PAROLE JUSTICE AND THE BALLAD OF MICHAEL RITTER: "I GET OUT WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS."

Ritter

Ritter (L), stacks of cash, and Carter (R)

Michael Peter Ritter is a white collar criminal in his early fifties from Edmonton. He is a thief, a fraudster, and money launderer. Just how bad a guy he is can be gleaned from reading these pieces: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/insight/story.html?id=8269fb3e-ca94-4f14-844f-fade85722942
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-man-who-could-make-money-disappear/article1319486/

Ritter was a wealth manager when the gendarmes finally caught on to him. Like many in the wealth management game he was intelligent, cool, and glib. As people were to discover he was also a nonpareil liar. He lied about having a law degree. He lied about finishing his studies at the London School of Economics. He lied about being admitted to Gray’s Inn for English barristers. He lied about being an intern in the House of Lords Legal division. He lied about attending the University of Geneva and he lied about having been an advisor to the Swiss Bankers Association. And all of that happened years before he got into his legal quagmire at which time he began to tell more lies.

Those early lies about his experience and education helped him wangle a job in the hapless Don Getty Progressive Conservative government in 1988. He conned Getty’s motley crew into making him chief parliamentary counsel to the speaker of the Alberta Legislative Assembly – one of the qualifications for which was that the applicant had to be a lawyer. The speaker in those days was the very pious appearing – and, as it turned out, fabulously naïve - Anglican man of the cloth by the name of David Carter, now happily retired and living somewhere in the Cypress Hills.

The job description for Ritter’s governmental post included advising the Alberta government on parliamentary procedure, constitutionality of legislation, conflicts of interest, and alleged improprieties of members. During his tenure, he took the position that the government and the speaker could do anything they wanted to do – even when it came to roughing up reporters. The Tories loved him. He was one of their true blue enforcers. He could do no wrong. In 1993 with his patron Carter’s retirement from government and politics Ritter followed suit, and soon began his sordid career as a wealth manager.

Law enforcement officials began looking into his affairs in the summer of 2002 and in October of 2003 he was indicted on several fraud related charges in Los Angeles that could have landed him in jail for life. He spent the next four years trying to fight off his tormenters by using every legal and illegal trick in the book – including arranging for a false passport under an erroneous name. Finally, on October 27, 2006 in an Edmonton courtroom he pleaded guilty to stealing 10.5 million bucks from one client, and of engaging in a Ponzi scheme that bilked 6500 investors out of 270 million dollars. He chose to cop out in Canada to avoid further prosecution in the U.S. where, had he been extradited and convicted there, he knew he would be spend a hell of a lot more jail time than in Canada. Once Canada got the guilty plea, the Americans folded their tent.

Much of the dough he made off with was the life savings of little people of modest means. He blew the money on lawyers, his pals, rich kids’ toys - like two private planes and a sky box for Edmonton Oilers games - and more of the good life. In other words he spent the money on himself. For a brief accounting of some of his expenditures and tastes read:
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/insight/story.html?id=8269fb3e-ca94-4f14-844f-fade85722942

Surprisingly, some of his old government pals even tried to help him out by submitting character references to the court in an effort to get the Judge to go easy on him. Among them were Tory ex-minister Jim Horsman, ex-speaker Carter, and, oddly enough, even two former NDP leaders, Ray Martin and Pam Barrett. The judge that heard the case took the joint advice of the prosecutor and defence counsel, and sent the charlatan to the big house for ten years. So far so good.

However, about four months ago, the National Parole Board – now stacked with Tory and Conservative friends of Stephen – paroled Ritter. He had served a meager 18 months in a minimum-security prison for his dastardly deeds. Not only that, even though at his sentencing Ritter agreed to help track down the money he had filched so as there would be some restitution to his victims, not a dime has been forthcoming. Despite all of the aggravating circumstances the Board followed its policy of releasing non-violent offenders who have served only one-sixth of their time. After 18 months of jail time Ritter is free - free to wheel his Jaguar around town and live in baronial splendour in expensive three storey digs replete with a home theatre and cherry wood humidor, and plan his next move.

The case raises many issues and concerns. To say that the case is a sad reflection on the Canadian parole system under the Harper government is an understatement. The parole board gave him kid glove treatment for serious crimes that deserved real and prolonged punishment. Also, following in the tradition of Alan Eagleson, Conrad Black, David Radler and most recently Peter Pocklington, the prosecutions emerged not in Canada but in the United States once again for the reason that Canada lacks the resources to go after white collar criminals.

