VICTORIA – Gordon Campbell is abdicating responsibility by refusing to ask Solicitor General Kash Heed to step aside and by refusing to call for an independent investigation into serious allegations of misconduct, New Democrats said today.Leonard Krog

“The province’s top cop is operating under a very serious ethical cloud, and it is up to the premier to ensure the solicitor general is free of scandal,” said New Democrat attorney general critic Leonard Krog . “The premier should have done the right thing – launch an investigation and ask the solicitor general to step aside.

“Instead, the premier is turning a blind eye to this very serious matter and sending a message to British Columbians that there are two set of rules, one for everyday people, and one for his cabinet ministers.”

Krog said the premier skirted responsibility yesterday after an email surfaced that suggests that while he was West Vancouver’s Police Chief, Kash Heed discussed a child-porn investigation with a police board member who worked at the same company as the suspect.

“During the election, Mr. Heed said he had done nothing wrong,” said Krog. “But after the email surfaced yesterday from a police board member, the solicitor general admitted he attended the meeting at the centre of the allegation.”

Krog said these serious allegations need to be investigated in a timely manner.

“There is no way that the solicitor general can have the confidence of British Columbians while these allegations surround him,” said Krog.

“The appropriate and responsible thing for the premier to do is to ask Kash Heed to step aside until an independent investigation is conducted to get to the bottom of these allegations.”