MLAs to be asked to pay back expenses

Most of Nova Scotia's 52 MLAs will soon be getting letters asking them to return taxpayers' money that was deemed to have been spent inappropriately.

The letters will come from the Speaker's office and are aimed at recovering some of the wasteful spending exposed by the province's auditor general.

Twenty-eight MLAs will be asked to repay in cases in which they submitted the same expense claim twice over a three-year period from 2006 to 2009.

Eight MLAs will be asked to pay back inappropriate spending on personal items, or in cases in which they did business with family members.

"We're trying to allow all members to pay the money back," Speaker Charlie Parker said Tuesday. "I'm trusting in the good judgment of the MLAs to do so."

There is no decision on whether taxpayers will recover what Auditor General Jacques Lapointe deemed excessive spending on multiple laptop computers, big screen televisions, furniture and cameras.

There's also no decision on what will happen if a current or former MLA refuses to repay money which the auditor generalsays that they should.

"We'll get legal advice if they choose not to [repay]," Parker said.

Many past and present MLAs have already repaid questionable expenses, while others are waiting for advice from the Speaker's office.

"I did a money order for $137.50 and I delivered it to them," Tory MLA Alfie MacLeod said Tuesday.

New Democrat MLA Howard Epstein said that in July and August 2008 he inadvertently submitted the same invoice twice.

"I immediately sent the Speaker back a reimbursement cheque for the $86 plus tax," he said Tuesday.

NDP Premier Darrell Dexter has also repaid the Speaker $2,150 for a digital camera and $5,501 for two laptops.

Last Friday, Lapointe launched a forensic investigation looking into possible irregularities in expense account spending by more than one MLA.

The CBC learned that one of them is former Yarmouth Tory MLA Richard Hurlburt. He resigned his seat earlier this week after admitting that he billed taxpayers $8,000 to have a generator installed in his home. He also spent more than $3,000 to buy and install a 40-inch LCD television in his constituency office. 

Hurlburt has since repaid taxpayers for those items.

The auditor general released his annual report 12 days ago, and slammed the province's expense system, saying several politicians had filed "excessive and unreasonable" claims, in part because of inadequate spending controls.

In his 142-page report, Lapointe concluded inappropriate claims were made by some politicians for personal items, including Hurlburt's generator.