Then there is the curious case of David Carter. In most circles Carter was and is a well-respected Anglican clergyman. However as a speaker, his tenure was not applauded by the opposition. Too often he appeared to be pedantic, condescending and unduly critical of the opposition’s attempts at keeping the government honest. The fact that he worked with Ritter for so long without suspecting his mendacity is astonishing; that he would submit a character reference for the scoundrel after he more than others were lied to and misled by Ritter is even more strange.

But that’s not all. In 2001 Carter had his picture taken together with Ritter and a kitchen counter full of $20 bills. The money is thought to be all or part of $400,000 fraudulently scooped by one of Ritter’s clients and then given to Ritter for deposit into a Swiss bank account. Carter acknowledges that he helped Ritter take the money to Switzerland but was not suspicious about the trip because, “Wasn’t my business.” When he was asked what his reaction would be if he knew that the goal of the Swiss deposit was to evade taxes, the ordained Anglican priest said, “Hey, . . . that’s been going on for decades.”

That Carter exercised poor judgment in his dealings with Ritter is obvious. His blithe and reckless attitude towards what Ritter was doing with the money is either fabulously naïve, profoundly stupid, staggeringly arrogant, or stunningly and abominably amoral. Perhaps it is all of those things.

HOT OFF THE PRESS: PETER PUCK IS IN THE SLAMMER

Assets? Assets? I have no assets.

Well, well, well. Just when I was running out of ideas. Just as I was suffering from writer’s block. Just when this bloody depression was really starting to get me down, along comes a truly inspiring news item to get the juices flowing.

Yesterday the ex-Canadian and rip-off connoisseur Peter Pocklington was taken from his luxurious digs in Palm Desert by ten armed FBI agents. His destination? The slammer located in the gritty mean streets of Riverside California. He is under arrest and facing charges for bankruptcy fraud. See:
http://ca.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idCATRE52A73N20090312?sp=true

The whole episode scared the hell out of his long-suffering, loyal and faithful 87 year-old mother Eileen who was visiting with Pocklington and his wife at the time. The old girl said “We were still in bed, they broke the lock and came in. . . . There was 10 of them . . . . I heard all this banging, I think, ‘What on earth are the neighbours doing?’ Bang, bang, bang. . . . Little did I know.” She added that she had no idea her boy was in trouble. She said, “I just couldn’t believe, never in my life would I ever believe. . . . He has always been fine.” Yes, yes. Dear me. Ahem.

It must have been all of that bad company that led her misunderstood boy astray. Guys like Gretzky, I suppose, or Marc Messier. Poor kid. And she had such high hopes for him. She said young Peter – age 67 - told her when she got off the plane for her visit that he was all excited about “another big deal, I forget what country.” Indeed.
See: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Oilers+owner+Pocklington+charged+with+fraud/1378333/story.html
With Pocklington obviously believing, much like fellow ex-Canadian in a U.S. jail Conrad Black, that ordinary laws applied to ordinary people and that he was anything but ordinary, prosecutors say Pocklington recently made an assignment in bankruptcy attesting to 20 million in debts and – get this – 3000 measly bucks in assets. The gendarmes now accuse Pocklington of hiding bank accounts, assets in offshore companies, and spinning off art and fine furniture to his buddies, all of which he failed to mention in his sworn declarations. Last year a bankruptcy trustee was chasing him for about 300 grand that he allegedly received from auctioning some of his sports memorabilia from his glory days as Edmonton Oilers’ Peter Puck.

With any luck the outcome of his current tribulations could be the last we hear from this lamentable weasel and welcher on commitments to our government, his creditors, and even children. See: http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/10/peter-puck-welches-on-commitment-to.html

For further information on this sterling character see: http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081219.rmpuck1218/BNStory/Business

The former candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party and – as the much missed tiny perfect scandal sheet Frank Magazine used to say – 'shameless self promoter', will be behind bars in his orange jump suit until his trial if the prosecutors have their way.

As to the self-promotion and philosophy of this paragon of rectitude his website makes for interesting reading. See: http://www.peterpocklington.com/

The burning question now is will the welching, narcissist Pocklington join Conrad Black and David Radler among the ex-directors of the Fraser Institute who are also convicted felons? The Institute also boasts among its current ranks senior policy analyst, disgraced Harper speech-writer and admitted plagiarist, Dr. Owen Lippert.

PETER PUCK WELCHES ON A COMMITMENT TO KIDS

Peter Puck (on the left) with unknown acquaintance (on the right)

For years, Peter Pocklington was a legendary figure in Edmonton. To say he was high profile is an understatement. He cultivated the image of a swashbuckling entrepreneur. He was a cocky car dealer, real estate developer, meat packing house owner, promoter of right wing causes, candidate for the leadership of the National Progressive Conservative Party and above all, publicity-crazed owner of the Edmonton Oilers during the legendary Gretzky years. Edmontonians and the sporting world affectionately called him ‘Peter Puck.’

