Sunday, September 28, 2014

30 DAYS, BUT WHO'S COUNTING?

Actually, a lot of people are counting the days until the 2014 Municipal Elections are over. But, like the 2010 will they really be over?  Or will a small group of people, who think they are entitled to run this town, set about, as they did in 2010 to unseat duly-elected councillors?

For certain people, the current election campaign started shortly after the 2010 election.  It was within days that Project 4-2-0 was created.  The was the code name given to the effort to turn the current four councillors who were elected by comfortable margins of people who were opposed to the giveaway of public beachfront lands to a high rise developer into zero councillors elected by comfortable margins of people who are now gratedul that the so-called Molinaro P3 scheme has been cancelled. We are fairly certain that Project 4-2-0 was hatched by Jim Thibert, Mayor-by-five-votes Doug Martin and others like Marina Butler.  

It started off with Compliance Audits, with Marina Butler requesting one on John Hill who roundly defeated the incumbent Bully Tim Whitfield who once called for the removal of Ann Marie Noyes from council. (Ann Marie Noyes came within five votes of winning the mayor's race and Tim was routed in a landslide.)

Then came a billboard on Garrison road, funded by an unidentified group that called the four councillors "liars."

Then came a brochure that was acknowledged by only one person (Kim Zanko, current candidate in Ward 3) and contained quotes by Marina Butler and others while inferring that the four councillors were "anti-development."

Then came Jim Thibert and his string of profane comments about the councillors and the town in general because the four dared to ask for accountability from the Economic Development and Tourism Corporation which he heads.  (This is the same "arm's length corporation" that used well over $20,000. of taxpayer money to sue me. Result: zero.)

The biggest attempt at the takeover was dreamed up by Jim Thibert along with Doug Martin. It was the lawsuit against the four councillors for Conflict of Interest. Ironically, the lawsuit was initiated by none other than the ousted former Ward 4 Councillor Tim Whitfield.  The lawsuit was put together in attorney Dave Hurren's office (he has acted as a lawyer for the EDTC) at the behest of Mayor Martin. Shortly after filing the lawsuit in April, 2013, Tim Whitfield admitted that he went on a golfing trip to Pennsylvania with fired solicitor (and the basis for the lawsuit) Heather Salter's husband.

Jim Thibert even threatened a lawsuit back in January of 2013 in a newspaper article.

Last year, Lubberts along with councillors Bob Steckley, John Hill and Paul Collard voted in favour of terminating the municipality’s director of legal services, Heather Salter.
The decision was made in closed session, so the severance package that was given to her is not known by the public.
He used that situation as an example, saying that if this matter gets to the point where it heads to a courtroom, he will be prepared.
“If they thought it cost a lot of money to get rid of the town’s lawyer for no reason, then bring it on,” said Thibert.
“Bring it on,” he repeated.

Even Rick Shular, in his cross-examination during the preliminaries to the lawsuit revealed that Jim Thibert urged him to go to Hurren's office to give an affidavit in the case.

Jim Thibert even brought a separate Conflict of Interest suit against Don Lubberts over what some call a bonusing attempt by Thibert to get the town to buy some industrial property to sweeten the deal for the sale of the racetrack lands which were ultimately bought in their entirety by Carl Palladino and associates.

So, now we have Marina Butler and Kim Zanko running for local office. Both were willing participants in the effort to destroy the reputations of duly-elected councillors. Marina Butler is listed as one of the contributors to the lawsuit against the four and she is now running in Ward 4 against John Hill. 

Getting the picture? I thought so. Stay tuned, there's a lot more.

14 comments:

  1. This ward system stinks. No wonder so many issues go unresolved. It would be much more democratic if we could vote for the full slate of candidates that would make up our council that governs the town as a whole. It worked very well for many years before the ward system was put upon us. It set examples of what not to do, such as making the EDTC some kind of bastard cousin to the workings of the town hall, with predictable nonresults at an enormous cost. Anybody vote for that bloodsucking parasidic stripmall dwelling clingon?? No. Other examples exist too pathetic to even dwell on here. The ward system has helped to make the present council on of the most disfunctional, if not the most disfunctional council in this towns history. One of the most tax wasting as well,(and we all know of examples of that sort of financial abuse of the publics money).

