Evelyn Buck: a destructive force
As a long-time resident of Aurora and concerned citizen, I am sending this to all members of council, including Councillor Buck. I wish to remain anonymous out of fear. I have watched with dismay as Councillor Buck has heaped her relentless, malicious attacks upon those who dare to disagree with her.
I was moved to write after watching Councillor Buck's deliberate manipulation of council to create an unseemly procedural conundrum following the resignation of Councillor Marsh.
Here is what I observed:
1. Councillor Buck wanted a by-election.
2. Other councillors wanted to defer the matter for two weeks to gather input from the community.
3. Councillor Buck vehemently rejected that position.
4. Her motion was defeated in a tie vote.
5. The consequence, easily anticipated and no doubt welcomed by Councillor Buck, was a vexing procedural problem with no obvious on-the-spot soultion (save repealing the procedural bylaw!)
6. Council was then forced to respond to the problem created by Councillor Buck's manipulation.
7. During the debate that followed, Councillor Buck focused on the responses of others, finally setting herself up as a problem-solver. Of course, she would agree to a deferral to allow more time for public response. How reasonable. An hour earlier, she had taken the opposite position.
8. Councillor Buck wins again.
9. The taxpayers lose. The embarrassing spectacle of a dysfunctional council continues.
10. As is her custom, Councillor Buck again focused on creating discord, criticizing her colleagues and manipulating them into emotional responses.
11. Councillor Buck came into this term with eyes open, seemingly determined to maintain the discord she had nurtured throughout the previous term.
12. Tim Jones lost the mayoral election, in part because of the perception that he could not control a dysfunctional council, and could not control Councillor Buck. Are we making progress this term? What difference will ANOTHER code of ethics make?
13. No one can control Councillor Buck because she willfully, maliciously and self-righteously seeks to create conflict rather than co-operation. What matters most to her is to win. All else is secondary.
14. While she wins, we lose.
- $40,000 for a by-election
- $16,000 to pay a lawyer to explore council's options for dealing with her behaviour.
16. Councillor Buck has contributed mightily to the resignation of one councillor. What if others conclude that they too cannot weather the constant disruption and abuse and can no longer function in this environment? Multiple council vacancies over a four-year term might have sounded implausible a year ago. For those who watch council meetings regularly on cable TV, that prospect does not seem so implausible in May 2008.
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12 comments:
One might agree or disagree but it hardly qualifies as hate mail, as I read it.
If it were me I would be concerned, especially if nobody knew where the letter came from and the letter said everyone else on council got a copy but nobody even mentioned it? I don't think it's 'hate mail' exactly, but I don't see why anyone needs to be 'afraid' of you. Maybe they work for the town? It sounds like an educated person, based on the vocabulary.
Seems to me that when it came right down to it the by-election issue got squashed because the Mayor had a lawyer there to scare everyone into submission, regardless of what the public wanted.
Anyway, Glad to see you back!
A tiny tempest in a tiny teacup in a tiny town.
I was anticipating hate mail. When it came I was surprised that the points made were ones that gave me pause for thought.
It made me wonder that someone would consider it hate mail, especially when I consider the blog itself. Maybe it's me but it seemed hypocritical for you of all people to consider it hateful, as opposed to presenting what seemed to me a reasoned point of view.
I was left wondering why you chose to share it at this time.
You don't know where it came from?
Like a blog?
anonymous said...
"I was anticipating hate mail. When it came I was surprised that the points made were ones that gave me pause for thought.
It made me wonder that someone would consider it hate mail, especially when I consider the blog itself. Maybe it's me but it seemed hypocritical for you of all people to consider it hateful, as opposed to presenting what seemed to me a reasoned point of view.
I was left wondering why you chose to share it at this time."
Sue Walmer, is that you? (or some other 'Phyllistine'?)
I find the writers 'perception' of the events surrounding the by-election issue interesting and do not share most of those perceptions.
