"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

Monday 6 April 2015

YOU WERE ASKING

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A THANK YOU OUTSTANDING": 

Who is Al Wilson?

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Al Wilson held public office in the Mormac regime. He filed the complaint against me with the Integrity Commissioner.

A lawyer retained by himself and five others was instructed to "investigate" two blogs written by myself and prepare a statement for publication. 

The lawyer advised there was no legal provision for a Council to file a complaint . So Wilson did the deed. The Five others 
attached signatures. 

Staff were directed to publish the statement in two local newspapers. and  on the World Wide Web. They did that but without town I.D.in the newspaper publications. 

Cost  of the publication is not known at this time. 

The lawyer's fee was $43,000 or thereabouts. It included about $4,000 paid to a P.R.firm  to "ameliorate damage " caused by the Integrity Commissioner decision. 

The complaint was dismissed. The commissioner ruled the parties had acted as judge,jury and prosecutor "for purely political purposes"

meeting of the six complainants lasting six hours, ending at one o'clock in the morning, resulted in a decision by the parties to dismiss the Integrity Commissioner .

His retainer  for a twelve months contract would have been the cost of that exercise plus the fee  for processing the complaint. 

The day his decision was provided to myself by the Town clerk was the day that official "decided  to take early retirement"

A five year contract had been signed eight months previously. The settlement would likely have been the value of the remaining four years and four months.  

The Statement  of Complaint had been read into the public record by another of the parties and the entire process was  taped for public viewing by Rogers Cable Television. 

Despite various steps taken In the process,  litigation proceeded to trial and $845,000 in fees to defend the action was reported  to Council  at a public meeting immediately prior to the last election.

Councillor John Able made the statement the litigation was about winning millions in damages. Mayor Dawe murmured his concurrence 

Town insurance premiums increased the year following, by 41%. 

The same group  authorized litigation in the previous term against three citizens . The action was ruled to be S.L.A.P.P. ( litigation for the purpose of silencing public criticism) and dismissed.  

The town solicitor filed the only affidavit in the case.  A finding in the decision was his answers had been evasive and not truthful. 

The solicitor was terminated by the new Council with a settlement.

$45,000 legal costs incurred by the former Mayor were paid by  the new Council on advice by a solicitor for a fee of $8,000.

The town is currently defending an action by the former Mayor for remaining costs in the action against the three residents. 

Additional  fees were incurred in the first two years of the 2006 term for several lawyers to pursue an action for invasion of privacy of the former Mayor by predecessor Mayor Tim Jones. 

No costs for these  proceedings are known. Records were shredded in the weeks following the 2010 election.

Former Councillor Wilson was first elected after a second campaign 
His platform was "fiscal responsibility"

Along with three of the parties involved in the recurring legal proceedings, litigation and complaint , he was not re-elected. 

Mayor Dawe and Councillor Abel were two of the replacements. 

11 comments:

Anonymous said...


A fat lot of good from these replacements.

How stupid for Abel and Dawe to say that "litigation was about winning millions in damages."

People should really think before they open their mouths, especially when it is just nonsense that spews forth.

Anonymous said...

Hey Evelyn...Do you see an end in sight in this brutal tunnel?

Anonymous said...

I did not realize that Morris was still pursuing costs. The last time I caught a whiff of news was that the thing had moved to small claims court but I cannot even recall the source of that possibly incorrect information.

Anonymous said...

Those "replacements" better watch what they say. They're no match for our Evelyn!

Anonymous said...

14:28
Really? Your Evelyn is a town resident - just like a lot of other people. Hardly anyone paid attention to her when she was in office, even less pay attention now.

Anonymous said...

7:40
But she just kept on getting elected, didn't she ?

Anonymous said...

7:40 but you are paying attention to what she writes here, you comment as well so how can you say hardly anyone paid attention to her. Irony in your statement.

Anonymous said...

@11:18

7:40 didn't say *no one* paid/pays attention.

Anonymous said...

No. No, she didn't, 10:48.

Anonymous said...

10:48 - Um, no, she didn't...

Theresa Buck said...

You would be amazed at how many people paid attention, outside of Aurora. I am continually asked if I am related to Evelyn Buck in many many municipalities other than Aurora. You are fooling yourself if you think "hardly anyone paid attention to her when she was in office". I am also told by many that they tuned in to Aurora Council meetings on Rogers specifically to see Councillor Buck and how she was holding others accountable for their actions. I have heard lately the ratings for Aurora Council meetings have fallen since October 2014.