The media were watching Harper so closely, so desperate to find a scandal, that if his appointees had been paid huge sums beyond what the job called for we would have heard about it trumpeted in headlines in every major newspaper. We never did. I can't recall hearing of any Conservative enriching himself or his buddies from then. Unless you count Mike Duffy, and other senators who played fast and loose with the rules on reimbursement. But that had been going on for a century and involved both parties.