Now that the Parliamentary press gallery executive has come to its senses and shelved its daft harassment by-law proposal for three months, here’s hoping they’ll consult with Kevin Vickers before the next go-round.
Why the former Sgt.-at-Arms, you ask?
Well, it seems that last fall, Vickers was dragged into the Tom Korski vs. Liz Thompson affair; the ridiculous contretemps that triggered the proposed gallery harassment amendment in the first place.
The disagreeable duo, who work out of the gallery “hot room,” Thompson for iPolitics and Korski for his own news site, Blacklocks Reporter, have been slagging one another ever since Korski joined the gallery.
At that time, Thompson got up Korski’s nose by raising doubts that he and his wife, Blacklocks’ publisher Holly Doan, were properly registered.
The bickering reached a crescendo in October, when Korski yelled at Thompson, “I’m going to take your fucking head off!”
Korski strenuously denies saying anything of the sort, but Frank has learned that he’s being economical with the actualité.
Turns out that unbenownst to Korski, Thompson had her tape recording rolling during his outburst and the taped evidence was handed over to Vickers, who, as Sgt. at Arms, was in charge of security in the parliamentary precinct.
Vickers hauled Korski into his office and demanded an explanation.
At first, Korski, who fancies himself a hard-boiled hack, blustered that he’d said nothing of the sort, that it was another of Thompson’s false accusations. Harrumph! Fap!
But Vickers, a former RCMP officer, was having none of it.
He called Korski’s bluff, saying he had the taped evidence and that yelling “I’m going to take your fucking head off!” at Thompson was a threat.
If he called the cops, said Vickers, he could get Korski charged with “uttering a threat.”
At this, Korski broke down and started sniveling that he didn’t mean it, all a misunderstanding, etc.
Unmoved, Vickers replied: “If you do it again, I’ll kick you out.”
Blessed are the fucking peacemakers.
Nothing as peaceful as a dead man. Are they going to wait for the Leafs to win the Stanley Cup before they release the results of that fucking autopsy?
The dumb fucks need to settle this between themselves and keep the gallery out of it. If he threatened her, charge him under the statutes of Canada and let a court decide. Creating a kangaroo court under the “auspices” of the gallery itself is the last thing a free press needs.
Having intwracted with Korski in a professional capcity, I can affirm he is an asshat and a pain to deal with.
His hard-boiled act gets old. Fast.