I believe I covered this story before, about an immigration judge and former city councillor who was nailed for trying to get an immigration applicant to have sex with him in exchange for a favourable judgment. He’s the guy who was filmed by the woman’s boyfriend from across the street, while she recorded their convo from the coffee shop patio they were in.
He claims to take full responsibility for his disgusting act–described in the Star story in the COMMENTS below–but he’s also begging for mercy (I don’t blame him) when he whines, “All my life’s achievements were washed away at the meeting at Starbucks….My two beautiful children are saddled with a criminal for a father, as they try to establish themselves in the world.” And he also blamed his previously undiagnosed bipolar disorder for his actions. Really? He doesn’t sound very manic on the tape. He sounds very cold and calculating (and pathetic). Bipolar Disorder is very serious and it does cloud one’s judgment. However, that’s mostly during the manic or severely depressed stages, whereas he did not appear to be either during his plot to get this woman.
On the other hand, there was no evidence of any other criminal behaviour, so maybe he didn’t always lack judgment, although I doubt that. Maybe a thorough investigation would reveal more of his true character and other acts of misconduct. In the meantime, who thinks he’ll serve any jail time????
Steve Ellis, left, looks on while his lawyer John Rosen speaks to reporters outside the courthouse where Ellis faced a sentencing hearing for breach of trust and bribery. (PETER SMALL/TORONTO STAR)
While I am not impressed with this guy’s behaviour, I can’t say I am surprised either.
People abuse their power all the time in all sorts of ways. This guy just got caught. Welcome to the world. He’s not bipolar, what he is is a horny bastard who thought that he could abuse his power and get away with it. Since he has kids, I assume he’s married and guessing sex with his wife probably isn’t rocking his world so when the applicant came around he probably thought….hmmm she’s hot…then his filthy little mind started to deviate to thoughts of what he would like to do with her and then he asked himself…what can I do to get with her and then he plotted his little blackmail plan.
I don’t think he is sorry. He is only sorry he got caught. Had he been able to get away with it he would not be thinking “What I did was really terrible.” He would be thinking how lucky he was to have scored with the woman.
I think that many guys may have had the same lustful thoughts or even asked themselves is there any way I can get with this girl and so I am not going to fault him for that. However, he chose to abuse his power and exploit someone in a cold, calculating non-bipolar way and this is wrong.
Tell us what you really think, RJ…
You’ve got my full agreement. And as I’m sure you know by now, the scumbag was sentenced to 18 months in jail, which means about 4-6 months in reality, if that. But he’s appealing, of course, so it will be quite some time before he sees any jail time. However, some justice HAS been served, in that his career has been ruined.
Let’s hope that he will serve the full 18 months in jail. I would certainly hope his career has been ruined, although you never know… I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back on the bench after his sentence is served.
RJ, I’m not sure I agree with your comments, except for the fact that he is probably sorry for being caught. You seem to give justification for his actions and generalize it to everyone else. I don’t think this guy is the norm. To me, he comes across as a creep, period!!
I’m not sure what to make of your comment when you say:”I think that many guys may have had the same lustful thoughts or even asked themselves is there any way I can get with this girl and so I am not going to fault him for that”. First of all, I don’t think others in his position would have the same lusty thoughts. I have worked with many people in the field and most are actually very professional… but even if they did, that would not excuse his behaviour, which you seem to imply when you say:”so I am not going to fault him for that.”
Maybe I’m reading your comment too literally!
I’ll let RJ speak for him/herself, but I didn’t think they were being literal. At least I hope not…
Hi Lily,
To clarify when I said “I think that many guys may have had the same lustful thoughts or even asked themselves is there any way I can get with this girl and so I am not going to fault him for that”. what I meant was that I am faulting him for having desirous thoughts. I meant in my statement that I think that there are I’m sure a lot of guys who when they look at women their minds tend to wander. In fact, I may be going out on a limb but I think that with a lot of guys if they saw an attractive woman, their minds may wander to certain places. So I am not faulting him for his wandering thoughts. However, the wrong part for me is that he try to exploit the woman and coerce her into sex and since he was in a position of power he thought he could get away with it.
We all have thoughts about things (be it sexual or not) that we shouldn’t have. Anyone who says otherwise is flat out lying. It is human nature. As people we are not perfect, nor are our thoughts. Accordingly, I don’t have an issue with people having thoughts that they shouldn’t have. Rather, it is what you choose to do with those thoughts that I have the issue with.
Thanks for the clarification RJ. I do agree that it is human nature to have “wandering thoughts”, and that applies to men and women alike. So as you say, it becomes a problem when you act on those thoughts. In this case, it is even more damaging because he is an Immigration judge with a lot of power, and obviously he had planned this secret meeting. No judge with good intentions would meet a client in a coffee shop to discuss the case. I’m glad he was caught.