Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Mainstream Media Coverage Continued

In case you missed it, Toronto Sun article Aurora Sacks its Ethics Czar

"Mayor Phyllis Morris said she couldn't release a copy of the report, but calls the firing and the filing of the report a "huge coincidence."

The commissioner's report will be released in September when it goes to council and will be turned over to the next integrity czar, she said."

We all look forward to seeing the full unedited report.

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30 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you're looking forward to an unedited version of anything, don't go to Buck's blog.

This is what Councillor Buck says on her blog:

"Wording from the Council Resolution from August 6th indicates beyond question " despite efforts to persuade the Commissioner", there was a determined effort to interfere with the process and obtain the decision they desired."

and this is what the minutes of the August 6, 2009 meeting say:

"THAT further to repeated attempts to seek the Integrity Commissioner’s cooperation to adhere to the Town’s lawfully sanctioned Code of Conduct complaints process, it is recommended that the powers and duties of the Integrity Commissioner be removed effective immediately;"

There is a difference. I think Councillor Buck deliberately left part of the motion out or changed it, because it didn't fit her version of events.

The question here is who is credible. I'm not buying what Buck is selling - for obvious reasons.

Anonymous said...

are u kidding me??


spin spin spin spin..

try as you may to send the citizen's off the tracks...

the fact remains that morris and the Gos laid a complaint it was found to have no merit and then they fire the man that made the decision.....


wow we really are takin crazy pills in this town...

Anonymous said...

August 11, 2009 4:19 PM

Did you lose your glasses?

Buck claims something the facts support something else!

Where do you see it was without merit? I don't see that.

Anonymous said...

That's our problem, Anonymous August 11, 2009 3:27 PM

Who to believe?

I've tracked enough of Councillor Buck's take on things to take her with a gigantic salt block.

Extreme comment from an in/out position lacks a professional tone.

I want Aurora to be run like a business.
Councillor Buck's blogs would be considered unprofessional in business.

I want a Code of Conduct that passes the smell test in private business.

Do you want your Town Corporation to be attacked and undermined?

I don't think we are served when we have no ethical, professional boundaries or bylaws enforced.

someone who loves this town more than politics said...

Anonymous - 5:23PM

"Do you want your Town attacked and undermined"

what? Please cite an example where you feel this is the case.

What I want is my "Town corporation" questioned, and at every turn with this GOS running the show, not a bunch of sheeple that blindly do the chair's bidding and neglect ours.

When you say "I don't think we are served when we have no ethical, professional boundaries or bylaws enforced."

It seems that the code of conduct the GOS have arrived at serves the exact opposite and the problem the GOS is having is finding someone with ethics to rubber stamp it, good luck with that.

The mayor's words are:

"A mayor should ensure that EVERYONE's voice is heard, RESPECT new ideas, and SUPPORT council members in doing their job to make local government accountable to the public."

If you need high priced lawyers, a code of conduct and multiple integrity commissioners to achieve this then you are a lousy mayor and it more than shows

Anonymous said...

To:
August 11, 2009 4:19 PM

watch todays rogers coverage...

why was the mayor ducking the news...

and if your so smart and know so much what did the integrity commish say then???

please let us all know then

"t is the DECISION of my office that this statement of complaint, as is, is unacceptable and that as is, no investigation or inquiry shall take place. The complaint is ILL-FORMED in that some of its enumerated signatories have refused to sign and have indeed repudiated the use of their names. It is INCOMPLETE in that the impacts of its allegations upon the behaviour, duties, and/or reputation of councillors(or the organization) themselves is absent. Query oo8 is INAPPROPRIATE that the way it was crafted, politicized and communicated, may be, and be seen to be, wholly political.Explanation of this last test point can be seen in the many tests or measures of political interference that were raised in my e-mail of July 30th in direct communication to the proponents."

not sure where you learned to read but from but it clearly states that it is politicl in nature and ill-formed...


man those crazy pills sure must taste good....

Anonymous said...

Based on past experience a negative (to Ms Morris) decision will never see the light of day. Don't hold your breath waiting for a full disclosure of Nitkin's Decision.

