Politics The party insiders who play critical backroom roles in the Liberal government are needed now more than ever

A1

Chris Morris
Telegraph-Journal

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

9 Comment(s)

FREDERICTON - The arrival of Maurice Robichaud at his new office in the Centennial Building - the fortress of political power in New Brunswick - completes the close circle of confidantes who surround and protect Premier Shawn Graham.

Enlarge Photo

David Smith/For the Telegraph-Journal

Some of Premier Shawn Graham’s most trusted advisors, photographed on the second floor of the Centennial building in Fredericton, just outside the premier’s office. From left, Bernard Theriault, Chief of Staff; Joan Kingston, Principal Secretary Government Affairs; Nicole Picot, Director of Communications; and Maurice Robichaud, Deputy Minister of Communications and Marketing.

Robichaud, deputy minister of communications and the architect of Frank McKenna's media machine, has been a key adviser to the Graham government since he returned to the province to help guide the fledgling administration through the public relations jungle.

He says his recent move into the glass house - as the Centennial Building is called - from the Communications New Brunswick office down the street is simply a matter of convenience that will bring him and several senior spin doctors closer to the action.

But the timing may not be coincidental as the two-year-old Liberal administration heads into the last half of its mandate facing potentially explosive issues, including a major tax overhaul, a slumping economy and a legal challenge to health reforms.

Graham, whose offices span one wing of the Centennial Building's second floor, will need his trusted advisers more than ever in the critical months ahead.

"When you're introducing change in a system that hasn't, over the last number of years, experienced as much change "¦ it becomes particularly important to communicate what you're doing, and that challenge seems to only increase with each passing day," Robichaud says.

"It's quite a bit different than it was five or 10 years ago. People want to know what's going on, they want to have input and they want to be involved in policy development. So engagement and consultation become an important part of communications whereas 10 or 15 years ago it was simply put the information out there, carry on and make more policy decisions."

Robichaud is one of several key strategists who has the ear of the premier.

These advisers - the powers behind Graham's political throne - are all Liberal heavyweights, most with a long history in the party stretching back to the McKenna days.

In addition to Robichaud, there's chief of staff Bernard Theriault; longtime Liberal strategist Dana Clendenning, now the head of NB Liquor; NB Power chairman Francis McGuire; principle secretary Joan Kingston and Doug Tyler, a former Liberal cabinet minister who headed up Graham's transition team.

One major player, Chris Baker, deputy minister and secretary for the powerful policy and priorities committee of cabinet, resigned suddenly last week, fuelling speculation of possible dissent in the ranks of the Liberal brain trust.

Since no reason was given for Baker's departure, everything from health problems to a high-level feud over policy have been suggested as possible reasons.

Other critical, if less political, advisers include David Ferguson, clerk of the executive council - the province's top mandarin - and communications director in the premier's office, Nicole Picot.

"I would say we're the first row of advisers, the premiere garde, for the premier to seek advice," says Theriault, Graham's French lieutenant.

"It's fair to say that almost everything that goes on in (the premier's) office passes through our hands at some point."

Almost all of the advisers are older than the 40-year-old premier.

Theriault says he and other members of the power group bring a wealth of experience to the Graham government.

"This is the first generation in power that is not baby boomers," he says.

"It's a different perspective from what we lived and what we are. I think this is what they are trying to get from us, the experience of what we know, of what we've seen."

But critics of the Graham government say unelected party insiders exert too much influence on decisions made by the government - several of which have backfired.

Opposition Conservative Percy Mockler, whose tenure in the legislature stretches back to Richard Hatfield's administration, says the real power triplets in the Graham government are Robichaud, McGuire and Tyler.

"It's Larry, Curly and Mo," Mockler says, referring to the Three Stooges and playing on Robichaud's nickname - Mo.

"It's the Liberal bus government. The people who were on the Liberal bus in the 2006 election campaign are front and centre of the decisions today, and they're being taken care of. But it's wrong - they don't have a mandate from the people."

Tyler, a vice-president at Revolution Strategy - the Liberal-friendly public relations firm that has landed several plum contracts from the Graham government - says every political leader relies to some extent on trusted advisers.

"They all call a wide variety of people to find out what's going on."

Tyler says his role is more to provide feedback than advice.

"It's hard to define my role, but I would say it's more issue-based, in the sense of (Graham) maybe basically asking me how I feel a particular item may or may not be going."

Mockler says he has been told that bureaucrats are unhappy to see Robichaud moving closer to the levers of power in the Centennial Building.

"He is controlling access by deputy ministers to the premier and the chief of staff," Mockler says of Robichaud. "They're not happy."

Graham's confidantes say the premier likes to entertain different opinions and options before he makes a decision, but they insist he's his own man when it comes to running the New Brunswick government.

Kingston says Graham maintains a "big tent."

"He can see the big picture," Robichaud adds.

"We can provide good background and options he can consider. He's always open-minded to considering our recommendations. But in the final analysis, obviously as leader, he makes the decisions."