Angry in the Great White North

Blair Wilson resigned from the Liberal Party caucus after serious allegations concerning his personal and electoral financial dealings were reported in The Province.

In particular, one of the allegations had to do with how campaign manager Elizabeth Wood was paid:

Wood made other -- undocumented -- allegations. She said that on three occasions Wilson and his supporters paid her cash for services she wanted to submit receipts for to the official agent.

The first instance, she claims, was after a meeting with Wilson, Rowe and Vilas at Rowe's office in Sechelt just before Wilson fired her. She claims that as she left the office she was asked to get into the van Wilson was driving. While he sat in front, she says, Vilas paid her a month and a half's salary she was owed in cash. She alleges he also asked "what else she wanted" before she got out.

"That was my first indication there was something wrong with the money part. You don't pay cash for things," Wood said.

In the second instance, she alleges Vilas came to her home and left about $400 for her that she was owed for wooden sign stakes she had bought. She explained she had submitted the expenses to the official agent. She claims Vilas told her this was the way she would be paid.

The problem is that in January 2006, Elizabeth Wood told a less sensational version of the story:

But, in a taped interview Jan. 17, 2006, with 24 hours' Public Eye, Wood told a somewhat different story. Asked whether an incident similar to the one described in The Province happened, Wood said, "That sounds very skulduggery. No."

And questioned if she had ever been presented with an "envelope of money in a van or outside a van or anywhere near a van," Wood responded, "No. No. I was paid by the month by cheque by the party through the riding association. And I was paid $1,000 a month."

Wood hasn't responded to a phone call requesting clarification.

This part of the story was just one small part, so I don't think we'll see the entire set of allegations against Blair Wilson come apart. But I think we ought to know the details of why Elizabeth Wood's story has changed.

Why? There are any number of reasons why she is telling two versions of the story, and the reasons might in part have to do with which version of the story is true. But if the reason turns out to be political -- political pressure to protect Wilson convinced Wood to tell one version in 2006, or political pressure to destroy Wilson prompted Wood to tell a very different version in 2007 -- we might see more politicians and people who move in political circles embroiled in this story.

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