Muzzling Councillor Halberstadt

Pages and pages and pages of an Administration report designed primarily to keep one of Ward 3's Councillors quiet without pointing that out so that people will know that. I'll take you through some of the report so you will understand what is and what is not going on tonight

I'll talk more about Councillor Halberstadt later. Let me say this about him now. Alan tries and is trying on occasion. He has a streak of independence about him and that independence is showing up when you see the tension between him and Eddie on Council over the past few months. Is it becoming like the conflict between Alan and ex-Mayor Mike Hurst? What is very strange about it all is that Alan was one of Eddie's big boosters when Eddie first ran for mayor.

I am not sure that I can say this about anybody else on Council or on the last one. Most of them just let Eddie do the thinking for them except on the odd occasion. He is after all their Voice on the border issue and it seems their Brain too on that and other matters.

Alan infuriates me when he talks out of both sides of his mouth. You know what I mean, he says one thing at Council and and something else later on that goes completely against what he said. He takes the hits for it as Eddie reminds him of his dual positions and increasingly so at Council. His usual justification is what else could he do. And the answer is, probably nothing. He has to vote the way he does because it is that the best of all evils but it is still not satisfactory.

Nevertheless, Alan is viewed as a troublemaker on Council. His BLOG and his column in BizX magazine where he sometimes says things that must bother City Hall obviously rankle some of his colleagues. Of course they could write a BLOG as well, but most of them claim that they don't read BLOGs anyway so why would they write them? But sources tell us that our elected officials actually do read what we Bloggers have to say.

I was asked whether I was going to speak at Council tonight on the issue of "Accountability, Transparency & Good Government." That topic is of course a joke in the City of Windsor given the secrecy of our Mayor and City Council. I decided not to go since there is no point in doing so.

Remember Counillor Postma's Notice of Motion of an eternity ago that was introduced to put some limits on post employment. That was buried years ago. If what is being presented today is what the Mayor is prepared to approve, then trying to change the minds of the Councillors is an impossible task. They won't dare defy him, not on this issue.

At Council tonight, AMO's Local Authority Services will be retained I am sure as the Meetings Investigator whose job it is to investigate any meeting of Council to ensure that it complies with the law. Oh I know that some people think that this is a meaningful provision since it will allow citizens to request that someone investigate all of our secret, in camera meetings. The Investigator will obviously be kept very, busy in Windsor

That group has been hired by a number of municipalities to be their Investigator. It makes sense for Windsor to do so as well does it not. That is what Administration suggests.

I don't know about you but I'm troubled by this appointment if Council follows through. It's an industry association group after all that is being retained to be the Investigator of its members. Then, apparently LAS will "delegate authority to a third-party company set up to deal with meetings investigations." We are told that the "chosen delegate company is Amberley GavelLtd."

I'm not sure what that means frankly and why we need another party involved as well.

Do you know who one of the principals of that company, Amberley, is? His name is Fred Dean. He's an experienced lawyer who has "acted extensively for municipalities and municipal associations in Ontario."

Isn't Mr. Dean being put into an impossible position when he acts for municipalities and at the same time has to be an Investigator who may have to act against them. Wasn't he also the fellow who advised Eddie and told him that he had no conflict of interest in the Windsor Utilities Commission matter?

Next Council is to adopt a Code of Conduct. That works for me. I'm not going to get into the nitty-gritty of what is being proposed since a lot of it is adopted from a Code worked out by the City of Toronto. Of course, the provisions with respect to post employment conduct are weak but that is hardly unexpected. So much for Councillor Postma's clout.

Then there is the "Let's shut up Alan Halberstadt" Integrity Commissioner that will be approved. I'm sure that Councillor Halberstadt is concerned about it given what has been said in the past but I assure you that it will be used actively by taxpayers. Unlike the Ontario model, members of the public are all out to file complaints.

The Councillor has written comments such as this on his BLOG:

• "For those Councillors who want to shut down my blog (we can only pray that the Integrity officer Mayor Francis and Councillor Lewenza want to hire with taxpayer dollars does not become a censor), I would like to remind them that this website has a "Guest Blog" feature."
  
• "Censorship Commissioner?
  
  Mayor Eddie Francis and Councillors Ken Lewenza and Fulvio Valentinis suggested last week in the Windsor Star that hiring an Integrity Commissioner might be a good idea in the wake of a controversy surrounding the posting of "alleged" sensitive information on the border file on my website.
  
  Actually, the mayor and some of my colleagues have previously rattled the sabres about putting an Integrity Commissioner on the city's payroll, usually in close proximity to suggestions that the blogs I post on my website are negative, or depart from Council's team concept...
  
  I have a hunch that some of my colleagues would love to see an Integrity Commissioner monitor my blogs and administer punishment on me for expressing opinions that do not jive with the Council majority. While I can see the merit in Councillors refraining from challenging Council decisions after the fact in ongoing debate around the Council table, I have grave concerns about any Commissioner being given the power of censorship over a public forum such as this.
  
  I find it hard to believe that such a vile process would even be contemplated in this country in this day and age. But, If that day ever comes to pass, I have a threat for my colleagues, and it isn't veiled.
  
  I will be bringing Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms into the fray with every ounce of energy in my body and soul."

Finally the provisions that would have been helpful in the Windsor Utilities Commission matter, the creation of an Ombudsman's office and the need to appoint an Auditor General are being deferred. They are the really important matters and nothing will be done for months, if ever.

It is the old political trick: ask for a report or pass it off to some other committee to review and recommend. It's just like with Councillor Postma... her proposed Motion was deferred years ago to the City's next Strategic Meeting never to appear again.

(Pssssst. Don't tell any of the Councillors that City Auditor Mike Dunbar sent a report to the City's audit committee in December, 2006 "suggesting the city consider developing an auditor general's office. "That is under review as we speak."

Sure, sure, Administration wants people examining their activities.

So Councillors will be muzzled. Loss of up to three months pay is a chill factor that can be imposed upon them if they are bad little girls and boys and don't play nice with the other team members. More reports needed on the subject of an Ombudsman and an Auditor General to stall for more time and a Meetings Investigation program set up by the municipalities' own trade association.

That is open and transparent Government Windsor style. Do you see why I am not speaking tonight!