Blame in Walkerton National Post  Editorial Dec. 20,2000 When people in Walkerton, Ont., started dying from E. coli-infected water in May, some news media wasted no time jumping to conclusions. They knew who to blame: Mike Harris, the Ontario Premier. On May 30, in a front-page story titled The High Cost of Common Sense, The Globe and Mail said Mr. Harris's policies "caused people to die." A week later, the Globe doubled down: "Premier Mike Harris's insistence that his government is not culpable becomes more untenable. The evidence points elsewhere, to his own Environment Ministry's policies. To himself." Not a lot of grey area there. The Toronto Star would not let itself be outdone, and called Mr. Harris's tax cuts "blood money," paid for at the expense of the Walkerton dead. This kangaroo trial by media was conducted hastily during the summer, to secure a conviction against Mr. Harris before contradictory facts were discovered -- facts such as those sworn to this week by Stan Koebel, the manager of Walkerton's Public Utilities Commission. Mr. Koebel has freely told the stunned inquiry that he regularly falsified entries in the utility's log books, and doctored water samples and chlorine disinfection records -- a routine he followed since 1979. Mr. Koebel's job was to test and report water cleanliness. He didn't. Moreover, his forged entries obstructed Mr. Harris's provincial inspectors, who came by to check Mr. Koebel's logs from time to time. "I'm responsible," said Mr. Koebel yesterday. We will not argue with him on that. Other witnesses told the inquiry that Mr. Koebel had discovered dangerous E. coli levels days before 2,300 people fell ill, but he did not sound the alarm, a precaution taken later by an alert doctor. Frank Koebel, Stan's brother, testified that Stan let the boys at the utility keep the refrigerator stocked with beer, so much so that Frank -- the foreman at the utility -- was sent home on occasion for being drunk on the job. And then there is the recent testimony by David Thompson, Walkerton's Mayor. When he was first told of the E. coli infection, his response was to call in a public relations firm. To be sure, Mr. Harris and his government can draw, and has already drawn, lessons from the Walkerton tragedy. The testimony to date suggests that all local public health personnel ought to be tested for competence (the Koebel brothers were exempted under a broad grandfathering law passed by the NDP government that preceded Mr. Harris's Tories). But no competency test is proof against lies, deliberate deception and poor judgment. The police and Crown prosecutors should review the transcripts of the inquiry, and determine whether there is enough evidence to bring criminal charges, and Stan Koebel's $98,000 sweetheart retirement package should be reviewed by Queen's Park. Every other water inspector in the country is watching to see whether Walkerton's dereliction will be rewarded, ignored or punished. So far, so bad. Perhaps something positive will come out of this tragedy if it teaches how other public health disasters can be avoided in future. But one lesson we have already learned -- likely lost on Ontario's Liberal opposition and like-minded media pundits -- is that it is foolish and dishonest to make political hay out of tragedies before the facts are out. Equally clear is this: Mike Harris's tax cuts had nothing to do with a couple of brothers who have been lying to the citizens of Walkerton for more than 20 years.