Wednesday, November 25, 2015

CONGRATULATIONS, FRED BRACKEN

He did what I couldn't do: defend his reputation against a decree that limited his rights.

Charged with trespass and given a one year ban is by the Niagara Region which prevented Fred from attending Niagara Regional Council Meetings, he took it further; a judge ruled that the ban violated the Charter of Rights. Read about it HERE.

A few years ago, Richard Berry was banned from Fort Erie Council Meetings in the same type of intimidation ploy. If I remember correctly, some of the same people who are now at the regional level were involved.

But Fred Bracken showed them!

I don't always agree with Fred, but I believe he has a perfect right to express himself in public. I found it laughable that Debby Zimmerman felt "threatened" by his behaviour during a presentation he made at Regional Council. Yeah, right. The former Regional Chair and longtime player in the vicious local political blood sport was threatened? I don't believe that for a minute.

So, as those of us who are American celebrate Thanksgiving,, I would like to express my gratitude for people like Fred.  I've met many like him on both sides of the border and I always admire that they are willing to stand up for what they believe and they do not let local officials get too full of themselves.


Note to Fred: in your remark on another news site, you expressed your disdain for "progressives." You seem to have a far different understanding of the term than I do. I am a proud progressive. A progressive is the polar opposite to a "conservative" in political terms. I have never agreed with the conservative viewpoint and never will. Some people refer to Progressives as "liberals" in some places. I prefer to be called a progressive because I take the term literally, meaning I'm looking ahead, not behind or staying in place like the conservatives. (Actually, after studying Political Science, I discovered that I'm really a Democratic Socialist, but that's another conversation.)


SCOTT HERON SENTENCED TO FOUR MONTHS IN JAIL

The picture in the Review shows a beefed-up Heron on his way to court. Oh Boo-Hoo. He is so sorry for his "mistakes."  Yeah, right. He's sorry he got caught. He was so full of himself back when he and Bernie Polino were smuggling cheese and chicken wings from the States and making lots of money under the table. "Mistake?" My ass. I observed the goings-on and how these two skirted the law every chance they got when Bernie ran the snack bar in the sand at Bay Beach. I was famously told by Bernie, "I have friends in the NRP" when I pointed out a dangerous situation at his sand(wich) shop.

All these cops and former cops should be ashamed that they stole from the public by avoiding taxes and duty on their smuggled cheese. 

How can anyone be expected to respect the local police after this? The stories are still there and many of us know them all.. Right near me, a drug house operates with impunity; a dealer sits near Tim Hortion's, beard braided, announcing to the world that he is carrying and the police do nothing about it. They know. Yet they look the other way or they get their information from the local stalker and in return, they let him get away with all manner of mayhem.

There is a lot more house cleaning to be done at 23 Division. A lot more.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

'TIS THE SEASON

As I write this, The Four are waiting for cheques that will reimburse them for the money they paid out to defend themselves from a S.L.A.P.P. lawsuit put together by a group of people who vowed to destroy four duly-elected town councillors.

As I write this, only one, Don Lubberts, still remains in office. While The Four may be compensated for the tremendous financial strain that the lawsuit put on them, they will never be fully compensated for the destruction to their reputations. We can thank members of the Chamber of Commerce; the head of the EDTC and former elected officials for this. And the taxpayers, will ultimately pay for the revenge of a few people.

In the meantime, the EDTC General Manager continues to evade his day of reckoning with his now-friendly town council in place. It was a campaign that stretched out over four years when The Four were elected on the promise that the people would take the town back from the clique that has controlled it for years. A lot of good that did them. The attacks started almost immediately after the October 2010 election when The Four were elected: Bob Steckley retained the seat he won in 2006; John Hill handily defeated Tim Whitfield who would later be the respondent on the conflict of interest lawsuit; Don Lubberts, who defeated the truth-challenged Martha Lockwood; and Paul Collard who was voted to replace Ann Marie Noyes who ran for mayor. Funny thing about that mayoral election: amid some serious questions about the integrity of the handling of ballots, incumbent Doug Martin won by a mere five votes over Ann Marie. Expensive Compliance Audits were requested on several of the candidates, accomplishing nothing much and setting the tone for the future of The Four on council.

Then came the billboards; fliers; blogs; press attacks and whispering campaigns orchestrated by a cabal of disgruntled so-called "concerned citizens" who were, in reality, only concerned about their own interests and deals made behind the backs of the taxpayers.

