You only get one chance to make a good first impression. And if that impression turns sour, there’s perhaps one shot at redemption.
Mike Duffy blew the first impression and is giving redemption a pass.
The formerly suspended senator returned to the Red Chamber this week to a cool reception from his peers and a hot-on-his-heels pursuit from the media.
Yet the maestro of media messaging when he defended his conduct three years ago has taken a curious vow of silence. He brushes by former reporter colleagues without even a nice-weather comment and sits isolated in a corner seat typing on his laptop.
While Duffy needn’t dance for media entertainment, he does owe the Senate some sign of contrition for behaviour which tarnished the chamber as the red trough of piggy-level privilege.
While a presumption of innocence protected him in the courts, it doesn’t mean he didn’t claim excessive entitlements which stopped short of being criminal thanks to a system which had too many cheques and not enough balances.
Duffy should explain himself better, even if it’s to claim credit for cleansing the process of thinking that a senator’s word was a money-back guarantee of honorable behaviour.
To decline the chance to bring closure to his personal spectacle is odd for a man of his public relations talents.
To replace any public comment with only his lawyer demanding Duffy receive about $200,000 in sacrificed salary while suggesting his client take full advantage of a taxpayer fund to cover his legal bills only exacerbates a greedy image.
Legally, Mike Duffy’s in the clear. But in the court of public opinion, stony silence reinforces the impression of guilt and eliminates any chance of his redemption as the senator who suffered the most for a system many others exploited.
That’s the Last Word.
