Mungall MLAise

This follows
Michelle Mungall's Travel-Bug, 28 Mar, 2014,
immediately below this post.

Of course - Victoria's Accompanying Person Travel Expenses cover all significant others/aides of all BC MLAs - not just Michelle Mungall's: but she ostensibly is my go-to in Victoria.
I say ostensibly because over time I did go-to repeatedly: without so much as an acknowledgement from her - not even her office. Not once!
Now we learn she occupies the top spot on the 85 MLAs' travel-companion-expense list! A second-issue/what's-next disconnect for me. And while not responsible for Victoria-culture - she very clearly is very comfy with it.
While I am not: so here I focus on her.
Learning Mungall!

Victoria
As Speaker Reid's published list does not offer a break-down into who and how much for what - superficially dealing with "flights" only - questions in connection with before/after flights and while in Victoria present themselves.
Considering that Castlegar-Victoria-Castlegar flights take 3-4 hours, an aide would probably spend at least 2 nights in Victoria - 2 days pretty much gone with flights, etc. This to have 1 whole day for training. Hmmm!
Mungall's $7.806 total divided by 8 brings one trip to a median of about $975 - cutting it rather close for an aide but providing amply for a husband.

Expenses - Aides/Husband
1.
Who - during their stay - pays for transportation between places of concern in Victoria? (Taxis?)
2.
Where do out-of-town aides stay in Victoria? (Hotels?) Assuming that the husband stays and eats with Mungall.
3.
Who pays for these aides' several meals per day? (Restaurants?)
4.
How many fly-worthy aides does Mungall have in her Nelson-Creston district?
The ones trained in Victoria last year.
5.
Does the allowance for aides apply to the husband equally?

Expensive Expenses
All this flitting-about according to a there commonly accepted institutionalized insiders'-racket - refined over time: it needs to be questioned pronto! Disinclination to be transparent from the top down raises integrity- thus believability-issues around all those supposed to have our - not their! - best interests at heart. This even within whatever party of our choice - the only good guys!
Of course - much of the above is hypothetical because we don't know whether aides actually did fly during last year's 9 months and if how many times. I am just following the trail of crumbs: Mungall saying on the CBC that her aides were flown to Victoria for training. While - surely a P.R. move but not a wise one! - not how many times and not mentioning her husband at all. As for the aides' need to go - what with Skype, webinars, inter-governmental web-possibilities: why go at all?

Direct MLA Expenses - Mungall
While rattling the piggy-bank - just curious:
1.
Assuming Mungall lives by herself in a taxpayer-funded apartment: how much does it cost?
2.
How much are her personal away-from-home-, schmooze-, and whatever-allowances for Victoria altogether? This aside from her salary which - by the way - is how much?
3.
What is the total of Mungall's directly work-related allowances for Victoria - including all: from paperclips to staff?
4.
What is the total of Mungall's electoral-district related allowances - including all: from office-space over paperclips to staff?

How much in total does it cost us per year to just keep 85 BC MLAs on their feet and shouting - never mind producing for us. And how much specifically does it cost us per year to further Michelle Mungall's political career in Victoria?

Nelson
So I go to the office - at 402 Baker, as advertised on Mungall's official local-contact website, with a map how to get there yet - to find it's been moved. Right!
At the new office - a very substantial whole building of quality and space - I introduce myself to 2 staff-members - He and She: they don't introduce themselves in return - asking for answers to a few questions. Like did you fly to Victoria last year for training?
Says She: I don't want to tell you that because you write a blog (which I had not told them I guess she knew (of) me and why would that be a reason for not telling me if you've got nothing to hide unless you were told not to or you're worried about your job) - but I can give you the name of someone who can give you more information.
Say I: You can't tell me whether you flew to Victoria last year? I am a constituent!

Shades of the Harper playing it ever so close to the chest. And it went downhill with her from there. Definitely not in vote-wooing mode. Off-point explanations about Mungall's top-position: in terms of money only and there was fog and actually fewer flights than others and we were allowed 12.

To keep this short: there are 3 staff-members - 2 in Nelson/1 in Creston - and all 3 flew to Victoria last year. Says she. Leaving 5 flights unaccounted for - with no mention of 5 husband-flights or anyone else's. Within 9 months - not 1 year.

  
I am no longer ready to vote for a particular party just to help defeat another particular party. Too many here have been doing that for too long - turning the local NDP's political currency into fool's gold.