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......
I notice an announcement in the Niagara Falls Review that we could see the ground turned over and work happen towards the Niagara South Hospital , to be located at Montrose and Lyon Creek Roads ,at the end of 2016 So is the new budget going to contain $3 million dollars promised by the former Council, we are on the hook for $3 million dollars for the new school theatre, has Mayor Redekop found the proverbial money tree. or are our taxes going out of sight, The Speedway will soak up money like a sponge, methinks our man of vision has to many irons in the fire.
ReplyDeletejudging by the political quiet around town and what little the average infantile voter has to say these days, methinks that the ol boy's return to power is viewed as a return to normalcy hereabouts( a very twisted normalcy). Maybe people will start to wake up with the next round of tax increases, but after a brief period of bitching and a few BS reasons from the ol boy's, it will quieten down as well.
ReplyDeleteFort Stupid, where the average dumbed down voter pays for the rich to get even richer and seems to love being lied to.
When the voter doesn't learn the truth of what goes on in Council, they can't make an informed decision.
ReplyDeleteNot many know that it was Pessaro and martin who voted to pay off the lawyer to leave. The Four kept their oath of silence as expected in Closed Door sessions.
I think they had too much integrity. Sometimes one has to fight fire with fire.
When the testimony from the Conflict of Interest charges was released, it didn't make the local paper.