IF YOU LIVE IN TORONTO, YOU ARE JUST A SERF/PEON…
I’ve written many times about Toronto’s dysfunctional City Council. You will never find a greater bunch of “entitled” assholes who believe they are above us all, as this quote highlights: Gloria Lindsay Luby, who as deputy speaker ruled the night councillors voted that council “reigns supreme,” also would not comment.
I do not read the Toronto Sun (no one with a triple-digit IQ would read that paper) but I do listen to the radio when in my car. One Sun writer, Sue-Ann Levy, has been following this story, which I first mentioned over seven months ago in this post.
I heard on the radio that these cowards–Karen Stintz in particular–refused to answer their phones when CFRB1010 called them for comment. Here are the other entitled assholes who refused to answer Sue-Ann Levy’s calls: Karen Stintz, Shelley Carroll, John Parker, Raymond Cho, Glenn De Baeremaeker, Howard Moscoe, Gord Perks, Joe Pantalone, Joe Mihevc, Mark Grimes, Adam Vaughan, Joe Mihevc and Anthony Perruzza.
And then that douchebag, David Miller–the only mayor who could make me long for MAYOR MEL LASTMAN–claimed that:
1) this brou-ha-ha was all due to the media, not his and his cronies’ illegal actions
2) the city solicitor, Anna Kinastowski, was a jerk for daring to disagree with him and explain that the LAW clearly states that what he and his cronies were trying to do was ILLEGAL
3) other city lawyers disagree with the City Clerk, which means that Miller paid lawyers with OUR TAX DOLLARS to try to get them to agree with his illegal actions, even though he was told clearly that he was in the wrong
4) somehow, when the media try to call to get comment on this major story, these poor baby councilors are being “harassed”
5) Adrian Heaps–the douchebag in the middle of this story–never asked for the “FREE” TAX-PAYERS’ money (nearly $66,000) that his buddy, Paula Fletcher, arranged to give to him.
What am I talking about? Read the two stories in the COMMENTS section below by the Toronto Sun’s Sue-Ann Levy.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:00 am
STORY 1 — Lawsuit is Heaps of trouble: Councillors who voted to pay politician’s legal tab aren’t talking (By SUE-ANN LEVY, TORONTO SUN)
Adrian Heaps, the very first incumbent councillor to register for re-election yesterday, said when contacted that he’ll have a statement about council’s plan to pay his $65,680 legal tab outstanding from his candidacy in 2006 … in the next few days.
“I’ll give you a call,” he told me. “I have no control over what you do but I do have control over what I do.”
But when I pressed Heaps for a comment on the Toronto Party for a Better City lawsuit filed against him and 22 other members of council — first revealed in yesterday’s Toronto Sun — he said he knew nothing about it.
That lawsuit — filed on Dec. 24 and expected to be served on those named this week — claims council “knowingly breached” the City of Toronto Act and their “fiduciary duty” to the people of Toronto when they voted on Dec. 7 to pay Heaps.
The suit names all councillors who voted in the affirmative, stating they “deliberately chose to ignore the advice” given by city solicitor Anna Kinastowski that they had no authority to pay Heaps in his role as a candidate.
The $65,680 salary top-up to Heaps (which includes $29,680 to cover the tax implications) is on hold until council considers whether to re-open the issue at the Jan. 26 meeting. This motion was launched after we reported Heaps lost his defamation lawsuit against his 2006 election opponent, Michelle Berardinetti, and was forced to issue an apology and pay her a $20,000 settlement, which is part of the $65,680.
I eagerly await Heaps’ statement.
I suspect voters would also be very interested in what the 23 councillors named have to say about voting to break the law before they come trolling for votes.
Not that they were talking much yesterday. Messages left for Karen Stintz, Shelley Carroll, John Parker, Raymond Cho, Glenn De Baeremaeker, Howard Moscoe, Gord Perks, Joe Pantalone, Joe Mihevc, Mark Grimes, Adam Vaughan, Joe Mihevc and Anthony Perruzza were not returned.
Michael Walker gave an angry “No comment” when approached outside his office.
Gloria Lindsay Luby, who as deputy speaker ruled the night councillors voted that council “reigns supreme,” also would not comment.
Paula Fletcher, mover of the motion to pay Heaps, said she’d “come for a social visit only” when asked about the lawsuit outside the Press Gallery.
And Stuart Green, speaking on behalf of Mayor David Miller, said “As this is a matter of pending legal action, I cannot comment.”
To their credit, Ron Moeser, Cesar Palacio and Brian Ashton did respond.
Moeser said it was “disappointing” to be named in the Toronto Party lawsuit. He said he’d vote for a re-opening of the issue on Jan. 26 now that he’s aware the $20,000 is part of the payout.
Palacio said he’s also looking forward to re-opening this item at council.
Give Ashton an A for spin. He said he “voted wrong for the right reasons” — in other words, he did so to point out the inadequacies of municipal legislation that prevents candidates from raising money for potential lawsuits.
What a load of hooey.
The 21 councillors who voted to pay Heaps the money hoped their move would disappear under the radar and quickly be forgotten over the Christmas season. They also counted on no one having the resources to take them on in court.
Coun. Mike Del Grande, who has fought vociferously against the payout, called the lawsuit a “wake-up call” to politicians that people will take on City Hall if City Hall “breaks the law.”
He thinks the lawsuit will come back to haunt those named at voters’ doors.
