It has been over two weeks since PM Robert Golob was slapped with a KPK ruling over his actions in the Bobnar Boondoggle. Pengovsky was going to write it up soonest but there were things to see and people to do. Also, adulting is hard. Be that as it may, the intervening days have shown that Apex Avian had developed some remarkable survival skills. Not really Teflon, because he is not out of the woods yet, but remarkable nevertheless.
The most remarkable thing about it is that Gibanje Svoboda is keeping the pace with SDS of Janez Janša. This, despite the fact that the opposition is in full offensive mode. Whisper it, but GS may even closing the gap slightly, depending on which pollster does the polling. It seems that whatever bad juju this story was going to generate, it was already priced in by Golob’s supporters. At this point they simply don’t give a flying fuck anymore. Does that remind you of anyone?
By now both readers know that pengovsky writes this drivel for free but will happily take coffee donations. And since coffee is a great way to stay hydrated (seriously, look it up), this is like killing two kidney stones with one… bird? Anyway, many thanks to everyone who already donated, and if you’re considering doing so, here’s the link.
The good old days
In the good old days of frightened liberals, Golob’s pigeon would have been poisoned in the park by now. Pun very much intended. At the end of the day, the anti-graft body ruled that the Big Bird exerted undue pressure against then-interior minister Tatjana Bobnar. Instead, it’s almost crickets. But stick a pin into that one.
The PM obviously knew that on this front things could turn very fucktangular very quickly. If nothing else, with three months until the parliamentary election, the opposition parties were happy to go through their bookmarks folder. There is no shortage of his soundbites that were either very punchy at the time and are coming back to haunt him now. Either that or were monumentally stupid to begin with. Like the one where he flat out said he’d resign if the KPK found him at fault.
Then there’s left-liberal parties. When in power, these usually ending up hating each other’s guts by the end of their term in office. If they even make it that far. And indeed SD and Levica were starting to make noises. Something about equal standards applying and the need to set an example and what not.
We will always have Karigador
But Robert Golob is nothing if not a quick learner. He knew full well that no-one on the broad left-liberal spectrum will bat an eyelid if they see a chance to siphon a couple (of thousand) votes off of GS. After all, he engaged in pretty much he same thing back in the day. So the Big Bird quickly threw a luncheon. Officially, the left-liberal bread breaking was meant to form a coherent front against right-wing onslaught. In reality however, everyone was grudgingly admitting that he is still the Big Kahuna.
After this demonstration of fealty, the rest of the left-liberal bloc was basically gagged. Any attempt at crying foul over the KPK ruling would have been seen as disingenuous at best. And thus, dissent within the ranks was nipped in the bud.
And none too soon, as it turned out.
While more consequential, the Bobnar Barney is not the only beef KPK has with Golob. Months ago, it emerged the PM spent a weekend with his soon-to-be-wife Tina Gaber at a seaside villa in Karigador in Croatia, just acroos the border. The problem was that Tomaž Subotič, the owner of the villa (which is really more of a glorified second home in a residential area, but at the seaside) was also appointed to a supervisory position in one of the Slovenian hospitals around that time. The KPK went ballistic and launched an investigation, because it sure as hell looked like a weekend in Karigador was a thank-you for the hospital position.
Dropping a manipulative bombshell
Why exactly would anyone feel the need to do the PM favours after being appointed to a hospital oversight position is beyond pengovsky. I mean taking that job is a favour, nay, a selfless sacrifice above and beyond the call of duty. But maybe Subotič didn’t know any better and really thought he landed a sweet gig. What is certain is that Golob at the time didn’t have a fucking clue just how monumentally stupid accepting the offer was. And now, he has to get out of that one as well.
And so, after successfully muddying the waters on the Bobnar thing, the Apex Avian did the same thing with Karigador Kock-Up. Yesterday, during an hour-long interview with the national radio he dropped a bombshell, that KPK had long ago decided that the Karigador thing wasn’t corruption and that they were sitting on it because they had it in for him. Presumably, he asked for his smelling salts immediately after.
The reality is of course not-so-slightly different. While the Bobnar Brouhaha was (is) indeed a corruption investigation, the Karigador Kerfuffle is merely a conflict-of-interest investigation. The two are not the same in scope or severity, even though the latter might look worse than the former.
Walking things back
KPK vice-chair Tina Divjak said as much soon thereafter, but by the time she got around to addressing the media, Golob’s little manipulation had already made media rounds and now it looked as if KPK was walking things back. But that was also because the KPK was walking things back in the Bobnar investigation.
What started out as a grand abuse of powers inquiry ended up with a couple of problematic text messages and a dubious reading of the Government Act. The KPK seems to believe that the PM can only direct his ministers to the extent they agree to it. And even if one accepts the notion that where smoke there’s fire (as in, the the two text messages are a part of a wider scheme) fact of the matter is that Golob’s lawyers managed to have everything else thrown out of the case file. As a result, KPK ended up looking as if they’re trying to simply find anything that would stick. I didn’t come across as very persuasive.
After fucking up royally more than once in the impropriety/corruption area, PM Golob chose an attrition approach in dealing with the KPK. And it seems to have worked. Whatever KPK comes up with now, will be over-exploited by the opposition and poo-poohed by the Big Bird and his chicks. And the commission will once more be hoping for better and more authoritative days.
A week in politics…
But every ointment needs its fly. And in Robert Golob’s care, there is the small issue of the still-ongoing criminal investigation of the Bobnar Affair. There’s no reliable word on how that’s going, but as pengovsky is so fond of repeating, a week is a long time in politics…
