[ISL] "Mike Duffy emails show he wanted 'P.E.I.-isms' added to statement"

[rfmcdonald]

The Charlottetown Guardian's Teresa Wright reports on the almost pathetic attempts of Mike Duffy to cloak himself in Prince Edward Island culture on the eve of his disgrace.

Calling himself the ‘Old Duff,’ who would “never knowingly fiddle anything,” suspended Senator Mike Duffy purposely inserted “P.E.I.-isms” in his February 2013 statements when he made the bogus announcement he would repay his housing expenses, court documents show.

But emails entered into evidence in the ongoing criminal trial of the Island’s embattled senator now reveal Duffy’s statements that day were anything but spontaneous.

They were carefully scripted, with each detail anxiously negotiated between Duffy’s lawyer and numerous high-ranking officials in the prime minister’s office.

[. . .]

One email indicates Duffy asked for revisions of a statement drafted by PMO staffer Chris Woodcock, asking for more colloquial language for his P.E.I. audience.