Yarmouth MLA Richard Hurlburt resigns

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Richard Hurlburt has resigned as MLA for Yarmouth.

Hurlburt offered his immediate resignation to Progressive Conservative interim leader Karen Casey.

In a letter to Casey, Hurlburt stated: “It is with deep regret and sorrow that I advise I am tendering my resignation as MLA for Yarmouth and as a member of the Progressive Conservative Caucus."

His resignation is effective Tuesday, Feb. 9.

Casey expressed deep regret in losing Hurlburt, but has accepted the resignation. “Richard Hurlburt has served this province, and more importantly, the people of Yarmouth passionately over the past 10 years,” said Casey. “I am hopeful that the people of Yarmouth will remember that.”

Hurlburt was first elected to the House of Assembly in July 1999. He was re-elected in 2003, 2006 and 2009. During his years in government he served as minister of Natural Resources, Economic Development and Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations.

Following last year's election Hurlburt went back to the Legislature as a member of the opposition after voters in Yarmouth stuck with their MLA, despite an orange NDP crush across the province that saw a majority NDP government elected. Hurlburt had easily defended his seat, outpacing NDP candidate David Olie, Liberal candidate David Mooney and Ronald Mills of the Green Party.

Before entering provincial politics, he was warden of the Municipality of Yarmouth.

Hurlburt entered provincial politics saying repeatedly he was there to fight for the riding of Yarmouth, and the people who live here. But an expense scandal over MLA expenses, in particular purchases made by Hurlburt, may have been too big a fight for Hurlburt to overcome. Angry, and even vicious, comments on media message boards and a Facebook page had been demanding he resign, saying he had lost the public's trust. Other comments were less flattering. Hurlburt's Facebook page was pulled off the web Tuesday afternoon.

Over the past few days, Hurlburt has been at the centre of a controversy over MLA expenses for an $8,000 generator he purchased that was installed in his home. Hurlburt said he had purchased the generator for the use of local groups, like ground search and rescue and EMO. He even suggested it could be used by seniors at a local seniors complex, although they already have a generator.

After first defending the purchase, last Friday he issued an apology for submitting an expense claim on an item that the auditor general had flagged as an inappropriate expense. Many people have questioned the amount paid for the generator.

On Monday it was revealed that Hurlburt had also purchased a $2,499 40-inch television for his constituency office, along with $579 in installation fees. In his report the auditor general had called that an excessive expense.

Unlike the way he had with the generator, Hurlburt had not stepped forward to identify himself as the purchaser of the big screen TV. His identify only became public on Monday a list identifying MLAs and their expenses was made public. The premier had asked that the list be released.

Hurlburt has reimbursed the Speaker's Office for both expenses.

Hurlburt is on vacation in Florida and could not be immediately reached by The Vanguard for comment.

Argyle MLA Chris d’Entremont, who has served in the Legislature with Hurlburt, expressed disappointment and surprise over Hurlburt’s resignation on Tuesday. “It’s disappointing. I wish Richard would stick around, he’s been a really good MLA over the past 10 years, but at the same time with all of this stuff going on around us, I think he probably did the honourable thing,” said d’Entremont, who described Hurlburt as a good friend. D’Entremont said he doesn’t know what this means for the riding in the upcoming weeks and months. He said that will depend on Premier Darrell Dexter and when he decides to hold a by-election. D’Entremont said it would probably be best to hold off on having politicians knocking door-to-door for awhile. “I don’t think it would matter who is going to the doors, they would probably hear the same thing,” he said.

D’Entremont, though, recognizes that there is a pressing issue facing Yarmouth – that being the fight to restore ferry service here. “The ferry issue, for me that’s number one and that will be number one for quite some time until we can get them to reverse that decision,” he said.

Meanwhile, d’Entremont said he didn’t know that Hurlburt would be tendering his resignation. He said he had spoken to Hurlburt quickly on Monday. “I talked to him just to tell him I would cover the riding for him while he was gone (on vacation) and if something came up he would call,” says the Argyle MLA. But d’Entremont says his conversation with Hurlburt occurred before the news of the television expense became public.

Trevor Cunningham, the president of the Yarmouth PC Association, also expressed disappointment over Hurlburt’s resignation. “We’re disappointed, certainly, that Richard is no longer going to be MLA for Yarmouth because he’s fought really hard and worked really hard over the last 10-plus years to . . . do everything he could for Yarmouth. He’s been a real champion for Yarmouth, and to have it end on this note, under intense media scrutiny and so forth, it’s disappointing.”

Cunningham said certainly not today, nor tomorrow, but over the next number of weeks and months the local association will carry out a candidate search to see who will run for the Tories locally in a by-election. It has been a while since they’ve had to do this as Hurlburt has been their candidate for over a decade. “My understanding is the premier has six months to identify a date, six months hence forth,” Cunningham said. When asked if he knew of Hurlburt’s intention to resign, Cunningham said he didn’t know the hour or the time, but he did know in advance of the announcement on Tuesday that Hurlburt had decided to step down.

When contacted Yarmouth Mayor Phil Mooney said given the challenge facing Yarmouth right now with the lack of ferry service and the fight to restore it, it will be a difficult time to be without an MLA for Yarmouth, but he said the area will be leaning a bit more on Argyle MLA Chris d’Entremont than they usually do, and he said that the area can still benefit from the contacts that Hurlburt has at the provincial and federal levels.

Asked whether he thinks Hurlburt did the right thing by resigning, the mayor said, “It’s a personal decision. I don’t know all the factors, you see what came out in the newspapers and what came out on TV and on the radio, there’s probably more things behind the scenes than just that one thing on his decision, I heard he was contemplating this for the last little while, even before this came out. “He worked hard for 10 years and if he wants to call it a career, he’s done a lot of good things in Yarmouth and I wish him well.”

Meanwhile Hurlburt isn't leaving his job as MLA empty handed. He is eligible for an annual pension of $41,815.

Meanwhile, PC leader Karen Casey is also being criticized for withholding information about Hurlburt's expenses. She has confirmed that she knew Hurlburt was the purchaser of the television but she did not disclose the information before the list of expenses came out on Monday. She says it was not her intention to mislead the public, or withhold information from them. She believed it was up to individual members to step forward and make their admissions.

You can read Richard Hurlburt's resignation letter at:

http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-430292-Text-of-Richard-Hurlburts-letter-of-resignation-as-Yarmouth-MLA.html

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