Is There A “Dirty Tricks” Campaign Going On In Windsor

By Ed Arditti

It is no longer about Todd Langlois only. He just happened to be in the wrong place and at the wrong time as far as I am concerned. It would have happened to anyone who was in his position if he/she did the same things. While it is important that we determine truth of what happened so that Mr. Langlois is being treated fairly, there is something even more important at stake: the proper governance of this City.

I am concerned that we are seeing a possible “dirty tricks” campaign. You know the Watergate cliché as well as I do: it is no longer only is there a “crime” but is there a “cover-up” as well.

The phrase “dirty tricks” is defined this way by Wikipedia:

“Dirty tricks are unethical, duplicitous, slanderous or illegal tactics employed to destroy or diminish the effectiveness of political or business opponents. The term “dirty trick” can also be used to refer to an underhanded technique to get ahead of an opponent.”

While such tactics have been going on for hundreds of years and are still ongoing– look at the robo-call scandal involving the last Federal election campaign– most of us probably understand that term from the Watergate scandal.

I was having breakfast Saturday morning and all of a sudden I got very angry. It was even before I read mini-Gord’s column. I don’t like what is going on in the City of Windsor. It is beyond comprehension to me how the Todd Langlois affair happened in the first place and how it is spiraling out of control. Every day it seems we are learning new facts that seem to contradict what was said before.

However, the tragedy is that we have no one who is in a position to take a look at the books and records of City Departments and organizations to protect the interest of taxpayers and we will not be in such a position for who knows how long I would bet. Get real, the City won’t do anything meaningful before the next municipal election.

http://www.windsorsquare.ca/2012/02/26/is-there-a-dirty-tricks-campaign-going-on-in-windsor/

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Another Star Whitewash

By Ian Paulson

(WINDSOR, ON) – I wonder if Eddie Francis can feel his house of cards beginning to crash down around him. His intricate plans, that are detailed plans, probably didn’t include a contingency for failure. Looking at his track record of promising big and never delivering, I would have thought that a detailed plan would include provisions for when things go terribly wrong.

And how about Edgar’s cronies? Are they ready to come forward now that Francis has started down that slippery slope toward disclosure and discovery? Are the sycophants ready to reveal their roles in Eddie’s detailed plans in order to save themselves? As far as the Windsor Star is concerned, apparently not quite yet.

No doubt you have read, or otherwise become aware of, Anne Jarvis’ last few columns. On the surface of it all, she looks like a converted believer, appearing to call out the City over the Auditor General fiasco, but, like so many times before, she fell short and failed the readership by not calling for an audit herself

http://www.windsorsquare.ca/2012/02/23/another-star-whitewash/

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Another Windsor Square Exclusive: The Secret Campaign To Salvage Edgar

Another Windsor Square Exclusive: The Secret Campaign To Salvage Edgar
By Ed Arditti

Sigh, another one from your friends at the Square.

I wish that I could tell you all of it at this time, dear reader. However, I cannot because clearly it is a deep dark secret. I can tell you some of it though.

It is just starting and it is extremely well orchestrated. Unfortunately, it is also quite amateurish and obvious and stupid. Undoubtedly, the Eminence Greasie is not involved at all. If he/she was, then there is no doubt that such foolish tactics would never be utilized. There is no doubt that Greasie has been banished for some reason from the E-team. Or that person is on vacation for a long period of time and cannot be reached by normal means of communications, probably carrier pigeon only.

It is a multi-pronged counterattack.

Clearly, the Windsor Star is being used as the first prong. And why not, it is the leading distributor of news in this City. Undoubtedly, Edgar (aka Eddie) signalled what one branch of this approach will take when he talked about the mayoral campaign in 2014 on his radio voice, CKLW. On that station, he announced effectively that he was running again for Mayor 2014 for a fourth term. No complaints because he did not promise that he would not run again the way he did when he promised that he would not run for a third term.

What does mini-Gord in the Star talk about in his column on February 23, 2012:

http://www.windsorsquare.ca/2012/02/23/another-windsor-square-exclusive-the-secret-campaign-to-salvage-edgar/

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Does Windsor Need A McCallion Type Judicial Inquiry

By Ed Arditti

“Public office holders ultimately owe their position to the public, whose business they are conducting.

Ensuring they do not prefer their private interests at the expense of their public duties is a fundamental objective of ethics standards.”

The McCallion Judicial Inquiry is so important in a municipal context. It provided a guide as to what rules apply and how Members of Council are to act. Yet there has not been much coverage or discussion of this matter in Windsor. It’s as if nothing untoward ever happens here.

We know in Windsor that the standards are very high. Our Code of Conduct which is built on the one in Toronto includes:

http://www.windsorsquare.ca/2012/02/15/does-windsor-need-a-mccallion-type-judicial-inquiry/

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Is The Integrity Commissioner The Next One To Go

For all you doubters about the Windsor Star, it is good to see that they are on the side of the people with respect to the Auditor General fiasco.

Or at least I think they are. After all, as their Publisher/Editor once wrote:

“We did things that newspapers can do to bring about change, positive change. I think we got a lot of results this year and this now validates the results we got.”

