"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Friday 20 August 2010

Prologue

I am going to talk about Tsubouchi's decision but there are a couple of other things you should know before .

First , I never believed for a second Mr. Tsubouchi would have been retained without foregone certainty of results required.

Even after office hours, the Town Hall is not a secret hideaway Neither is the parking lot. Mr. Tsubouchi is not hard to identify. It is commonly understood , there was a private meeting with the Mayor prior to his appointment.

The six being sued for defamation of character are the same six who signed the first complaint prepared for them by another lawyer, at a cost of $50,000 of taxpayers money.

The same six who voted to publicise the complaint in two newspapers and the town's web site, where it still sits.

The same six who stripped the First Integrity Commissioner of his authority when he ruled the complaint could be seen as wholly political.

The same six whose legal defence is being provided by the Town's Insurance Company.

The same six who voted to accept a decision on a complaint, neither of which are discernible even to the most assiduous reader.

On Tuesday, after another interminable meeting filled with stuff which had no place on the business agenda of a Council, the Mayor, who never tires of her own voice,engaged in criticism of Councillors McRoberts and Collins Mrakas for their refusal, to participate in a questionable process.

Twenty-three pages of written material were read by the chair. Council members left the town hall that night at 1.02 am. The presiding member skipped the in-camera meeting, although she was still in the town hall.

Rules of Order do not permit a Member of Council to criticize another or "impugn" their motives. It has been the rule of the current, hoped soon to be past, presiding member of Aurora Council to do just that.

We have had Professor Robert McDiarmid invited by the Mayor to make a presentation, suggesting Aurora Council members took campaign donations from developers without the slightest evidence to support the contention. McDiarmid had no idea how well he fitted with the plan.

Councillor MacEachern asked for publication of financial statements of election expenses , thereby insinuating the same thing.

Letters have been written to employers and threatening e-mails to residents with accusations of implied wrong-doing.

Elected representatives have been denied the opportunity to participate in the town's business,while non-elected friends of the Mayor,occupy chairs and membership of advisory committees to promote their chances in the upcoming election.

The list of contraventions against any known standard of conduct is endless and keeps on growing.

Yesterday, we received notice 2000 leaflets are going to be distributed ,with more to follow "announcing " Clean-up Aurora, part of the Promenade Study in advance of the plan's approval. This action obscures the fact, pressing decisions pending at the time of the last election were never even approached by the Mormac regime.

Last week, a pamphlet was completed outlining five years of accomplishment of advisory committees and citing "proof" of the wonderful partnership between the administration and "an informed and supportive Council"

.Then there's the sad state of an ever-growing list of outstanding citizens, who served one term on Council with the current Mayor and literally shudder to contemplate the thought of ever doing it again.

You will understand I'm sure when I tell you, in my judgement, Aurora's Code Of Conduct was never intended to be anything but the opposite of its stated intent.

Nor has it proven to be otherwise.



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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Evelyn:

Why don't you stop pussy-footing around and say what you really think?

There seems to be too much politeness in dealing with this viper's nest.

Anonymous said...

Dear Evelyn:

By the way, at what stage are you with your lawsuit against the Sorry Six?

Or can you talk about it?

Anonymous said...

I have in my mind's eye a picture of our little town as a miniature Garden of Eden.

And then one day the Serpent arrived and Aurora went to Hell!

Anonymous said...

"The new communications director is reported to have declared his "job is to get the Mayor re-elected"
If his declaratioin is true then I have major concerns about whose salaries my tax dollars are paying. Isn't he an employee of the town and paid by the town through our taxes? Is his job not to represent the town and inform the public about town matters? Since when was he employed by the mayor and paid by the mayor that his job is to get her re-elected? Wouldn't that mean that he is her campaign manager??
I would say that he is treading on pretty thin ice if he thinks that is what his job is while being paid by us, the taxpayers. Smells of a huge conflict to me; bureaucrats, i.e. people who work for government, are supposed to be impartial and work to carry out government business regardless of who is in power.
I think he should watch himself between now and the election.