To Anonymous 5:23 who holds Buck accountable entirely for this mess and wants to see the Town of Aurora run like a business. Three reasons you are full of it.
1)Voting Blocks ie follow the leader politics have no place in municipal politics, ergo Aurora.
2) To be run like a business you cannot have no minds like Gaertner (I don't care how many trees she saves) or Granger (Jethro Bodine may have had more on the ball) on Council.
3)Voting in a mayor who was the source of dysfunction to two previous mayors was not wise.Furthermore her so called business experience if you haven't noticed is nothing but embellishment, embellishment, embellishment.Furthermore she in now quoted as calling this whole Nitkin episode a learning experience. Are you kidding me! We are wasting all this legal money so she can learn from the experience? You really buy that?

2010 can't come fast enough.

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget that this Mayor crowned herself the Queen of "openness and transparency". If she or any of GOS truly were open and transparent, rather than spinning everything to death there wouldn't be all this confusion in the first place.

Anonymous said...

Is there anyone that can clearly explain the process that one would need to pursue to get the information on the amount of OUR dollars Phyllis has so carelessly and unnecessarily spent on legal fees to enable her personal battle with Evelyn? I'm still chuckling over the Jethro Bodine comment...my gosh that's hilarious!

Anonymous said...

I hope people continue to tell the truth so that staff will finally feel supported and will be able to tell all about the mayor's bullying tactics. I'd like to know how many staff members are off on "stress" leave and how many continued to be paid by the town long after they left because they were forced out the door by the incompetence and threats of the bully. The mayor needs to be held accountable. WE pay for the imcompetence.

Anonymous said...

And further, didn't I see a comment in the paper from the Mayor saying "I don't read everything that crosses my desk". Well guess what, when you try to micro manage the entire corporation that's exactly what happens, too much volume and not enough attention to detail. Any body with any kind of real business background would know that.

White Knight said...

To August 11th, 8:57
I too am anxious to know how much the town has spent on legal fees since the inauguration of this council.
Perhaps we need a collective residents request to the CFO for the information. We could post it on the website where Mr. Nitkin's information used to be and all residents who wish to have the legal fees information could sign up. My understanding is that it is part of the public domain. I shudder at the thought of paying for yet another recruitment process to replace the fired IC... and then paying him/her for an unnecessary job.
I too am giggling about Jethro Bodine. The best I could ever come up with was Stephen Gump.

Anonymous said...

I know it has been posted already, but it might be "interesting" to list the town staff and councillors or third party advisers's (i.e. integrity commissioners and committee members) that been fired or quit since the start of the term.

I bet that the list is as long as your arm and it will most likley grow imn the very near future.

This house of cards is coming down and all apparently because Councillor Buck has expressed her views as she has for forty years. Amazing how blogs can change the world eh ?

Anonymous said...

According to Councillor Buck,

"As a Councillor, they can't make me quit and they can't shut me up. Even when they get a lawyer to write it and adopt a Code of Conduct, appoint an Integrity Commissioner ,get a lawyer to write a phony complaint against me, file it with the Integrity Commissioner, get shot down and fire the Integrity Commissioner.They can't make me quit.

All they did was prod me with a pointy stick and create another unholy mess for themselves.

Hallelujah...I cry"

I am shocked that anyone with a modicum of civility would uphold the values espoused triumphantly by Councillor Buck.

The news made me tune in and I'm shocked.
I know people where I work couldn't handle such a nasty environment.

Many are to blame.
No one is innocent.

Anonymous said...

If you want to see the report, and can't wait or don't trust the Mayor, call Buck she has it. I'm sure she'll share with the Aurora Citizen.

Anonymous said...

I'm probably like Councillor Granger.
I don't always get my ideas out completely, quickly.
But I have a good heart and am devoted to the feeling of community.

Do you think what Councillor Buck is doing has more value?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps we should start a good old fashioned letter writing campaign to the Mayor and GOS. If we all took the time to write to them individually, perhaps there is small chance they may listen. Points we could make are:
1. We don't need or want another IC.
2. Clearly its just a political game, and we don't want our hard earned tax dollars spent on this nonsense.
3. Every Councillor and every candidate will be held accountable to us, the voters next November.
4. Those who are interested don't need an IC to tell us who is worthy of our vote next November. We will decide that ourselves.
5. To hire a new IC now, who will be as lame duck as the Council that hired them come next year is a total and outrageous waste of time and money.
And while we are at it, demand that the complaint be removed from the Town website. It never should have been there in the first place. Better still maybe that letter should go to the CAO, he seems to be the guy with the power to demand items be removed from websites.

Anonymous said...

"Mayor Phyllis Morris said she couldn't release a copy of the report, but calls the firing and the filing of the report a "huge coincidence."