Well, maybe not.

http://www.windsorsquare.ca/2012/02/11/is-the-integrity-commissioner-the-next-one-to-go/

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Langlois Shocker: Was AG Sacked Over $15M Enwin Loan

06 Feb 2012 Langlois Shocker: Was AG Sacked Over $15M Enwin Loan

Oh Lord. If you thought that my border Articles were excruciatingly boring, then this Article is guaranteed to put even insomniacs to sleep. It is written in Accountant-ese which is almost as bad as legal-ese. However, stick with me, right to the end. You will find it worthwhile I trust.

I am sure that you know, dear reader, that you would never see a headline or subject line like the above in the Windsor Square. How could you since the former AG never looked at Enwin never mind some $15 million loan. How could he be terminated for something he did not see? Oh sure, the nabobs would say that he was terminated so he would NOT see it! Pshaw, no politician would dare do that because if it was found out, he/she would have to resign in disgrace.

Oh no, that is the kind of despicable journalism that one might see in one of those tabloid newspapers or magazines that one sees in the checkout line at the grocery store or one of those gossip TV shows.

http://www.windsorsquare.ca/2012/02/06/langlois-shocker-was-ag-sacked-over-15m-enwin-loan/

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Someone had to speak up

Someone had to speak up

Written by Windsor Shadow

Saturday, 03 May 2008 10:29

Well, I had my five minutes at Council last night, for what it’s worth. The outcome was about as I expected. The report was accepted as presented. What was truly surprising to me was to hear several Councillors express their wish to implement all the positions and in their view the way to do that was to move forward with the report.I wonder – did they read the report? In what way is it “moving forward” with the Ombudsman position when the report recommends doing nothing other than monitoring what other Municipalities do?On one hand we’re going to monitor and study what other municipalities are doing, while at the same time we’re going to duplicate what’s already been done in Toronto by initiating a voluntary Lobbyist registry for one year. At the end of that time period, we’re going to study it some more to determine whether or not to proceed. Funniest line of the evening – Toronto has a problem with Lobbyists, but that’s not really an issue in Windsor.

The Auditor General position gets it’s referral to the Audit Committee for study along with two other internal audit questions. The Mayor expressed his hope that the Committee’s report would return to Council on a “timely” basis. Given City Time ^TM, we should expect this to come back before Council for consideration sometime in January of 2008, if we’re lucky. By then, the 2008 Budget will be nearing or already approved. Ooops – to late for this year. If Council really wants to demonstrate their commitment to these positions then they will earmark an appropriate amount of funds in this year’s budget for the establishment of an Auditor General’s office.

One further note on the Auditor General that I had to drop out of my presentation last night. Although Police, Library and Health Boards are explicitly exempt from the Auditor General the Toronto Boards have already seen the value of the Auditor General to their organization and voluntarily invited the office to begin audits. Their intention is to lobby the Province for the removal of these restrictions when the City of Toronto Act comes up for review.

The one position that did pass last night was the Integrity Commissioner. The position with the least amount of relevance to the average taxpayer received wholehearted support from most at Council. If Councillors were frustrated with Alan Halberstadt’s recitation of examples from Toronto, they should actually visit the website and read all the reports. Frustration will be the least of their worries now that they have created this position. “Inside the Expressway” political football doesn’t even begin to describe what awaits.

Hat tip to Councillor Halberstadt for requesting separate votes on each one of the eight recommendations. I’m still trying to figure out what mental cartwheels were required by the various Councillors who so eloquently spoke about the need to create all of these positions, but then voted to do virtually nothing.

Congratulations to Council on successfully hiding behind an administration report yet again. We so often speak of the need for Windsor to lead the Province instead of following. Last night we looked the situation squarely in the eye and ran the other way as fast as the votes could be counted. My only hope is that there are some municipalities in this Province who truly do wish to lead and will create all of the various positions. If someone else leads, Windsor will surely follow, eventually.

Edit: Well, here’s the first municipality to step up to the plate. Congratulations to Markham on leading the way.

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Scrapping The Scrapyard

As I am sure you will remember, I predicted that our Mayor would make the Zalev scrapyard another of his monumental projects. It was hardly my brilliance but rather reading a Gord Henderson column the day after the election when he talked about the Zalev property.

Poor Max Zalev. I hope that his friends are understanding and that he still gets invited to dinners and parties. After all, it’s bad enough that he is involved in the Enwin/Windsor Utilities Commission fiasco. Every time there is an environmental mess in Windsor, the “Zalev” scrapyard is mentioned.

My understanding is that the Zalev family sold its ownership interest. According to Crain’s, in 1996, Detroit businessman Anthony Soave became the majority shareholder in Ferrous Processing. Ferrous Processing made a few acquisitions after the Soave purchase, including $200 million-a-year Zalev Metals Inc. in 1998. I wonder if there was a term in the agreement that the new owner should change the name of the scrapyard. If not, there should have been.

We have just had the typical Star series of stories process leading up to a big climax when something significant is going to be announced involving City Hall. The Star is oh so predictable already about how it softens up its readers to accomplish its mission. You must remember the recent series of stories about the Zalev scrapyard:

http://windsorcityon.blogspot.com/2007/10/scrapping-scrapyard.html

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