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  2. Actually, I wrote this yesterday, the 27th. Decided to post it today. I just read a comment from "Tony" that includes an e-mail sent out in 2010 urging voters to elect candidates who opposed the Molinaro Project. I just don't get the point you're trying to make, Tony. Is this like the letter sent out to track employees urging them to vote for Martin and others, inferring that they would lose their jobs if Ann Marie Noyes was elected? Or the one sent to town employees with a similar message?

    The four guys are fully expecting more such shenanigans from the Thibert/Martin crowd who are very desperate right now because they lost control of council and they want it back. They will do anything to deny the voters their right to elect people who will stand up for them - not the few who feel they are entitled to run the town.

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  3. You know, this whole election is about one thing and Project 4-2-0 is as well: keeping Jim Thibert in as GM of the EDTC until he chooses to hang up his pimp clothes. He knows his days are numbered if a majority on council (the ones his golf buddy sued plus one) get elected. The only sure-fire way he can assure his position is with the election of Stephen Passero as mayor, Kim Zanko, Marina Butler and a couple of others and Jimmy will once again rule the roost unchallenged. These people do not care about the people of Fort Erie. They care only for power and control.

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  4. Steepass will for sure remain a lapdog of the old boys, elected or not. Its starting to look like a horserace in some ways where the electorate is starting to try to pick the winner and then put their vote behind who might cross the line first. Only this isnt the daily double, the town has to live with their choice for 4 long years. And you dont get a 5 to 1 on a long shot.The council meetings are now attended by people expecting a tsk, tsk moment. Its likely under the conditions of this next election this will continue to be the case. We havent seen one single solid plan from any candidate so far.The status quo looks to be order of the day for this time around. One guy puts "Lower Water Rates" on his "lawn" signs. Makes the rest of these rubes look like those people we remember from student council elections in high school. The ward system makes any candidate that has a solid new agenda with good ideas and a plan to back it up a rare commodity.Unless they can act alone, the rest of the elected hangerons use the old crab bucket mentality. Almost getting out of the pail?? Grab em and pull them back down. Use law suits if need be.

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  5. Here's a nightmare for you.......Shular will win ward 2 now put Zanko, Butler and Pissaaro in a council chair. 4 years will feel and become a lot longer than that. Better start pumping up those who will do good for the town and not these ol boy plants.

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  6. Where did the name Project 4-2-0 come from?

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  7. WOW ...... how brazen !!!!

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  8. Brazen. Another Brazen is that the Underwater Group saw the "smoke and mirrors" 38 page document regarding the Kinsmen Pool contract for the FIRST TIME last night, don't you think?

    Didn't Stephen Pessaro tell Council that the group had been studying it for a month? What hog wash!

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  9. Just before the election four years ago, I saw a letter sent out to track employees warning them that they better vote for :
    Mayor Doug Martin, George McDermott, Rick Shular, Kim Zanko, Martha Lockwood, and Tim Whitfield OR ELSE their jobs would be in jeopardy.
    There was apparently a notice with the same names posted at Town Hall for a short time with threats of their job losses.

    It seems the EDTC is picking their candidate favourites by inviting select ones to a track meeting tonight. Can you assume who is off the guest list?
    Whom they want to Groom if elected?

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  10. Rick Shular's Re-elect spiel in his ads mentions among issues to strive for the Kinsmen Pool.
    When the issue of the Kinsmen Pool revival first came back to Council, I remember him saying it would be throwing good money after bad that the Kinsmen Pool was too old and too neglected, it seemed that he was totally against even any further discussions.

    Predicated on that earlier response, he has made significant gyrations to campaign for it!

    I guess he is stepping in line with Steven Passero to promote it and himself.

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    Replies
    1. Apples to oranges, voter. We need Shular on council for comic relief. Drinking games have been created over his colourful use of English.

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    2. Stevensville has terrible problems and nothing is being done about them, we have very little water pressure,as a too small diameter water pipe from Rose Hill was put in, just to serve 600 people back in 1980s problem they forgot that Black Creek and Douglastown would also use that water, so most of the buildings burnt down ,as after 15 minutes the entire system is sucked dry. so if they can't get water from the Creek, it is all over.We also have too much raw sewage, as with Parkdale Homes flooding the sewer system with the blessing of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum , raw sewage is now dumped into Black Creek every spring in two locations , River Trail and the end of East Main Street Stevensville, .I have asked The Ministry of the Environment for a complete investigation. so we shall see who get's blamed. for this enviromentak mess.

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    3. They have been dumping overflow into Black Creek and even into the Niagara River for many, many years!

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