"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

Sunday 11 January 2015

Code of Conduct 2

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Code of Conduct":

How is this different than all the mayors across the region who hold their golf charity events?

Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 10 January 2015 at 18:46


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It isn't .. It would not have been the  point  chosen to start but since you raised it ...

Newmarket has wards. The Mayor and one other represent the town at the Region. The Regional rep like the Mayor, doesn't have a ward and must be elected at large. A modern candidate for the office must be creative and create reasons why he should be elected.

The Mayor's Golf Tournament is a  model of proven success. .They are common across the GTA.They provide Mayors with a stash to dole out to delighted recipients. Not unlike Trillium grants but on a considerably lesser scale.

The 2011 audit of the Trillium Foundation was not positive.

 Mayor's  Golf Tournaments are held to be  sacrosanct  because the intent is so noble.

Except for a couple of aspects. One obvious...the other not so much.

First , the title of  Mayor is a resource that belongs to the Municipality  Like the telephone
number or e-mail address.

The second is obvious  only to those closer to the golf action.

Like  other  more grandiose fund-raising events, the market for ticket sales is relatively exclusive.

Who stands to gain from paying upwards of $25,000 for a table of ten at a banquet or $2,500 for a four person round of golf in the Mayor's Tournament .

What does it profit the benefactors?

Who are they?

If you think abaout it, you know the answer.

They are contractors who do business with the municipality. Developers. Legal firms. Road builders and suppliers. Whoever  hopes to win  or maintain favour , political or administrative.

Well...everybody's doing it ...so it must be O.K.

Developers have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to sit down at a private dinner party and break bread with a Premier of Ontario. How is that different ?

You can argue that's politics . It's as old as the hills.

You are not wrong.It is indeed.

Except  for Codes of Conduct Bylaws voluntarily adopted  by municipal councils  which clearly state a Member  of Council shall not use public resources  available to them for any other purpose except the business of the  municipality.

Golf Tournaments and disbursing of proceeds from the same have nothing to do with the municipality
And everything to do with politics.

According to the news story, John Taylor angrily responded the complaint against him is politically motivated.  Anyone can realistically accept that observation.

When he said the exercise is a waste of public resources, he was not wrong about that either.

But the time for John Taylor and every other municipal Councillor to think about that was when they adopted the Code of Conduct .

In sheep-like torpor intended to assure the community of  apolitical commitment to political function,
they  adopted a redundant Code and created opportunity for  abuse of  town resources and third-party intervention between themselves and the people they represent.

We will speak more of this.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree this one could well be politically motivated but I am pretty sure that the legislation does not differentiate one claim from another. The process is going to have to followed.
He really should have known better - he is not a novice.

Anonymous said...

Sport Aurora has a similar set-up within the town hall which it does not need. They are able to afford to rent space elsewhere in town. It might even be good for them and it would certainly look better. Others do not get the same privilege.

Anonymous said...

Wait 15:27 the town will set up a cushy deal like the SCC at the Amouries....wait for it.

Anonymous said...

It's too bad we can't discuss this without the political side-bar. It would have been better, perhaps, if the complaint in Newmarket had come from a different source. It muddles our thinking.
I kind of keep going back to Evelyn's phrasing that if something isn't good enough for everyone it should not be made available to anyone.

Anonymous said...


I must say your blog indicates you have a very good handle on this topic. You are indeed correct that thousands of dollars to break break with senior municipal officials is not a high price to pay.

Contractors doing public works jobs, for example, like to know, on a first name basis, senior official who will pick up a call or return a call ASAP. Time is money and a verbal o.k. by a municipal official allows the job to proceed without delay.

More often than not, the contractor keeps his butt covered with the o.k. but the municipal official can be on the hook when an audit or closer examination reveals that authorizations should have not been given. Municipal officials have lost jobs over these types of situations but for some contractors it is the price of doing business.



Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if the Aurora food pantry was a recipient to any of the money raised from any of the mayors golf tournaments.

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one who sees a quick fix to the Newmarket situation ?
The Regional Rep simply moves the charity business to his home & issues a brief apology for the " misunderstanding.
done & dusted

Anonymous said...

!9:28
Uh, no. Not that any photo op has shown.

Anonymous said...

19:28
I know the Spirit Walk people donated over a thousand dollars last year.

Anonymous said...

"I know the Spirit Walk people donated over a thousand dollars last year."

Is there a public record of disbursements?

Anonymous said...

16:57
"if something isn't good enough for everyone it should not be made available to anyone."
How very socialist of you.

My problem with the Aurora Mayor's Golf Tournament is that the event is held in Holland Landing.

Considering an Aurora golf course has decided to cease operations because of not enough business, it boggles the mind that the event is held outside of the Town.

Anonymous said...

22:56
You pride yourself on your investigative skills. Look it up.

Anonymous said...

Is it just mayors from relatively small places ? I imagine there would be a howl if the Mayor of TO held such an event. Look at the fuss about Ford's football charity.

Anonymous said...

To 22:56 Contact the Food Pantry they have it on recoord.

Anonymous said...

East Gwillimbury has just created another committee just for this Mayors golf tournament that they have every year. This new committee will be deciding who will get some of this money they raise. All in the name of "transparency"