I think we are coming down to a lack of training, or whatever the Ethics Commissioner briefing said. Were you not told that your admin assistant isn't supposed to be doing any partisan work? We always knew that the people paid by the department, in my case by Health Canada, did not do partisan work at all.
The fact that you asked your ministerial assistant to prepare or edit the letter is wrong straight off the top. It's not a matter of the stationery. It's that there was a hive of partisan activity going on within the minister's office.