An odd request

I can't claim to be overly familiar with the Newfoundland and Labrador constituency expenditure scandal, other than that it clearly seems to cut across party lines. But is there any apparent reason why Newfoundland and Labrador MHAs would be advised not to disclose their constituency allowance spending?

After all, it's not as if the contents of the MHA's books should be changing at all between any present disclosure and the final outcome of the investigation. And the main potential effect of general non-disclosure seems to be to leave the entire House of Assembly under a cloud of suspicion, as even a politician with an entirely clean set of books is pressured not to make that public where the effect could be to create any distance from the scandal.

While it's hard to dispute that MHAs are technically entitled to keep the books private, the Speaker's advice seems to have the effect of pushing Newfoundland and Labrador's politicians to close ranks against public scrutiny. And particularly in the midst of what appears to be a far-reaching scandal, it's hard to see how that attitude can do anything but make the institution look all the worse for the remainder of the investigation.