On Sunday the Edmonton Journal published a sad and pathetic story about Peter Puck who for some years now has been living in California. The story tells of Pocklington welching on a commitment he made to junior high school students during the time he was still a leading citizen in Edmonton. See: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=e1e4ab9d-75f0-4251-af64-161fbec42b24&p=1

The story goes that in 1997 Pocklington promised to pay university or college tuition for all Grade nine students of the inner city McCauley Junior High School who attained an average of 80% or better and who decided to go to university or college when they had completed their high school studies. He even shook the hands of the students who had qualified and gave each of them a certificate and Edmonton Oiler jersey.

Pocklington said he decided that McCauley students should be the ones to receive his largesse because he knew parents of children in that school could ill-afford to pay for their children’s university or college education.

Boe Lefebvre, now 26, was one of those students. He couldn’t believe his good fortune. He said “All throughout junior high, I knew I wanted to be on the list. For my parents, it was a huge weight off their back because there was no way they could pay for my education." Boe graduated from high school and enrolled at college. He fulfilled his end of the bargain. He racked up a total student loan of $11000 while at college. He is now married, operates a business and is working on a degree.

Alas, it has now been the better part of a decade that Boe has put the arm on Pocklington to pay up. So far, there has been not a hint of the green stuff crossing Boe’s palms. There have been sporadic communications between the two and some promises to pay, but still no bread.

Another young man who got stiffed was Sam Ngai. Sam was philosophical about it saying, “I wasn’t so much mad as disappointed, but I guess that’s life.”

When contacted about the matter Pocklington said that he had left some money with the Alberta Treasury Branch to administer the program, but the guy in charge had left. In Peter Puck’s words, "That is the last I know about it. That was 13 years ago, and normally, there is an end to these type of things."

Although Boe’s attempts to get Puck to honor his commitment have not yielded results he seems to be willing to continue the fight. He says “I knew this was going to be a longshot from the get-go, but in my mind, it all comes down to principle.”

By the way, until recently the famed Peter Puck was a director of the Fraser Institute. You remember the Fraser Institute, shurely. It promotes that hard right flim-flam about the perfection of markets, deregulation, rugged individualism, laissez-faire economics and other Aynrandian voodoo which is gospel to much of the business establishment. Why, the Calgary Herald even puts more stock in its studies than it does in the collected works of Stockwell Day.

As I have earlier pointed out in my musings the famed Institute has or has had among its real or wannabe fat cats, former directors and convicted felons, Conrad Black and David Radler, and senior policy analyst and admitted plagiarist Dr. Owen Lippert. Now the former director and welcher Peter Puck joins this distinguished company.

PRESTON MANNING WANTS GEORGE W. BUSH TO MANAGE THE CANADIAN ECONOMY

Fraser Institute political hack, Preston Manning

Canada's George W. Bush (on the left) with the real thing (on the right)

Preston Manning’s column of this today’s Globe and Mail asks the question: Who would be the best person at the helm of the ship of state as Canada heads into stormy economic seas?

After giving short shrift to Elizabeth May ( “ . .weak, terribly weak, on the economy.”), Jack Layton (“ . . . cut from the same cloth” as “economic disasters . . Bob Rae and Dave Barrett”), Stephane Dion (Dion’s degrees from university “are in political science and sociology – adequate preparation for salon politics but not for economic crises.”) - - surprise, surprise, he recommends his fellow arch-conservative and prodigy Stephen Harper.

Manning these days spends much of his time beating the drum for conservative causes. He remains a Fellow of the Fraser Institute.

You know the Fraser Institute, don’t you? It is that political arm of the Conservative Party that masquerades as a think tank. Amongst its former trustees are convicted felons David Radler and Conrad Black, both of whom helped to fund it. A former Fellow is Dr. Owen Lippert, an admitted plagiarist and patsy who fed Stephen Harper his Commons speech urging that Canada join George W. Bush in invading Iraq. Another Fellow of the Institute is that genius that brought Health Care in Alberta to its knees. Yes, Ralph Klein is also a Fellow of the Institute.

It is the same organization that has recently hosted George W. Bush’s political guru Karl Rove in two expensive dinners in Toronto and Calgary so that they could listen intently about what a great success his boss’s Presidency has been.

