EDMONTON, AB (December 16, 2015): Premier Rachel Notley must ask her new “outreach manager” and NDP Provincial Secretary Chris O’Halloran to step down from his government position after he sent out an NDP fundraising email which specifically violates the Code of Conduct and Ethics for the Public Service of Alberta, Wildrose Shadow Accountability Minister Jason Nixon said today.
A day after O’Halloran’s new taxpayer-funded patronage post was made public, an email was sent out under his name to all NDP party supporters asking for political contributions for the NDP. The email clearly violates section 15 (1) (a) of the Code of Conduct and Ethics for the Public Service of Alberta which strictly prohibits government employees from soliciting political donations.
“It looks like the only outreach management this new post is designed for is to try and boost the NDP’s party coffers,” Nixon said. “There were serious ethical issues about this hire, but now we have a clear violation of the code of conduct. You can’t have the sitting NDP party provincial secretary shaking down Albertans for donations while he is being paid to do outreach on behalf of the government. The premier must have him step down from his government position immediately.”
This isn’t the first time that O’Halloran and the NDP have blurred the lines between the premier’s office and political fundraising. In November, the NDP were caught trying to sell access to the provincial cabinet for $250 a ticket and O’Halloran apologized for the inappropriate fundraising.
“The old NDP used to understand why this was wrong, but now that they are in government things have changed,” Nixon said. “Albertans have every right to be deeply disappointed in the behaviour of this NDP government.”