From zero to hero
But, oh, how things change. Zbigniew Ziobro, a member of the commission for the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, found no reply to the quip by that old charmer Miller at the time, but now he appears to have found a way to get his own back. His report of the commission's findings has been approved by the parliament as the official version... or has it?
Ziobro's report names a group of Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) politicians as the "group holding the power" that Rywin claimed had sent him to Agora to demand a bribe in return for "anything you want passed as law," as the disgraced film director told Adam Michnik, editor of Agora's daily Gazeta Wyborcza, in their now famous taped conversation. The shadowy list includes Włodzimierz Czarzasty, secretary of the National Broad-casting Council (KRRiTV), Aleksandra Jakubowska, deputy minister of culture in Miller's government, and Robert Kwiatkowski, former president of the state-owned television company TVP. Last but not least comes Leszek Miller himself. But that is far from the end of the troubles for the left. Most importantly, President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, is to be summoned to the State Tribunal, a special court to try cases of criminal abuses by state officials, in a step that could kick-off impeachment proceedings.
The country's most popular politician - and that is still Kwaś-niewski, not Andrzej Lepper - stands accused of failing to report a crime after he had found out about Rywin's proposition. Moreover, Ziobro suggests that the president may have consciously obstructed the course of justice in concealing a letter that Rywin had handed him from the commission and public prosecutors.
All that sounds like fun for the opposition, and for the right wing in particular. But Lepper, leader of Samoobrona (Self-Defense), is also keen on impeaching the president and, in fact, has played a big role in passing Ziobro's report.
Miller has cut a forlorn figure ever since stepping down as prime minister on May 2, and this was particularly so when he realized that Self-Defense would vote for Ziobro's report. "Andrzej, please just leave [the parliament building]," he pleaded with Lepper on hearing the news. Many think that Miller had used Lepper to direct anger at the previous, right-wing government, but suddenly his pet creature had become uncontrollable. Indeed, the Rywin-gate report vote was the first time that Lepper defied the SLD on an important issue. Previously, whenever the SLD needed to win an important vote, Self-Defense obliged by abstaining. Could it be that Lepper has finally decided to abandon his old allegiances?
But that is all speculation. More to the point is that it is not clear whether parliament really has voted Ziobro's report in. A clear majority voted for it, but the SLD claims that another vote is necessary. The reasons for that are unclear and even Józef Oleksy, the speaker who is himself an SLD politician, says that the opposition's demand to accept the majority decision as final is "logical." But logic doesn't appear to be the guiding principle of this parliament, and Oleksy is non-committal on whether he will follow it in this case.
He might in fact be torn between two sentiments on this. On the one hand, the report is highly critical of his party. On the other, his hatred for Miller, the biggest loser in the whole affair, is a poorly-kept public secret. It must be fun to watch his enemy be humiliated.
Then again, Oleksy has also recently come under fire himself. He used a state helicopter to fly to a party event in Września, near Poznań. While the abuse of state equipment for party ends is always an embarrassing thing to come out about a politician, the whole episode has also given rise to some very bad jokes. Referring to an air crash in which Miller was injured during his term in government, some jokers are even saying that Oleksy envies him everything, even his neck-brace. That is all very well, but why does he have to finance his efforts to get one with taxpayers' money?
However, Oleksy's troubles may be the least of worries at a time when, as the SLD says in a recent press statement, "we have a full-fledged constitutional crisis on our hands." The assessment is true enough, but then again the SLD could have refrained from doing everything in its power to bring it about. Many think that Ziobro went too far in his accusations against the left. But the alternative version, authored by the SLD's Anita Błochowiak, is considered a "pack of lies" by more than 90 percent of Poles. Even among SLD voters, only four percent think it true. Surely, that is a poor performance by the party that remains the largest in this parliament.
Ziobro's report names a group of Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) politicians as the "group holding the power" that Rywin claimed had sent him to Agora to demand a bribe in return for "anything you want passed as law," as the disgraced film director told Adam Michnik, editor of Agora's daily Gazeta Wyborcza, in their now famous taped conversation. The shadowy list includes Włodzimierz Czarzasty, secretary of the National Broad-casting Council (KRRiTV), Aleksandra Jakubowska, deputy minister of culture in Miller's government, and Robert Kwiatkowski, former president of the state-owned television company TVP. Last but not least comes Leszek Miller himself. But that is far from the end of the troubles for the left. Most importantly, President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, is to be summoned to the State Tribunal, a special court to try cases of criminal abuses by state officials, in a step that could kick-off impeachment proceedings.
The country's most popular politician - and that is still Kwaś-niewski, not Andrzej Lepper - stands accused of failing to report a crime after he had found out about Rywin's proposition. Moreover, Ziobro suggests that the president may have consciously obstructed the course of justice in concealing a letter that Rywin had handed him from the commission and public prosecutors.
All that sounds like fun for the opposition, and for the right wing in particular. But Lepper, leader of Samoobrona (Self-Defense), is also keen on impeaching the president and, in fact, has played a big role in passing Ziobro's report.
Miller has cut a forlorn figure ever since stepping down as prime minister on May 2, and this was particularly so when he realized that Self-Defense would vote for Ziobro's report. "Andrzej, please just leave [the parliament building]," he pleaded with Lepper on hearing the news. Many think that Miller had used Lepper to direct anger at the previous, right-wing government, but suddenly his pet creature had become uncontrollable. Indeed, the Rywin-gate report vote was the first time that Lepper defied the SLD on an important issue. Previously, whenever the SLD needed to win an important vote, Self-Defense obliged by abstaining. Could it be that Lepper has finally decided to abandon his old allegiances?
But that is all speculation. More to the point is that it is not clear whether parliament really has voted Ziobro's report in. A clear majority voted for it, but the SLD claims that another vote is necessary. The reasons for that are unclear and even Józef Oleksy, the speaker who is himself an SLD politician, says that the opposition's demand to accept the majority decision as final is "logical." But logic doesn't appear to be the guiding principle of this parliament, and Oleksy is non-committal on whether he will follow it in this case.
He might in fact be torn between two sentiments on this. On the one hand, the report is highly critical of his party. On the other, his hatred for Miller, the biggest loser in the whole affair, is a poorly-kept public secret. It must be fun to watch his enemy be humiliated.
Then again, Oleksy has also recently come under fire himself. He used a state helicopter to fly to a party event in Września, near Poznań. While the abuse of state equipment for party ends is always an embarrassing thing to come out about a politician, the whole episode has also given rise to some very bad jokes. Referring to an air crash in which Miller was injured during his term in government, some jokers are even saying that Oleksy envies him everything, even his neck-brace. That is all very well, but why does he have to finance his efforts to get one with taxpayers' money?
However, Oleksy's troubles may be the least of worries at a time when, as the SLD says in a recent press statement, "we have a full-fledged constitutional crisis on our hands." The assessment is true enough, but then again the SLD could have refrained from doing everything in its power to bring it about. Many think that Ziobro went too far in his accusations against the left. But the alternative version, authored by the SLD's Anita Błochowiak, is considered a "pack of lies" by more than 90 percent of Poles. Even among SLD voters, only four percent think it true. Surely, that is a poor performance by the party that remains the largest in this parliament.
