I especially must acknowledge the willingness of the Speaker of the House of Assembly, the Honourable Harvey Hodder, and the administrative staff of the House to make themselves available, often at very short notice, to answer multitudinous questions, search for and provide numerous documents and generally provide whatever information we requested. [...] The drafting of the proposed legislation and rules implementing many of the recommendations of this report was accomplished with the assistance of Ms. [...] We need only refer to the inquiry into the allegations of improper financial activity by the Prime Minister of Newfoundland in 1924,8 the inquiry into allegations of improper (non-arm's length) leasing of space for government at excessive rents and without public tender in 1972,9 and an inquiry into allegations of political interference in the tendering practices of government departments in 1981. [...] These attitudes have likely been fueled by recent events involving allegations of excessive and uncontrolled spending on constituency allowances by certain members of the House of Assembly, and allegations of other improper spending practices in the House in the context of an absence of proper internal controls. [...] Edward J. Byrne, MHA, (June 22, 2006); Report of the Auditor General to the House of Assembly on Payments made by the House of Assembly to Certain Suppliers, (June 27, 2006); Report of the Auditor General of the House of Assembly on Excess Constituency Allowance Claims by Mr.