At the Gomery Commission......

"A former aide to Heritage Minister Liza Frulla acknowledged Friday he organized two Liberal fundraisers while on the payroll of the ad firm at the centre of the sponsorship scandal.

But John Welch categorically denied working full time for the Liberals while earning a total of $97,000 from Groupaction Marketing in 1999 and 2000. The longtime party organizer did admit he got the Groupaction job after handing in his resume to a top Liberal official, adding he put together two party events after he was hired.

"I helped organize a dinner for Don Boudria," he told the inquiry, though he didn't say whether he did it on company time.

"Also during that year, I organized a dinner for the federal Liberal party (in) Brome-Missisquoi."

Welch is one of about two dozen Liberals who Groupaction president Jean Brault said he hired or paid off to satisfy persistent requests by top party officials.

But Welch's testimony failed to shed light on Brault's assertion that Welch worked the phones for the party from Groupaction's office.

Both men agreed on one point - that Welch did nearly no work for Groupaction during his year on the payroll."