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TORONTO - Ontario's governing Liberals have decided taxpayers will no longer be on the hook for about $10,000 they paid a computer expert to allegedly wipe hard drives in the premier's office.

Court documents released last week show Ontario Provincial Police allege a computer expert with no security clearance was paid to delete documents in former Premier Dalton McGuinty's office.

Police investigating deleted documents on the cancellation of two gas plants at a cost of up to $1.1 billion allege the payment of taxpayer money to Peter Faist, the spouse of McGuinty's deputy chief of staff, was made by Liberal Caucus Services.

Premier Kathleen Wynne's press secretary says in a statement that the Ontario Liberal Party executive council voted Monday to cover the payment so no tax dollars go toward work currently under police investigation.

Zita Astravas says the payment "is in no way intended as a prejudgment or comment upon the findings of the ongoing police investigation."

She says they had no information until the release of the court documents that any services invoiced by Faist were related to matters under investigation.

Lawyers representing Faist and his spouse Laura Miller have said their clients did nothing wrong.

The New Democrats said "it's a sad state of affairs" when it takes a police investigation for the Liberals to admit they were wrong.

"They wasted billions. They did everything they could to destroy the evidence and cover it up. And Kathleen Wynne is continuing the cover up by protecting Peter Faist and Laura Miller," NDP house leader Gilles Bisson said in a statement.

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Ontario Gas Plant Scandal: Liberals To Reimburse $10K Paid To Allegedly Wipe Hard Drives

TORONTO - Ontario's governing Liberals have decided taxpayers will no longer be on the hook for about $10,000 they paid a computer expert to allegedly wipe hard drives in the premier's office.

Court documents released last week show Ontario Provincial Police allege a computer expert with no security clearance was paid to delete documents in former Premier Dalton McGuinty's office.

Police investigating deleted documents on the cancellation of two gas plants at a cost of up to $1.1 billion allege the payment of taxpayer money to Peter Faist, the spouse of McGuinty's deputy chief of staff, was made by Liberal Caucus Services.

Premier Kathleen Wynne's press secretary says in a statement that the Ontario Liberal Party executive council voted Monday to cover the payment so no tax dollars go toward work currently under police investigation.

Zita Astravas says the payment "is in no way intended as a prejudgment or comment upon the findings of the ongoing police investigation."

She says they had no information until the release of the court documents that any services invoiced by Faist were related to matters under investigation.

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Liberals to reimburse $10k allegedly paid to wipe hard drives in former premier's office

Virginia Democrats have chosen Kevin J. Sullivan as their candidate to replace disgraced Del. Joseph D. Morrissey. But the salacious political circus surrounding Morrisseys seat may not end with the caucus, as allies of the lawmaker plan a lawsuit to challenge the nominating process.

Sullivans experience in this community makes him is a strong fighter for our Democratic values and priorities, Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones, who is also the state Democratic Party chairman, said in a statement.

Morrissey (D-Henrico), who is serving a six-month sentence for a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, was not a candidate in the caucus, which he has criticized as disenfranchising regular voters. However, he could still run in the general election as an independent, a move that would once again force Democrats to contend with a politician whom they would rather see disappear from public life.

Unofficially, about 40 people participated out of a pool of about 100 qualified Democratic committee members in the Richmond area. Twenty-four voted for Sullivan.

A retired brewery worker and Teamster who now runs an alpaca farm with his wife, Sullivan beat out Henrico County School Board member Lamont Bagby and former state delegate Floyd Miles Sr. for the Democratic nomination.

After his conviction on the misdemeanor charge, Morrissey announced last week that he would resign from office effective Jan. 13 but would run again for his seat in the special election. He contends that he is innocent of all charges stemming from his relationship with a 17-year-old receptionist and says he pleaded guilty only to avoid a possible decades-long prison sentence. He and the teenager were framed, he said, by her jealous ex-girlfriend.

A work-release agreement allows Morrissey both to campaign and should he be elected to serve in the legislature by day and be in jail at night. However, the future of that arrangement is in doubt after the lawmaker violated its terms by arranging a news conference without alerting the sheriffs office. A hearing on the issue will be held this week.

With only a few days between Morrisseys resignation and a Tuesday deadline to choose a nominee, Democrats limited Monday evenings caucus to party committee members who live in the Henrico County district.

