The Most Important Thing You Don't Know About the Guergis/Jaffer Affair

We already know a lot, more than many of us want to know. Guergis and her antics, Jaffer and his run-in with the law, the shady characters he hangs with etc., etc.


We now also know of a private investigator, one Derrick (or "Derek") Snowdy, who claims to have the 'inside' dirt on the once Ottawa power couple.


Here's what you don't know but really need to learn. Who is private eye Snowdy working for and why did that client send him first to the Libs and then, when spurned, send him on to the party he apparently wanted to harm in the first place?


Snowdy has let it out that he went to the Conservatives on his client's instructions. No points at all for surmising that he first went to the Libs on that same client's instructions. Who has it so "in" for Jaffer/Guergis that he's prepared to go to these lengths for retribution.


There's no doubt about it - Snowdy is acting for someone with a very serious axe to grind. But before you can begin to evaluate this you need to know the nature of the axe and who is wielding it and why. Without those details, it's all Jello.


Snowdy's obviously a character. A guy with $12,000 in assets going bankrupt owing $13,000,000? That takes some doing. It doesn't mean he's not telling the truth but it sure as hell deserves caution.


Here's what you need to keep in mind about Mr. Snowdy. Having gone bankrupt last year just $13,000,000 shy of the $12,000 he had to his name there's something extremely unusual about Derek/Derrick Snowdy. You don't get a voluntary informant with that history every day.


But, with that recent misfortune, you can assume Mr. Snowdy isn't making the rounds in Ottawa on his own account. You can also assume Mr. Snowdy has been into this investigation for some time, long before the first whiff of it surfaced. Those contacted who professed to know Snowdy as a private investigator vouchsafe for his abilities. They say he's "top notch" and knows how to operate.


That leads to the conclusion that Mr. Snowdy has spent some considerable time on the payroll of someone interested in monitoring the activities of Mr. Jaffer or one or more of his business associates or all of them. Snowdy isn't telling or revealing all he knows and has or else he's lying right through his teeth.

The most important story may be who stands behind all this, who is picking up Mr. Snowdy's tab? That simple fact may explain more about what's going on here than any other.

UPDATE

Something else that comes to mind, questions for the prime minister. Just what information did he receive from Snowdy and under what circumstances? For example, was anything paid for what Snowdy provided? Was a promise of confidentiality extracted from Snowdy?

How can we be sure there wasn't an element of extortion in their dealings because it plainly is in the public interest to ensure that the Tories dealings with Snowdy were properly conducted. Whatever information Harper got from Snowdy was powerful enough for him to boot Guergis straight out of caucus. That sort of information might, in some circumstances, be very valuable either through its disclosure or its concealment.

The Risk of Believing Volunteer Informants

A lot of Libs, it seems, are critical of Ignatieff for spurning a private investigator offering dirt of Helena Guergis.

Take it from someone who knows - people like this investigator are usually trouble, often big trouble. Why? There are several reasons.

Why indeed? When someone comes out of the woodwork with damaging sleaze, they're doing it for a reason. They want something, potentially a great deal, from somebody and that somebody might just be you. Unless you're certain that you know what they're after, keep your distance.

Volunteer informants can be plants. They can deliver a load of credible, verifiable information to which they slip in the snippets of disinformation that can readily blow up in your face. Even if he promises to deliver glossies of Harper buggering the Speaker, best to show the guy the door.

And what of this particular "private investigator" Derek Snowdy? Maybe he's not that great of a private eye after all. CBC News found his bankruptcy records from 2009 when he owed total liabilities the grand sum of $13-million against assets of less than $12,000. He must be one hell of an investigator, eh? Sounds like there's a lot more to Derek Snowdy than meets the eye.

Don't blame Michael Ignatieff for being prudent in the midst of this truly smelly situation. Better yet, let's say instead that he took the high road.