Flipping Mayor: Call In The Police (Part III)

Absolutely disgusting to me.

"Let's move on" Annie did it again in her column:

• "We spent up to $15,000 and 31/2 months for five pages concluding that we don't know who leaked the union's capitulation in the long and acrimonious city strike last summer. That sums up the report last week of Windsor's integrity commissioner.
  
  The leak last June should not have stalled a possible settlement, and we shouldn't have wasted all that money and time trying to find the source."

She strangely forgot to mention her fellow columnist's revelation, that of mini-Gord, that he was approached by a corrupt City Councillor who offered to be the leakor and disclose confidential information.

She too forgot to mention that the leak came from City Council and not CUPE according to Mr. Basse. I cannot believe that no one at the Star can read and absorb a few pages of Basse's report to share that information with readers.

Protect the hardliners at all costs!

Oh and when is mini-Gord going to go after Junior again. You know he has to slam Junior in a Column since Junior has made him his designated Star target. Mind you, with his corrupted Councillor remark, mini-Gord has painted a bull's eye on himself too.

Or will the Star bring out the big guns--Henderson, an Editorial and a cartoon--to shoot Junior down since he is a risk to Edgar and a big $30M CUPE back wages claim!

Junior vs mini-Gord, an interesting diversion.

Back to Annie. Isn't Annie against corruption or would she prefer to hide it and move on to protect the wrong-doer? Oh, and nice upper-cut to Ron Jones along the way. She did say after all:

• "Most disturbing is where all this has left us. With some politicians clearly lying and backstabbing and others busy accusing their colleagues, it must be difficult to function. And with a second report coming, this sordid tale has legs. Meanwhile, the city with the highest unemployment rate in Canada limps on."

Why according to her, it is worse than any of us thought.

Then she gives us the typical media BS:

• "Protecting a source is the reporter's responsibility."

I love how she justifies leaks and smashes Jones again. These Star writers are good:

• "Daryl Newcombe of A Channel News, the reporter with the Deep Throat, of course refused to divulge his source. Nobody expected he would, as the integrity commissioner acknowledged.
  
  I'm not going to rail against leaks. I've gotten them, used them and would never reveal the sources.
  
  Leaks are part of politics. Regardless of the ulterior motives of some sources (the media aren't naive), they can provide valuable information. They're good for the public. They tell people what's really going on.
  
  For example, now we know how Jones uses the BlackBerry that taxpayers pay for. Maybe we wouldn't need leaks if council shared more information with its electorate.
  
  Leaks are good for politicians, too. They keep them accountable. Now Jones knows that ratepayers don't want to pay for councillors' personal calls."

My goodness, she may want to deify mini-Gord's leakor soon if she keeps going this way.

Of course, she does not dare mention that in mini-Gord's case, he is not protecting a source but a criminal who is in breach of trust under the Criminal Code. It would spoil the effect and put pressure on the Star.

Remarkable that no one on the Star will admit that they are part of the problem in Windsor by not telling us who is corrupt!

Why did the Mayor "flip" because of the loose lips re Councillor Jones? After all, the Star told us:

• "council sources, who leaked that information to reporters."

Did he know who that source was at City Hall? At least no one has blamed CUPE for this. So far.

If he did not know the source, where was his Leadership? Instead of being angry and welcoming people to his world, why didn't he demand that everyone in the room swear an affidavit as he did before? Of course, that never happened as we now learn. Where is his call for a further investigation? Why has he remained so silent?

Speaking of being silent, where is Sgt Brett Cory of the Windsor Police now when a Star Columnist in black and white disclosed that a crime has been committed and that there is a corrupt member of City Council or perhaps more than one:

He was quick to tell us during the CUPE strike, incorrectly as even the Mayor said, that:

• "Windsor police spokesman Sgt. Brett Corey said the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2002 that it is unlawful to picket the private residence of the executive of a corporation."

There was no such decision.

Perhaps Sgt Corey is still trying to figure out what the City grass-cutting by-law means since the police did not stop all of the grass-cutting during the CUPE strike. The language is hard to understand I guess:

• "While in a Park, no person shall:
  
  (1) Destroy, cut, mark, break, dig, pull up, burn or in any way damage, injure, deface, remove or deface any tree, flower, shrub, plant, sod, grass or other vegetation, soil, sand, gravel or wood."

As for the Chief, is he too busy teaching junior kindergarten police officers what to do and what not to do or making apologies to understand this:

• "Section 122
  
  BREACH OF TRUST BY A PUBLIC OFFICER
  
  Every official who, in connection with the duties of his office, commits fraud or a breach of trust is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, whether or not the fraud or breach of trust would be an offence if it were committed in relation to a private person."

A crime was committed as pointed out on Page 3 of the Windsor Star. Are police officers interviewing the Mayor, Councillors and members of Administration yet to try and solve the crime? Has anyone visited mini-Gord or the Star offices or Daryl at Eh-Channel?

Is it just me or do you, dear reader, find it odd that Daryl has these scoops and not other members of the media? Is it good investigative digging on his part or is someone making it easy for him? If it is the latter, is it the same person who wanted to be mini-Gord's Leakor knowing that the Star would follow along afterwards?

Has anyone spoken with mini-Gord's editors since the Star online chat told us:

• "[Comment From Star readerStar reader: ]
  Do the columnists talk to you about their columns? Who assigns them? Wouldn't you like to write a column and tell us what you think?...
  
  Roseann Danese:
  Columnists have a wide latitude. Columnists generate their own ideas, which are bounced off editors in morning news meetings."

We had learned before as I Blogged

• that John Coleman is Gord Henderson's editor, that they work collaboratively together and that they hash out ideas together."

Have the police found out if it is the same now with mini-Gord and what the editor(s) knew?

I'd sure like the police to find out if that paragrpah in mini-Gord's column was cleared by the Star's lawyers? If so, what were they told?

During the CUPE strike, the Chief said:

• "Meanwhile Windsor police Chief Gary Smith said police will keep a close eye on what’s happening on picket lines as frustration mounts."

Will he keep a close eye on the corruption that seems to be taking place within City Hall or does he have to wait until "frustration mounts" even higher as we have new leaks reported so many times?

Actually, this may be too big a job for Windsor Police. Or perhaps they are concerned about possible conflicts because of who are members of the Windsor Police Services Board.

Perhaps that darn pay equity ruling has taken away so much of their money that they just do not have the resources to investigate this type of crime. Or they are spending so much time getting that $1.5M over budget under control.

Being my helpful self, here is who they can contact at the Ontario Provincial Police. If they call me, I can give them the name of the managing officer and his contact info too:

Anti-Rackets Branch
Investigation Bureau
Ontario Provincial Police
London, Ontario.

I am sure that the OPP would be happy to help out. If the Mayor ever asks.