Morrisseys law partner, Paul Goldman, has said a lawsuit will be filed challenging the constitutionality of the caucus.

Party leaders, Goldman said, would do anything to stop Joe Morrissey from getting nominated. For that reason, he added, he advised his partner not to participate in the caucus.

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Democrats pick new candidate for Morrisseys Henrico County House seat

Democrats said Tuesday that House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) should pressure Rep. Michael Grimm (R., N.Y.) to resign following reports that the lawmaker is expected to plead guilty to a felony tax-related charge.

Now that the election is over, Congressman Grimm is finally admitting the truth to his constituents, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said in a written statement Tuesday. Clearly, Speaker Boehner must insist that Congressman Grimm resign immediately.

We wont have any announcements until the speaker discusses the matter with Mr. Grimm, said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner. It was not immediately clear when the two would meet. A spokesman for Mr. Grimm did not immediately return a request for comment.

Mr. Grimm, who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, is expected to appear in federal court Tuesday at 1 p.m., according to the Brooklyn U.S. attorneys office.

A former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who served in the Marines, Mr. Grimm was indicted after federal investigators spent more than two years looking into his political and business dealings. He was charged with evading taxes, perjury, obstruction and wire and mail fraud from his time as the co-owner of Healthalicious, a now-closed restaurant on Manhattans Upper East Side.

Mr. Grimm has called the charges a vendetta against him, and his backers have often noted that none of the charges relate to his official role in public office. Mr. Grimm won a second term in the House last month despite his indictment in April. He has said previously he would resign if convicted, though a person familiar with his thinking said that an immediate resignation would be unlikely.

Democrats said it was Mr. Boehners responsibility to oust Mr. Grimm.

Speaker Boehner and Republican leaders continued complicity in letting Michael Grimm stay in Congress despite his guilt of felony tax evasion is a disservice to the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn and a stain on the institution of the United States House of Representatives, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Josh Schwerin said in a written statement Tuesday.

So far Mr. Boehner has declined to say whether Mr. Grimm should resign. In April, Mr. Boehner said the lawmaker made the right decision by stepping down from the House Financial Services Committee.

A guilty plea this week could alter the dynamics on Capitol Hill and increase pressure on GOP leadership to ask Mr. Grimm to resign. If he remains in office, Mr. Grimm would likely continue to face an investigation from the House Ethics Committee, which started probing his activities last year. The ethics panel could make a number of recommendations following its investigation, including expulsion from the House. A supermajority of House lawmakers are required to expel a member.

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Democrats Press for Rep. Grimms Resignation

WASHINGTON For as often as Democrats attack the conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch for their heavy spending on politics, it's actually the liberal-minded who shelled out the most cash on the just completed midterm elections.

At least, that is, among those groups that must disclose what they raise and spend.

Among the top 100 individual donors to political groups, more than half gave primarily to Democrats or their allies. Among groups that funneled more than $100,000 to allies, the top of the list tilted overwhelmingly toward Democrats a group favoring the GOP doesn't appear on the list until No. 14.

The two biggest super PACs of 2014? Senate Majority PAC and House Majority PAC both backing Democrats.

In all, the top 10 individual donors to outside groups injected almost $128 million into this year's elections. Democratic-leaning groups collected $91 million of it.

Among the 183 groups that wrote checks of $100,000 or more to another group, Democrats had a 3-to-1 cash advantage. The biggest player was the National Education Association, at $22 million. Not a single Republican-leaning group cracked the top 10 list of those transferring money to others.

Overall, for the campaign season that just ended, donors who gave more than $1 million sent roughly 60 cents of every dollar to liberal groups. Among the 10 biggest donors, Democrats outspent Republicans by an almost 3-to-1 margin.

"They're total hypocrites when it comes to this subject," said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. "They've made a living off campaign talking points when, in reality, they've been raking in more money from millionaire donors than Republicans for quite a while."

That's true, but only among those groups that have to tell the Federal Election Commission about all the money that's coming and going.

Left undisclosed are the specifics of the fundraising and spending of politically minded non-profit groups, such as the Koch-backed conservative network of Americans for Prosperity or the environment-minded League of Conservation Voters.

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Democrats trump Republicans when it comes to tapping rich for political cash