R.H. Council provides a slush fund for the Mayor to distribute as he pleases .Apparently, it pleased him to be generous and he overspent the fund. The Integrity Commissioner's decision was not to validate the complaint because the excess largesse went to deserving causes.
Obviously the story has multiple facets.
The first question that popped into my head was identity of the Integrity jCommissioner.
David Tsubouchi was appointed by Richmond Hill after his twelve month contract in Aurora. He dealt with two complaints made at the same time , by the same Councillor hagainst the same Councillor.
Mr. Tsubouchi succeeded Aurora's first Integrity Commissioner who was "stripped of his authority" concurrently with his first decision to find a complaint was made for "purely forpolitical purposes"
I sought to discover who made that Richmond Hill decision.
Wikipedia was no help. Mr.Tsubouchi has a colorful background but no reference is made to his
Aurora stint as Integrity Commissioner or subsequent years in the same role in Richmond Hill.
He apparently left Richmond Hill for another government appointment as Chair of a controversial agency that collects annual,fees from contractors who do not recognise a function.
I don't know when the Code of Conduct complaint was or who made it .
I don't know why Richmond Hill Council provides the Mayor with a bottomless pocket to pick.
I'm not even sure there's anyone left who gives a damn.
But if details are available ,I will post them to wit.
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6 comments:
The man was re-elected so he regards this all as past history. Perhaps a lesson was learned but I doubt it given the votes.
I do not think there should be any integrity commissioners. Even the good ones can fare badly. Aurora's first one had impeccable credentials and managed to get fired. As far as I can tell the second was just a lawyer appointed to the job. He left ' because council was going in a different direction ' or some such nonsense.
Found this for you.
http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/4858104-breaking-judge-tosses-out-conflict-charges-against-richmond-hill-mayor/
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/10/27/dave-barrow-re-elected-mayor-of-richmond-hill
“RICHMOND HILL - In this suburban region north of Toronto where urban sprawl and lack of public transportation are glaring issues, dirty politics raged between mayoral candidates.
But, in the end, incumbent Dave Barrow came out on top as the new mayor.
At the centre of the storm were two mayoral candidates -- councillor Carmine Perrelli and Sridhar Methuku.
Methuku, supported by Perrelli, filed misconduct charges against Barrow, claiming he had used the city’s marketing and community events fund as his own personal slush fund and went over budget by $10,000.
Justice Mark Edwards tossed the charge, calling Methuku’s motives “suspicious.” Last week, Methuku was ordered to pay Barrow’s legal fees of $50,000.
Methuku, who used questionable tactics when he sent out flyers to residents to spread the gossip against Barrow, then stepped out of the race, but Perrelli continued on in his bid for mayor and managed to get 30% of the votes.
Perrelli was previously caught using city money to expense a new set of golf clubs and shoes. He is now under investigation by the integrity commissioner for using public funds for mass mailings to residents. Perrelli also tried to sue his own town because he opposed a bylaw, costing the town several thousand dollars.”
Integrity Commissioner : Richmond Hill
http://www.town.richmond-hill.on.ca/subpage.asp?textonly=true&pageid=news_releases_10_29_2013b
http://www.richmondhill.ca/documents/meetings/council/5_26_2014_19_30/Item%202.0%20-%20Interim%20Report%20by%20the%20Integrity%20Commissioner.pdf
http://www.richmondhill.ca/documents/meetings/cow/2_17_2015_16_30/Item%208%20-%20Integrity%20Commissioner%20Hiring%20Process.pdf?
Any mayor who runs a similar event leave him/herself open to criticism and possible defeat at the polls. If not in one term, then perhaps in another. It is risky business long term even if it feels good at the time.
I did some reading on the web about this slush fund. How this mayor got away with this is beyond me. Wow! Gotta love politics.
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