Angry in the Great White North

From the Globe and Mail, tracking the testimony of Daniel Dezainde at the Gomery Inquiry today:

Daniel Dezainde, who was the director-general of the Liberal Quebec wing in 2001, says he was introduced to a friend of Alfonso Gagliano and was told he was "the real boss," the Gomery inquiry heard Wednesday Mr. Dezainde said Benoît Corbeil, his predecessor, introduced him to Joe Morselli, a close friend and organizer of Mr. Gagliano.

Mr. Dezainde said he was told Mr. Morselli was "the real boss" and advised not to antagonize him. Mr. Dezainde said he was baffled because Mr. Morselli had no official title.

Don't antagonize him? Yikes!

The mob connections that have been hinted at are coming to the fore, just in time for an election. Of course, I'm making the mob connection on my own here. I'm doing it on the basis of Italian names of the Alphonso Gagliano and Giuseppe (Joe) Morselli, and the fact that Mr. Morselli was the target of a car bomb in 1989 (hat tip to Brent Colbert).

I guess that would make me a Klansman in the eyes of Immigration Minister Joe Volpe. Whatever.

Back to Mr. Morselli. He certainly thought of himself as the boss:

Mr. Dezainde said Mr. Morselli gave himself the title of VP finance committee and put it on a business card with party logo. He said Mr. Wasjman similarly gave himself business cards with the title "assistant director of operations."

Maybe it was justified:

Mr. Dezainde also [said] public works minister Alfonso Mr. Gagliano, who was the party's top politicalorganizer for Quebec, had told him that if he had any "needs" he should talk either to Mr. Morselli or to the minister's chief of staff, Jean-Marc Bard.

Mr. Dezainde he also discovered that the Quebec wing had racked up tens of thousands of dollars in its accounts payable, including $48,000 in unpaid rent.

The party's financial officers “were swamped with calls from unpaid suppliers.”

He said he got in touch with Mr. Morselli, mindful of Mr. Gagliano's advice.

Mr. Morselli took on the role of fixer, and Mr. Dezainde felt sidelined:

At lunch at Frank, he was told by Mr. Morselli to send him the bills “so he can determine what can be paid, and when.”

“Not only you didn't know where the money came from but you no longer had the ability to manage your organization. So what's the point of being there?” Mr. Dezainde said.

What's the point of having campaign funding laws? What's the point of having elections?

Now the question is: what came first, the corruption or the mob ties?