It was one of those unusual moments in the Manitoba Legislature. Generally, when Question Period is over, media gather by one door of the Legislative Chamber where they conduct their interviews with politicians. On this particular day, Premier Greg Selinger exited out of a different door which resulted in members of the media running down the hall after him trying to ask questions before he reached his office.

The questions they wanted to ask were about the nearly $700,000 in taxpayers’ dollars that Mr. Selinger had authorized for political payouts to staff who did not support him in his leadership challenge and who he did not want working in government anymore. It was clear as Mr. Selinger quickly headed to his office that he didn’t want to talk about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that taxpayers are on the hook for because of his leadership troubles.

But just before he entered his office, he did tell the media that things were done in a way that ensures “everyone is looked after”. Well, maybe not everyone, as taxpayers were left with the bill.

But it continued a pattern that we have seen under Mr. Selinger where he is more than prepared to use taxpayers’ dollars to support his friends. Not long after the 2011 election, he appointed a retired NDP MLA to be the “military envoy”, a position that had previously been handled by an elected MLA. And he designated more than $180,000 for salaries and expenses for this position. Of course this was paid for by taxpayers.

At the same time that Mr. Selinger was getting rid of disloyal staff who he would reward handsomely with payouts, he hired union activist Heather Grant-Jury to work in his office for a six figure salary to help him during the leadership crisis. Again, this was paid for by taxpayers.

After Mr. Selinger had survived his leadership challenge he quickly began cleaning house and issuing taxpayer funded payouts. Even after Ms. Grant-Jury returned to her work at a local union, Mr. Selinger decided to appoint her to the Board of Directors of Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI). At the time Mr. Selinger said the appointment had nothing to do with his gratitude for helping him survive the leadership challenge, but was purely based on qualifications. This issue came to light again this week as it was reported that Ms. Grant-Jury had resigned from the Board of Manitoba Public Insurance and had left her employer due to an internal investigation related to her employment.

It appears Mr. Selinger doesn’t actually believe that everyone should be looked after. But certainly those who are close to him have been. And it’s Manitobans who have been left to pay the bill.