“Any good challenger worth their salt will make a point to remind people of this issue,” he said.
STORY 2:
A fledgling municipal party plans to sue 23 city councillors for their role in a controversial decision to pay a colleague’s legal bills, the Toronto Sun has learned.
The Toronto Party for a Better City filed their lawsuit in Ontario Superior Court on Dec. 24.
The lawsuit claims the councillors who opted to reimburse Councillor Adrian Heaps $65,680 for a defamation suit brought against him as a candidate in the 2006 election “knowingly breached” the City of Toronto Act and “knowingly breached their fiduciary duty” to Torontonians.
Payment of the $65,680 salary top-up to Heaps — which includes $29,680 to cover the tax implications — is on hold pending a possible re-opening of the issue at the Jan. 26 council meeting.
The suit names councillors who voted Dec. 7 to pay Heaps the money, claiming they “deliberately chose to ignore the advice” given by city solicitor Anna Kinatowski that they had no authority to do so.
In a strongly worded warning to council, Kinastowski said that covering legal expenses of a candidate is “contrary” to legislation — the City of Toronto Act, the Municipal Elections Act and case law — and could be subject to a court challenge.
The councillors named in the lawsuit haven’t yet been served with notice about the legal action and none of the allegations have been proven in court.
Stephen Thiele, co-founder of the Toronto Party, said the suit names councillors who voted in favour of giving Heaps the payment because there is precedent to suggest all of them are “personally liable” for their decision.
“The law is pretty clear … They made a decision contrary to their own solicitor’s legal advice,” Thiele contended, speculating the councillors named will be surprised that someone has decided to take them on in the courts.
Councillor Mike Del Grande, who fought vociferously against the Dec. 7 decision, said he’s encouraged that there are residents ready to stand up and fight when an order of government “breaks the law.
“I think their chances are excellent,” he said, adding it will “definitely” be an election issue.
The Toronto Party lawsuit names Heaps and Giorgio Mammoliti, who both also received payments in September 2008 for legal fees associated with compliance audits of their fundraising efforts in the 2006 election.
The lawsuit claims the council had no authority to make those payments either — $82,478 to Heaps and $92,276, to Mammoliti — and asks that both councillors be ordered to repay the money to the city.
—
HIT LIST
COUNCILLORS NAMED IN THE LAWSUIT
- Brian Ashton
- Shelley Carroll
- Raymond Cho
- Glenn De Baeremaeker
- Paula Fletcher
- Adam Giambrone
- Mark Grimes
- Cliff Jenkins
- Gloria Lindsay Luby
- Pam McConnell
- Joe Mihevc
- Ron Moeser
- Howard Moscoe
- Cesar Palacio
- Joe Pantalone
- John Parker
- Gord Perks
- Anthony Perruzza
- Karen Stintz
- Adam Vaughan
- Michael Walker
- Adrian Heaps
- Giorgio Mammoliti
January 29th, 2010 at 2:26 am
ONE MORE STORY IN THE STAR:
Toronto council has abandoned its plan to cover the legal expenses of Councillor Adrian Heaps, who was sued by the candidate he narrowly defeated in the 2006 election.
But it has also asked city staff to explore how to set up a “candidate protection fund” — to be funded by candidates themselves — to help pay legal expenses arising from election disputes.
The issue arose after Heaps (Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest) was sued by election rival Michelle Berardinetti, after he circulated a newspaper column that suggested Berardinetti was unqualified.
The lawsuit has since been settled out of court, but in December council voted, against the advice of its own lawyer, to cover some of Heaps’s legal costs, which included a settlement with Berardinetti.
Some councillors wanted the issue reopened, saying they hadn’t been fully informed about the issue. Heaps — who had never requested the financial assistance — then said he wouldn’t accept it. He didn’t participate in the debate.
Council voted unanimously yesterday to shelve any payment to Heaps, but only after Mayor David Miller said the issue strikes to the heart of council’s own integrity.
Miller said Heaps had run against a “powerful political machine,” noting that Berardinetti’s husband, Lorenzo Berardinetti, is a Scarborough MPP.
The lawsuit, with its legal costs, could discourage other candidates from running, Miller said.
Council must ensure that “decent, ordinary people who run for office … do not become subject to political chill, and allow powerful people, or people with a vendetta, to change the results of an election by the cost of legal fees,” he said.
“We have a duty to the elections that we fight so hard to win, to find a way to protect the people that win them,” he said. “And that means to protect them when they’re subject to a campaign of harassment.”
Council voted to support a motion by Councillor Karen Stintz (Ward 15, Eglinton-Lawrence) asking the city manager to report by March 1 on how a voluntary, candidate-funded legal protection fund could be set up and administered. Stintz said the idea had been proposed by Diana Hall, who is running for council in Ward 44, Scarborough-Southwest.
Councillor Mike Del Grande (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt), criticized Miller for taking a swipe at Berardinetti, who was not there to defend herself.
Berardinetti, who will run against Heaps again this year, also criticized Miller.
“Miller has reaffirmed that he stands for underhanded tactics and dirty campaign tricks,” she said in an interview from her home.
“When he’s (saying) it’s okay to send out that kind of literature … that is what is going to steer people away from entering into politics as candidates.”
She rejected Miller’s claim that she had a “political machine” behind her simply because her husband is an MPP, and said she had had to borrow money, using her home equity as security, to pay her own legal costs.