More like this, please

No `gravy train,' Gomery says

The judicial investigation of the sponsorship scandal won't be turned into a "gravy train" for lawyers representing the Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc Qu?b?cois, Justice John Gomery warned yesterday.

The Quebec judge, who was already planning to pay a total of about $1.5 million to counsel for the political parties to allow them to take part in the public hearings, reacted testily to requests for even more money.

Complaining about the mountain of documents that must be digested to understand what happened in the seven-year sponsorship affair, lawyers for the three parties told Gomery yesterday they couldn't properly represent their clients without an increase in fees.

The new requests from the Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc would triple the bill for their lawyers to more than $4.5 million, Gomery estimated.

"It would be easy for me to say sure, everybody gets on the gravy train, everybody is going to be able to have as much money as they would like to have to be represented here," he said.

"But I think there is a certain responsibility to keep expenses down to a reasonable level."

Gomery, whose 18-month inquiry is budgeted at more than $20 million, is sensitive to the irony of devoting large amounts of taxpayers' money to find out what happened to the millions in federal cash. "If a lawyer is engaged by a rich client, I think the lawyer's bill is inevitably higher than if the lawyer is engaged by a poor client ... "I don't want counsel in this case to think that they are acting for a rich client. This commission is not a rich commission," he added, saying he must haggle with federal officials "for each and every penny that is spent."

After startling the lawyers present by suggesting that the fee demands might force him to change his mind and bar the parties' counsel from taking part in the commission hearings, Gomery said he would review their requests and issue a decision later.

Good for Justice Gomery. This inquiry isn't about protecting the interests of the political parties or providing ammunition for one party to use against another. The overriding interest to be protected and defended here is yours and mine: the taxpayer's. If the politicos don't like it, let 'em watch from the sidelines like everyone else.