Pamela Wallin's friends write letters of support

Some friends and former colleagues of Pamela Wallin are rallying behind the embattled senator.

The group has written individual letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Senator Claude Carignan, the government leader in the Senate, defending Wallin.

Shelley Ambrose, co-publisher of The Walrus magazine, and award-winning writer Anna Porter are among those denouncing the move underway to suspend Wallin without pay. 

The letter-writing campaign coincides with a debate in the red chamber over the motions to suspend Wallin, Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau. All three were former members of the Conservative caucus and appointed by Harper.

“It seems both cruel and unnecessary to add to the already completely over-the-top public stoning of Senator Wallin,” wrote Ambrose. “Senator Wallin did not accept money from a member of the Prime Minister's Office. She has not been arrested or charged. Whether she lives in Saskatchewan or Toronto, she certainly did not live in Ottawa and so was always entitled to the housing allowance.”

Porter conceded that Wallin may have made mistakes, but insisted the former broadcast journalist and diplomat did not do anything dishonest.

“Senator Wallin was immensely useful to Conservative candidates and at party events as a carrot to bring in the undecided,” Porter wrote. “She is a great public speaker. Her career is now in ruins, her reputation is mud, her personal life has been destroyed. What possible reason would there be to continue to persecute her?”

Journalist John Gray and television executive Nancy Franklin also wrote letters.

Read the full letters here