theBreaker.news Podcast: How B.C.'s Press Gallery bungled the Legislature corruption story

For the week of Dec. 20, 2020:

After more than two years of an RCMP investigation, two special prosecutors approved criminal charges against former B.C. Legislature Clerk Craig James: Four counts of breach of trust. Two counts of fraud over $5,000.

Journalism professor Sean Holman (OGGO)

James and Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz were escorted from the Parliament Buildings on Nov. 20, 2018. Instead of looking deep into their backgrounds, members of the Legislative Press Gallery focused on Speaker Darryl Plecas and Chief of Staff Alan Mullen, who called the Mounties to investigate corruption.

Calgary journalism professor and former Victoria Press Gallery member Sean Holman joins host Bob Mackin on this week’s edition of theBreaker.news Podcast to analyze what went wrong.

Holman and late IntegrityBC watchdog Dermod Travis uncovered James’s first scandal in 2010, when he spent $43,000 on travel as the acting chief of Elections BC.

Research Co. pollster Mario Canseco (Mackin)

“Why were individuals so skeptical about what Darryl Plecas and Alan Mullen had to say?” asked Mount Royal University’s Holman. “Why was there not more credibility and credence given to the allegations that they were making and why was there so much of an appearance of favouritism towards Craig James?”

Also, ResearchCo president Mario Canseco ponders a poll about Christmastime during the pandemic and the big stories of 2020 that will shape 2021.

Plus Pacific Northwest and Pacific Rim headlines and commentary.

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