How stupid does she really think we are. I'm insulted.

Doubting Thomas said...

"The news made me tune in and I'm shocked."

So, this is your first post?

Anonymous said...

"If we all took the time to write to them individually, perhaps there is small chance they may listen."

Would they though? Remember all the people who came forward wanting a by-election? I believe I read somewhere that there was more correspondance from the public (received by council) in favour of a by-election - and that got shot down.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous August 12, 2009 7:35 PM wrote : "I'm probably like Councillor Granger.
I don't always get my ideas out completely, quickly.
But I have a good heart and am devoted to the feeling of community.
Do you think what Councillor Buck is doing has more value?"

Boy you really don't get it. Yes Mr. Granger is slow to formulate articulate responses in council.No problem, others are similar so what. What distinguishes Mr. Granger from the others is that he does not think for himself. Whatever side of the argument MacMor is on there is Granger. We supposedly elected Mr. Granger to listen articulate and vote on the various issues on council based on his beliefs.To unilaterally fall in line with Macmor, regardless and then not be able to articulate why is where Mr Grangers shortcomings become evident. His volunteer work notwithstanding. By the way Gaertner and to lesser extent Wilson are equally guilty.

Anonymous said...

To August 12 9:03 pm
Have you ever tried writing to evelina with your viewpoint, especially if it does not agree with her? Be prepared for a vitriolic, sarcastic email in reply... She leaves Buck behind in the dust!

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous 9:03

In answer to your question... YES.

Evelina MacEachern felt quit comfortable pushing me what some might say was "inside" information when I was on her side but boy oh boy, when I dared to hold my ground on an issue I actually knew something about and she had not the first clue... WHAM... I got nailed with the poison pen... BIG TIME. There was nothing civil or respectful about it, I can assure you.

As they say, people act in character, so we can expect more of the same.

Anonymous said...

August 13, 2009 10:57 PM

I can't speak to what Evakina wrote or didn't write to you; but I think there's adifference between sending a personal letter / email and launching a public attack on the blog or at the council chamber even if it is filled with innuendos.

The example that comes to mind is the applicant at a public planning meeting who was alluded to, by Buck, as wanting to open a commom bawdy house, with all it's implications.

Evelyn Buck said...

The report before the Council was a recommendation for a zoning change.
A Spa on Wellington Street with rooms and a bathroom for overnight accommodation; no swimming pool, tennis courts, golf course idyllic gardens or meandering paths to enjoy.
What I said was,
"It sound like a house of hankey-pankey to me"
And so it did.
The applicant promptly contemplated consulting with her lawyer.
What was that about?

Anonymous said...

Evelyn, I don't think what you said mattered to the spa people - they advertize as Sormeh Spa and Inn - so they must be operating as an inn.

I don't know why anyone would want to stay overnight in a room above a spa on Wellington Street personally. The Hojo is right up the street.

I, for one, understand your concern at what the rooms would be used for. How many 'massage parlours' have we seen go down in cities just south of us, for offering more than the services offered??

It never hurts to ask!!

Anonymous said...

To Evelyn Buck:

The following are some quotes from the meeting in question, just to ensure everyone understands what you said. The following was extracted from a report by Sean Pearce of the Era Banner.

“I think that statement should be retracted, because I think it’s completely inappropriate,” Councillor Al Wilson said. “It’s not appropriate in jest or any other way.”

In an attempt to keep things orderly, deputy mayor Bob McRoberts, who chaired the meeting, gave Ms Buck an opportunity to rephrase her remarks or indicate she was joking. Ms Buck would hear none of it.

“I’m not saying it in jest, because I’m deadly serious,” she said. “If you want me to rephrase it, fine. You want another word? Bordello.”

So Councillor Buck, did I misunderstand you? Exactly what were you trying to say?

Anonymous said...

why are we talking about this nonsense and not the real issues....


geeewzzzz more spin spin spin....


blame buck .....


maybe it is her fault that the weather has been crappy too.....

Anonymous said...

"why are we talking about this nonsense and not the real issues...."

It's a typical ploy - misdirection.

(To paraphrase, "Pay no attention to the mayor behind the closed door")

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous Aug 12 7:35PM

I cannot imagine that anyone would say that Granger is doing a good job on Council. He really is a puppy dog sniffing his own butt when the mayor's is too full with Wilson, Gallo and McEachren sniffing hers. He is a waste of time and can actually have an arguement with himself and loose.