Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "An
Echo from the past":
Oh yes that is true as physical contact against
bloggers has begun.They do it to seek a reaction and then cry out.Kind of like
the player in hockey who retaliates and gets the two minutes of shame in the
box. Bullying at its finest.
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It's interesting that the effort to prevent bullying is focused on school children.
In the Mormac regime, bullying was constant and concentrated. with every detail planned in the midnight hours in the Mayor's office.
But carried out in the public eye. On camera. For everyone to see.
Grace Marsh's resignation came after an episode of harridan screeching and the threat "I will destroy you if you dare pursue that idea". from the staircase in the town hall.
The idea was benign. Use of the old library site for social housing.
The harridan declared she had plans of her own.
Yes, it was an assault.
No, there was no dignified response.
No turning back.
No going forward from that point.
Grace resigned.
Being elected to public office was the high point in Grace's life. She spoke regularly of her father who spent his working career in public service as a firefighter.
No-one could have been more proud than Grace of being given the opportunity, hopefully, to make a difference.
In no other term of office in the last fifty years of Aurora politics could Grace have had a matching experience.
A few comments back, a leak from town staff sources was quoted "Let's get Evelyn. She's poor. She needs the money"
I published it but knew it could not be completely true.
My name was never referred save to be spat out in hatred as "Buck"
I was not like Grace.
They had to go the route of adopting a Code of Conduct. Appointing an Integrity Commissioner to the public payroll Using $70,000 of town funds for legal fees to concoct a Code of Conduct complaint and have it filed by former Councillor Al Wilson and signed by the other five. .
Wilson also was fond of screeching rants of intimidation with Grace as the favourite target. To excuse himself he would confide later, it was really Buck he was mad at.
Apparently he didn't think it wise to spew his venom in my direction.
Then there was John Gallo's request the day after the election, that I step aside and let him to have my seat.
And of course, the final act of revenge of slapping constituents with a law suit paid for with their own tax dollars.
Irony reigns supreme in any contemplation of a Code of Conduct.
A litany of numbered clauses of upright behaviour, standing like a glowing white Michelangelo statue in the midst of a cesspool of degrading human behaviour. .
Do you think Grace Marsh will run again? I hope she does.
ReplyDeleteDont forget Wilson and his rants and attacks on a citizen and market vendour.He was heard more than once lecturing his target about association with Councilor Buck and then he would snap on them.He believed if you communicated with Councilor Buck you thus supported bullying.What a sad sad man.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that those totally lacking in a sense of humour are capable of irony. A genuine laugh that is not based upon another's discomfort is impossible. But they are not aware of the deficiency.
ReplyDeleteI think it might have been Evalina but one of that top duo told Grace that all the work she was doing & all her mail was being kept ' in case' they needed it against her. The lawyer card seems to have been played frequently. Great way to encourage Team Spirit. Not.
ReplyDeleteSo, no, 1:46 PM. I do not expect to see Grace run again. It is going to be difficult yet again to get candidates with quality to step forward & risk getting pasted.
To: 4:59 PM
ReplyDeleteI think that the threat of legal action appears to have been a tool that some Aurora politicians (mostly former politicians) seem to be prepared to use as a hammer in order to intimidate anyone that gets in their way politically. I find it scary as hell that these people call themselves our democratic representatives and yet they don’t seem to see the error in their ways. Their approach to government makes me think of “A Brave New World”, “1984”, “Animal Far” and “Lord of the Flies”.
Encroachments on basic civil liberties and common decency are shrouded in a cloak of righteousness. The most scary thing of all is that they don’t see anything wrong with their actions and if they return to council after the next election the political acrimony and back stabbing will continue.
" It is going to be difficult yet again to get candidates with quality to step forward & risk getting pasted."
ReplyDeleteI challenge you to tell me what "quality" you are looking for. This is a thankless job and those that supposedly "showed promise" by those here and other blogs now show their disdain for everything that they do.
I would not want to enter this lions' den.
8:52 AM
ReplyDeleteMarch seems to have come in like a lamb. Could we please try and keep a positive slant on things? Not all the councillors have proved to be disappointing. It is possible that we set the bar too high especially for the novices. It is certainly an improvement from the last Council.
To 8:52 AM:
ReplyDeleteChallenging a political stance does not have to mean that translates in to “disdaining” someone. Launching private lawsuits (especially with the use of vaguely worded council motions debated behind closed doors and with the use of our tax dollars) and screaming at elected officials, staff and even in one case a sixteen year old girl, in a childish and petulant way demonstrates the kind of disdain for the opinions of others that I think that most people are fed up with. We need politicians that can build consensus to the maximum extent possible under the political circumstances and to act in a professional way is demonstrated more by the current council than the past, with a few notable exceptions.
A town without a Habitat project is a town lacking a soul. We seem to be able to afford all kinds of facades, but nothing for social housing.
ReplyDeleteTo 9:30 AM:
ReplyDelete"Could we please try and keep a positive slant on things? Not all the councillors have proved to be disappointing."
I like the sentiment. We should all strive to be positive but at the same time we need to hold our elected officials accountable. We can't be expected to let some politicians (past or present) re-write history or distort the truth as we know it. It's a fine line between civility and accountability. I also think that a lot of people have every right to be pissed off at what some politicians have done.
I think that we should all continue to call for civility and try to hold the standard of debate above what we witnessed during the last council term, but we should never forget and we should not let others forget.
The current council is far more civil and respectful than the previous one, in my opinion. That’s a good start.
To 9:51 AM:
ReplyDeleteI think if this and other sites kept to "challenging a political stance" you would be correct.
Unfortunitly, the radicals tend to fall on the extreme side. Naming calling, wishing of bad things, etc.
It has never been a pleasant debate.