) who even went by his property in a canoe. I witnessed the Senator and his wife throwing tantrums and stones at river passerbyers and his famous bumming incidents. So much for public trust! Thank goodness he kept his pants on.

The fact that Lavigne wasn't found guilty of obstruction of justice is an injustice in itself. He now faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for fraud and 5 years for breach of trust. His office and travel budgets have been suspended. He continues to receive his annual paycheque of $132,300 and has billed for $315,355 in office and travel expenses since 2007. I've barely made that much money in my whole life!. Apparently Stephen Harper would be glad to see him thrown out so the PM can install his own Montreal area senator and no doubt, start the whole sordid process all over again. Do I sound cynical and angry? - you bet your sweet bippy I am.

The court and investigators say that this reaffirms that no one is above the law and they'll have to answer to their acts eventually. Yeah right. As I look out my window while writing this, I notive the senator is comfy at home with a cozy fire burning. Like myself, he has no work to do but unlike myself, he collects $132K a year for doing this. The senator told a neighbor that I was jealous because he picked up a prime peice of riverfront for a song. I'm not jealous because I have good friendly relationships with all my neighbors. This does however, reaffirm for me, that life is not fair and maybe karmic law is just a sad cosmic joke. Look who laughing now?