In late june, newfoundland and Labrador’s auditor general, John Noseworthy, revealed that three current and one past politician had exceeded their constituency allowances by more than $1 million in total since 2002.

The salacious revelation was followed immediately by the resignation from provincial cabinet of natural resources minister Ed Byrne, who, despite having an annual constituency allowance of $31,500, claimed $358,142 in expenses.

Speculation concerning the three other unnamed individuals grew increasingly intense in the following weeks, particularly as Noseworthy had reported that the scandal touched all three political parties.

The NDP was easy. The party has only two members in the House of Assembly — and one, former leader Jack Harris, denied his involvement, which left Labrador member Randy Collins. The former United Steelworkers union boss hired a lawyer and has not been heard in public since, despite the emergence of several key Labrador issues, including takeover bids for Inco Ltd. and a strike by more than 100 Voisey’s Bay workers that shut down the nickel mine in July.

Eventually, Noseworthy fingered the two Liberals: another Labrador member, Wally Anderson, and James Walsh, who had lost his seat in the 2003 provincial election. The auditor general then referred his reports on all four individuals to the police, who will determine whether any laws have been broken.

If this wasn’t enough to drive down the stock of politicians in this province, then Goldringgate certainly did the job. Noseworthy reported that between 1999 and 2005, $2.8 million was spent in untendered contracts to buy promotional items such as lapel pins, fridge magnets and key chains — many of which, it is alleged, may not have been delivered. Included with the baubles, however, were a number of expensive items, chief among them 79 gold rings for MHAs that cost $750 each, plus tax.

Even more than the constituency allowances scandal, the cheap-looking gold rings captured the imagination of the public. Politicians of all hues spent the next few weeks either denying any knowledge of the rings or escaping to their districts, where television cameras could not follow them.

A common element in both the untendered contracts issue and the constituency allowances scandal is Bill Murray, the legislature’s former director of financial operations. Noseworthy alleges that Murray approved the overpayments to Byrne, Collins, Anderson and Walsh.

The auditor general also says that the questionable payments for promotional materials went to four companies, one of which is tied to Murray. The firm, Unique Keepsakes, received $170,000 of public money, according to Noseworthy.

Restoring public faith in politicians will not be easy, but Premier Danny Williams is game to try. In July, he asked Noseworthy to broaden his probe by examining expenditures of every elected member of the House of Assembly since 1989.

Furthermore, Williams has invited the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, Derek Green, to study the way in which politicians are paid and to recommend ways of ensuring that scandals such as the ones seen this summer are not repeated in the future.

Both reports are expected to be completed by mid-2007. IE