Conservative MP works on her daily changing title.

Ah well, I thought I was through with Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP and wannabe cabinet minister Betty Hinton. I was going to move on to other things like politically co-opted generals, (wait for it).

But Hinton just doesn't know when to shut up, so for that, I will expose what happened on two pages of a single newspaper in Kamloops.

First we go back to this post. Hinton had said she was a "member of cabinet". When confronted on the issue she said:

I don't believe I ever said I was a part of Cabinet.

Her defence. She said that.

Then, Kamloops This Week hit the streets of that working-class city with this on the front page:

Betty Hinton admitted she made a “mistake” when she said, “I’m part of the cabinet.”

The Conservative MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo made the comments in an interview with KTW last week.

“What I meant to say, if I didn’t say it, is that I’m part of the cabinet circle. But I’m not a cabinet member,” she said.

Oh, OK. She meant to say...

If one was unfortunate enough to have read her initial letter, or have been in her presence when she was uttering her CPoC rhetoric though, you might believe that she held a position of greater importance than was actually the case. She was actually a part of the "cabinet circle".

What the hell is a cabinet circle? (Don't answer that. You'll never be able to work for a non-right-wing political campaign without being smeared.)

In fairness to Hinton, she's determined that she's not a cabinet minister but is not a backbencher. It's taken her over one year in her present office to figure that out. And, apparently, her constituents have had their fill of her. In the same paper on the same day the Letters To The Editor section exploded.

an egotistical politician

Hinton maintains she is a member of the governing party and as such has unfettered access to ministers of government.

However, there have been several instances lately that make us wonder just what kind of access she has to cabinet members and just how hard she pushes for local issues.

hinton lacks passion, ability of predecessor

Kamloops Conservative MP Betty Hinton may be living in a fairy-tale land where she treats her constituents like paupers of a long-gone feudal era, but she needs to understand her position.

'sickened' by hinton's 'childish' antics

... Hinton should not be involving the City of Kamloops in her childish antics (in her letter, she writes, “Welcome to Kamloops”).

Hinton needs to grow up and learn to resolve issues with some much-needed dignity and maturity. As a young voter, it concerns me that someone like her could get a majority vote regardless of what party she represents.

Hinton is also representing the people of Kamloops — and doing a poor job.

mp opts for low road

I don’t know Hinton, but I am unimpressed with her means and, knowing she would have had to get the approval of master strategist Stephen Harper, I am even less impressed with this disgusting, manipulative, deceitful government some of us put in power to wield its own brand of governing, thinking it would be an alternative to what the federal Liberals have been in the past.

still waiting for phone call to be returned

I phoned Betty Hinton’s office two weeks ago.

I left a message — maybe in a tone that was agitated due to all the recent news about her — asking what her plans are for securing funding for our airport.

I said this was the time to prove her critics wrong by coming forward and telling those of us who question her ability exactly what she plans to do for us, her employers.

I ended my message thusly: “If you really have no intention to help your riding or feel you don’t owe the citizens of Kamloops an answer, don’t return my call.”

Well, folks, it’s been two weeks and still no call.

I think we have our answer.

Hell, maybe I should run for office and do the job right.

And with that, there was no more room on the "Letters" page. Luckily there will always be more newspapers so those that didn't get published in the Friday edition will probably appear in the Sunday edition. In the previous Wednesday edition, Hinton herself wrote to the editor.

Re: Dale Bass’s column of Feb. 9 (‘Voters will recall who wasn’t standing with them’):

It should be pretty simple for Bass to figure out why I wasn’t in Kamloops attending the child-care rally.

I was in Ottawa doing the job I was elected to do.

Is that before or after she figured out she wasn't a cabinet minister?

Betty Hinton, thy name is toast. And it looks like the voters of Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo intend to drive the toaster through a car-wash.