Williams brings minister back into N.L. cabinet

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams returned a politician to cabinet Monday, only four days after asking him to step aside because of alleged irregularities in his constituency allowance.

John Hickey steppeddown as transportation minister last Thursday when Williams learned that Auditor General John Noseworthy was reviewing why there were double billings of about $3,770withinHickey's claims.

Williams's comments came on the same day that Noseworthy identified Hickey and Kathy Goudie, the Tory MHA for Humber Valley, as having been party to double-billing through their constituency allowances.

Both Hickey and Goudie said accounting errors were to blame. Hickey repaid his debt last week, and Goudie said late Monday afternoon she would repay the $3,818 cited in Noseworthy's report.

Calling financial controls at the legislature "a mess," Williams said he has advised Speaker Harvey Hodder to order a stop on issuing new cheques from the legislature while new controls are developed.

"We as MHAs are responsible for ensuring that our claims are as accurate as possible. However, I would also say that I feel very strongly that the system has failed many of our MHAs," Williams said.

Affidavits obtained from staff

Williams said financial staff from the legislature have come forward to say they were given assurances that any errors would be caught by senior staff.

"I've got affidavits here from staff members who are basically saying they were lulled into a false sense of security. There's nearly an entrapment type of a situation here."

Athird Tory politician said he had been contacted by the auditor generalinvolving questions regarding double-billingof his constituency allowance.

Terry French, the Progressive Conservative representative for the district of Conception Bay South, said Noseworthy informed him of problems on Sunday.

French said he mistakenly double-billed his expenses by about $1,900 over the last five years.

"It was by no means and I stress that any intention to steal or rob or take anything from the provincial government," French told CBC News.

"It was just an unfortunate incident."

French contacted CBC News and other media outlets on Sunday, in part to explain his role in what he had expected would be the publication of his name in Noseworthy's report.

French not named in final report

However, Noseworthy did not include French in the report made public Monday afternoon. Noseworthy said he accepted French's explanation.

French said the issue is simply the result of sloppy accounting. Most of the duplicate billings were for sums less than $100 and the largest was for about $400.

French said he will pay back every cent. "I just hope that the people realize that this is, you know, certainly not an intentional thing," French said.

Noseworthy said he could not determine whether the mistakes in the cases of Hickey and Goudie were mistakes or were deliberate.

"I don't know why these would've happened. I think that somebody should look at that and determine howthis happened or whythis happened," he told reporters.

Last year, an earlier phase of Noseworthy's investigation named five politicians from three parties as having received dramatically more from their constituency allowances than they were entitled.

A report in June prompted Williams to remove Ed Byrne from cabinet as natural resources minister. Byrne subsequently quit politics altogether.

Williams, who stressed last week that the investigation involving Hickey was altogether different than that of the excess payments of constituency allowances, expressed frustration with how information from Noseworthy's office is being released.

In an interview published Saturday in the St. John's Telegram, Williams said he could call an election early over the issue, although he said that is highly unlikely. A provincial law requires the next general election to be held Oct. 9.