Yes, Manning actually believes that Stephen Harper is the best man to lead our country as the economy goes into the tank.

But think about this. Harper is an unabashed cheerleader for Bush and has been during all of the dark Bush era. Whether it was supporting the war in Iraq, mindlessly supporting the lost cause in Afghanistan, sticking a finger in the eye of China, supporting a disastrous course in the Middle East, or telling the Canadian people that the fundamentals of the economy are strong as we headed towards the abyss, Harper has been Canada’s George W. Bush.

And now Manning is telling the Canadian people that they should support Canada’s George W. Bush to manage the Canadian economy! That’s like putting the inmates in charge of the asylum.

Preston Manning is a neocon Reform/Alliance hack, and has been since his first foray into the federal arena. His advice is not only worthless, it is downright dangerous!

THE FRASER INSTITUTE INVITES YOU TO AN EVENING WITH 'TURD BLOSSOM'

Turd Blossom

Former Trustee Conrad Black

Former Trustee David Radler

Yesterday I had a big surprise. I received an invitation to a reception and dinner from the far right wing Fraser Institute, the Calgary Herald's think tank of choice. The event will be held on September 24th at a tony downtown Calgary Art Gallery. The guests will be treated to a lecture by Karl Rove.

Rove, you will recall, until last year was the loyal and faithful servant of President George W. Bush. He served as the President's Deputy Chief of Staff, and headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. Despite these lofty positions he has been described as 'Bush's Brain,' - not exactly a complement. In fact, Rove is a university dropout. He did attend university for a time - long enough to get draft deferrals until the draft ended in June of 1973.

His boss the President, showing the privileged and Ivy League class for which he is so famous, calls him 'Turd Blossom.' For his part, Rove describes the President as "one of the most intellectually gifted presidents we've had."

Throughout the greater part of Bush II's political career as Governor of Texas and President of the United States, Rove has been his closest political advisor. Thus he has been in on all of the great decisions - like going to war in Iraq and the public misinformation initiative that was its foundation, the woeful lack of preparation for rebuilding Iraq after the invasion, paying little more than lip-service to the war against the Taliban, the feeble response to Hurricane Katrina, public policy that has brought about the near bankruptcy of the United States, the wink-wink approach to torture and rendition, and foreign policy that resulted in the plummeting of American influence throughout the world. And that is only a partial list of the catastrophes of the Bush II years.

Rove's political gifts however, are not something to sneer at. He is an expert in smear tactics and dirty tricks. Rove the draft dodger has been given credit for labelling 1972 Democratic candidate for President George McGovern as a "left-wing peacenik" notwithstanding McGovern's stellar World War II service as a B-24 pilot. Rove has been accused of masterminding a telephone poll to voters in the Texas Gubernatorial contest between Bush II and Democrat Ann Richards, wherein the people being polled were asked if they would be more or less likely to vote for Richards if they knew that her staff was 'dominated by lesbians.'

He has been accused of doing the same thing in the 2000 Republican Primary in South Carolina, a contest between George W. Bush and John McCain. The telephone pollsters asked the question if they were more or less likely to vote for John McCain for president 'if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child."

During his long stint at the President's side, Rove had been up to his neck in other allegations -like being instrumental in the outing of Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative, dismissing U.S. federally appointed attorneys for failing to prosecute democrats, and being involved in the 'swiftboating' of John Kerry's military service during the Viet Nam war.

So Mr. Rove is the guest speaker at the dinner to which I was invited. Oh, yes, I almost forgot. If I were to go it is not for free. Tickets are $500 per individual, $900 per couple and $5000 for a table of ten. Mr. Rove does not come cheap these days. However, probably unbeknownst to the Fraserites in Toronto, he comes cheaper in Calgary. On September 23 in Toronto, the Bay Street Harperite cheerleaders will pay $700 for one ticket, $1300 a couple and $7000 for a table of ten. I guess the recent downturn of oil prices from $150 a barrel to $120 or so prompted the better Calgary deal.

The Fraser Institute is a registered charity with Revenue Canada. It is a rabid proponent of competitive markets, less government spending and regulation, less gun restrictions, more privatisation of government services and more private medicine. It opposes government involvement in global warming. Two of its illustrious former members of its Board of Trustees are Conrad Black and David Radler formerly of Hollinger fame, and presently indisposed. The current Board is comprised primarily of Canadian captains of industry, past and present. Among speakers at Institute functions in the coming months are former Socred Preston Manning, fallen Premier Ralph Klein, failed magazine publisher Ezra Levant, and Harper eminence grise Tom Flanagan. Just so you know.

As for me, I'm skipping the Rove banquet.