I would however like to comment on one part of the letter specifically, and that is the comment that "Councillor Buck has contributed mightily to the resignation of one councillor."
Councillor Buck did not contribute mightily or even slightly to my resignation. Councillor Buck and I often disagreed on issues and voted opposingly, however, she always treated my point of view with respect, as I did hers.
I was able to learn from Councillor Buck's vast erperience and the privelege of working with her was one of the huge benefits that I took away from my shortened term.
You may not always agree with C. Buck's delivery or position, but she deserves imense respect for continuing to try and present opposing views to those of the current Morris block. Just look at the last Council meeting, where the issue of the private property lights at Cdn Tire was voted on.......6 to 3 was the result. I think a number of people expected nothing different.
I don't think this is hate mail, but I do think the writer needs to put some perspective on their perceptions!
When I read it, you could insert Phyllis Morris' name instead of Councillor Buck's, so it would seem that perception is in the eye of the beholder.
Yes perception is in the eye of the beholder.
Grace, you bailed.
Ev and Phyllis are locked in a battle of egos.
You might imagine that both are to blame.
You Grace bailed, causing even more strife for me, a fixed income taxpayer, who does not appreciate the histrionics of any of you who believe YOUR point of view is THE point of view.
You care only for yourselves.
These are complex times when we need to problem solve to survive and some of you want only to battle for your own personal issues.
We all lose!
This isn't hate mail. Ms Buck isn't getting her way and she's throwing a temper tantrum. The writer merely wrote what many in town think.
"The writer merely wrote what many in town think."
Or what a few want many to think. To vilify and demonize Cllr Buck is merely an attempt at misdirection. (Which, frankly, is giving far more attention (and potential power) to a single vote among nine. A "thorn in the side" gets magnified and can galvanize greater opposition)
Rather than show true, proactive leadership they instead obsess over every dissenting opinion, any perceived criticism. What we're left with is a reactive, micro-managing mayor (w/ confederates) bogged down in the vain hope of controlling the town's legislative AND administrative duties.
As much as Morris and MacEachern can't abide criticism and "misinformation" (their term) contained in this blog, The Auroran and the Aurora Citizen blog what must really compound their aggravation and frustration is the failure to control it. Indeed, the mayor was planning to hire a PR flack (sorry, "Communications Specialist" or some such) to handle media releases/publicity on behalf of the mayor (and council...well, some of them). Not for the business of the Corporation of the Town of Aurora but a political PR flack to 'manage the message'. Thankfully, I believe this proposed position didn't survive the budget process.
Being overly sensitive to criticism and exhibiting an inflexible "if you're not with us, you're against us" attitude might indicate insecurity, an overcompensation. There's definitely no collegial sense of consensus building or a team dynamic on this council. That comes from good leadership.
Things didn't devolve to this state; lines were drawn from the beginning. Even with the election won, it seemed the mayor and her main ally were still in battle mode; that there were factions in the town hall and within the town itself that required combating. That undercurrent of paranoia is unsettling.
Efforts were made to differentiate this mayor and council from previous ones. It's difficult to see improvements - and that wasn't a particularly unattainable goal. The bar wasn't set that high (with some individual exceptions).
Believe me, I was no fan of the previous mayor, far from it, in fact. That's why hopes were high. Those hopes have been dashed. It's also why many former supporters are now highly critical of Mayor Morris. This vehement criticism is born of a sense of betrayal of those raised hopes.
Signed,
Disappointed and dismayed in 'dis town
You are absolutely correct!
You helped me realize that this blog, The Auroran, and Aurora Citizen are all part of a very small group who want to flex their muscles, without benefit of having their point of view being represented by elected representatives.
This small group is focussed on vilifying and demoralizing those who were elected. Their tactics are warlike. I shall ignore them all because if there is any truth in what they claim it is buried in hatred, and not worthy of my attention.
They want to undermine democracy; they want to undermine the goodwill of Aurora.
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