Most of you already know the high-lights of this sad history; now the pieces of the not-so-secret plot are starting to fall into place. While the cabal can celebrate the successful conclusion of an all-out campaign to destroy its "enemies," its minions, having been cast aside after they were no longer useful, are slowly waking up to being used. Some of the major movers of this evil enterprise are feeling the heat from supporters who paid money and risked their reputations to fund the doomed lawsuit. Looks real good on them. Except they will never pay for what they did to The Four emotionally. 

I'm going to Copy & Paste a remark by Corruption Fighter regarding that appeared in a recent thread. I do believe that it sums it up fairly well. (BTW, I am not Corruption Fighter and I do not know who he or she is. I have a couple of guesses but I really don't want to know.)


Anyone read Mayor Red's State of the FE Union Address in the papers? 

What a load of crap designed to appease the dumbed down electorate that resides here. It's all roses and sunshine now when in reality this town needs a huge wake up call and an even bigger dose of Buckley's just to try and slow down the rot and neglect that has been allowed to grow locally for decades(usually for some insider's profit) and it aint gonna happen with 5 out 6 morally challenged at the horseshoe.

This leaves only 1 man on council with the moral fortitude to wave the unpopular banner of stark reality and he isn't even allowed on his own ward's Waterfront Committee (only in Fort Stupid could anyone even try to explain this away Kim). 

At least little Red mentioned, though it will unlikely happen, reigning in the waste at Jimmy's Arm's Length Accountable to No One Corporation but any $$$ saved here will disappear to the Not 4 Nascar illusion of easy prosperity, should we just give rich foreign investors a few more millions of our taxes.

A little hope for everyone in this throne speech, should you fall for it. Meanwhile just glance at your tax bills......

Sunday, November 8, 2015

THIS IS JUST CRAZY

The reason I have not posted much of late is that I'm trying to rid my thoughts and energies of the stench of local politics. Frankly, I'd had enough. Then I saw something on Facebook that inferred that I was a liar for including Doug Martin and other backers of the lawsuit against The Four in my rant against what seem to me is pure evil.

It also seems that certain people are trying to revise history to clean up some people's reputations. In what universe is it not evil to start a lawsuit against four duly-elected councillors because they opposed a development that basically gives away the last decent piece of beachfront property in Crystal Beach to a developer? And that was not the only reason they were sued. They were sued because they represented a power shift at town hall and that could not be tolerated by the mayor-by-five-votes and his supporters. I saw it at the court hearing. Former Mayor-By-Five-Votes admitted that the law suit respondent (Former-Beaten-in-a-Landslide-by-One-of-the-Four Tim Whitfield) was merely a "Straw Man" in the lawsuit. The other named supporters of the lawsuit represent a Who's Who of local political power brokers and their minions, one of whom went on to defeat one of The Four in the 2014 election.

All this is out there for those who care to look further. One of the local political gadflies even helped finance a slanderous billboard on the main drag in town. He also funded a blog that went after the four using confidential information collected from various "sources" at town hall.  Of course, they all deny this now that their people are back in power. Mission Accomplished. The regular folks out there in Fort Erie have lost again. Town Council is now almost entirely made up of Chamber of Commerce members. The mayor can only hope to corral these agenda-driven flunkies. Only one of The Four remains: Don Lubberts. (He's still facing another conflict of interest lawsuit that the litigious GM of the Fort Erie Racetrack Economic and Tourism Development Corporation filed against him. That, along with the lawsuit he filed against me will accomplish nothing, but that's how Thibert rolls.

And now the Big Announcement about a development at the Racetrack. (Love the pic of Dougie and Jimmie hugging Paladino) Where have we heard this before? Well, I found THIS. An earlier blog post by yours truly recalling the big story from 2008 where Nordic Games (the then owner of the racetrack) was planning a big development (alarmingly similar to the Paladino plan) at the racetrack site. The Ministry of Tourism gave the town (EDTC) $2 million to be used to enhance tourism. That went towards the potential "purchase" of the Fort Erie Race Track by the town (Thank You, Kim Traitor) The $300 million development project was shelved and the $2 million disappeared into the coffers of the holding company of the track.  

So, here we are again. Promises, promises. Clue: Paladino is looking for massive tax cuts and funding from all levels of government.

You might already know my prediction regarding the Speedway: I'll believe it when I see it. Now they're adding this multi-million resort at the horse track and we still have an antiquated international car bridge to serve both these "crowd pleasers."

The best line of all was said by Paladino himself:

“We’ll put our shovel in the ground the day after they put theirs in,” Paladino said. “That’s how important the CMS is to our project.” 

(Buffalo Business First)

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