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.

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