how does this man dress himself?

Shapiro's new problem
GREG WESTON, March 23, 2006,.toronto sun

Instead, in an act of Internet kindergarten, Shapiro's office accidentally disclosed the e-mail identities of all 202 people who had complained about the Emerson affair.

OTTAWA -- Just when it seemed federal Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro must have run out of people to peeve and rulings to render amuddle, now his office has cleverly managed to invoke the wrath of the federal privacy watchdog and a few hundred concerned citizens not already on his case.

From the moment Liberal turncoat David Emerson was lured to the Conservatives with the jingle of ministerial limo keys, angry voters and otherwise disgusted Canadian folk have been writing to the ethics commish, imploring him to investigate.

Just over 200 of those submissions, apparently, were made to Shapiro by e-mail. Citizen to government. In confidence. Or so they thought.

Instead, in an act of Internet kindergarten, Shapiro's office accidentally disclosed the e-mail identities of all 202 people who had complained about the Emerson affair.

With the release of the Emerson ruling Monday, the commissioner's staff dutifully e-mailed a little thank-you note to all those who had written, drawing their attention to the internet address where they could read the full text of his decision.

It ended: "We thank you for your interest on this matter and in the ethics commissioner's mandate."

Unfortunately, each message was prefaced by the e-mail addresses of all 202 complainants.

Dozens of the addresses identify the senders by their first and last names. Every one of them represents a violation of personal privacy.

(If nothing else, the list of addresses from Internet providers across the country also dispels claims by Emerson and his new Tory brethren that the public outcry over his floor-crossing was limited to a bunch of partisan malcontents in his Vancouver riding.)

The reaction to the e-mail was almost instant.

By the end of the day Monday, Shapiro was being pounded both publicly for his decision in the Emerson affair, and privately for the communications snafu.

By Tuesday, the complaints had spread to the desk of federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart.

Stoddart's official spokeswoman, Anne-Marie Hayden, told me yesterday "this is obviously something we are very concerned about."

Over the coming days, Hayden said, the office of the privacy commissioner will be helping the office of the ethics commissioner "improve its systems."

Beyond that, incredibly, Shapiro's office does not fall under the Privacy Act.

Shapiro's shop did e-mail a letter of apology to all 202 citizens whose confidences had been violated: "The group identification was an unintended error on our part. Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience this might have caused you."

Another day, another notch in Shapiro's pink slip.