Get Some Ethics City Council: BENN
Saturday columnist Ron Benn takes on the issue of having the Ontario auditor general probe the Tewin project:
A friend of mine once commented, in reference to an internal investigation, that if you are not prepared to step on the bugs under that rock, don’t pick it up. Putting aside the graphic imagery, his comment applies to many of the shortcomings of Ottawa City Hall.
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Former mayor Jim Watson, plus senior staffers John Manconi and Steve Kanellakos were censured by the LRT inquiry for egregious malfeasance. For willfully withholding information from council, thus preventing council from performing its statutory oversight obligations.
The official reaction from council? Nary a word. No resolution condemning this flagrant abuse of power.
The integrity commissioner found that Jan Harder, ex-councillor forever for Barrhaven and chairwoman of the planning committee had created a conflict of interest by hiring, then contracting for the services of the daughter of Jack Stirling. Stirling ran a consulting practice that helped his clients navigate the byzantine labyrinth that is the city’s planning department. The official reaction from council? Nary a word. No resolution condemning this flagrant abuse of power.
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Circling back to my friend’s observations, council has demonstrated no willingness to step on the bugs that were crawling under the stones that were lifted by others. So why bother lifting more stones aside from leading by example?
Perhaps by demonstrating that city council is operating a transparent, open and accountable municipal government.
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Would be a tap dance the Irish have never seen the likes of!!
Audit of Tewin. Why stop there? LRT contracting process; Lansdowne OSEG partnership. This would be such great fun to watch.
Good one, Mr. Benn. Another strongly related example is the Council requesting the Normal Farm Practices Board comment on (or some such similar bland request) on the Tewin clear cutting, rather than ask them for a ruling. Too many creepy crawlies under that rock that might upset relations with a developer?
Jan’s sins were more egregious than that. Not only was Alison Clarke, Jack Stirling’s daughter, in Jan’s employ but she was simultaneously working in her father’s consulting firm as he was advising developers who were appearing in front of Planning Committee which Jan was actively chairing. She never recused herself once because of the conflict position she was in.
In addition, after her period as an employee in Jan’s office, Alison was placed there again as a consultant via a contract between Jan and The Stirling Group, the consulting group of which her father was a principal.
Jack’s ‘punishment’ for these activities? He signed an agreement with the city’s integrity commissioner saying he would refrain from lobbying for a one month period. Said penalty was to be served in August, a time when not much goes on at City Hall and Committees and Council rarely meet. Jan, of course, was not censured in any way because at the council meeting where the issue was to be considered, she resigned as chair of the Planning Committee before she could be held accountable. One of the better demonstrations of “You can’t fire me because I quit!” that I’ve seen.