Meanwhile, back in BC

More dispatches from the land that ethics forgot:

The B.C. Liberal party has received thousands of dollars in political donations from airports, colleges and other public bodies over the past four years, according to a review of party records by The Vancouver Sun. Earlier this week, it was revealed that seven municipal governments had made more than $2,000 in donations to the Liberals, often to attend fundraising dinners where cabinet ministers were present. The Liberals have since promised to return those funds. But a review of donations to the Liberals over the past four years indicates that the problem of taxpayer dollars ending up in party coffers goes beyond local governments -- with donations flowing in from a variety of other publicly funded agencies.

Why did they give? In some cases, those involved claim they had no idea the events they were attending were Liberal fundraisers. In other cases, well, let's let the man speak for himself:

Jim Blake, chair of the Prince George Airport Authority, said he did realize he was making a political contribution when he paid $760 for board members to attend a Liberal fundraiser. Asked why he attended, Blake replied: "It's pretty simple. We got $4 million from the provincial government to do our air terminal building expansion and to improve ... our runway. "We would give to any government in power, and I use the word government as opposed to party, under those circumstances... Four million dollars. It's pretty cheap for $760. I don't want to be quoted on that. I say that a bit facetiously."

So you see, it wasn't a partisan thing, it was just a payola thing. And I say that a bit facetiously...