Tuesday, October 28, 2014

ONE EGG ROLL AND WON TON SOUP LATER ...

I needed some comfort food after last night. Luckily, I live near our fine Chinese Restaurant in the Beach.  Now I feel better:

While others in town are whooping it up and slapping each other on their backs over the retaking of the Fort Erie Town Council, lots of us are shocked and saddened over the losses incurred by "our guys."

What is really sad that The Four never got much of a chance to show people that they were committed to bringing responsible, good government to Fort Erie. From Day One they were attacked. The campaign against them carried on non-stop for four years resulting in the outcome of yesterday. It is really sad when the local Chamber of Commerce hierarchy gets right into the battle against representatives elected by the people.  I would think they would be more concerned about business opportunities than revenge against election winners.  The same people who will now run our town put out the false narrative that The Four were anti-development and anti-business mainly because members of the council stood up to the egomaniac who runs the EDTC when he disrespected the taxpayers and council on several occasions.  His bad attitude is well-known but many are afraid of him. (Yeah, I know all about that. I was sued by him with taxpayer money.)  

So, the select group went after The Four and anyone who wanted to keep the Bay Beach Properties in the public's hands. And they really went after The Four. They received a great deal of help from the local newspapers, especially from James Culic of Niagara This Week who never let a chance to bash The Four pass him by.  He must be so proud of himself right now along with Kris DubĂ© whose close ties to Doug Martin made it impossible for him to be objective.  Other so-called journalists who promised to cover the full story of the conflict of interest lawsuit but got cold feet, probably because they might lose advertisers - the same people who were at the centre of the lawsuit in the first place.  It is all so incestuous that it makes one ill.  And to think, despite all this, this council was able to do a great many good things.  Lowest tax hike in a decade; replenishment of the reserve fund and lots of improvements to the infrastructure. But the people seldom heard about that in the biased press. No, all they heard about was the dissension, mostly caused by a weak mayor who was still smarting over his razor-thin victory over his challenger in 2010. Council meetings turned into sideshows replete with a bunch of high school bullies making loud, insulting remarks from the back of the room.  The mayor let them carry on.

Then there was the Red Ninja blog that took high school bullying to a whole new level. It even employed the camera talents of a local stalker who has a long history of such behaviour.  But, never mind that. He was useful to them as he enjoyed following people around, taking pictures.  Been doing it for years. Police have quite a file on him already.  He particularly likes to harass women.  

So, very honest and capable men were pilloried in their own town by some of their own neighbours. Because?  Because they were committed to keeping the Bay Beach Properties in the public's hands. 

And because they cared enough about their community to put their names in for election; were elected and then tried to do the job they were elected for. 

Sad day indeed.  Thank you to all four of the councillors and good luck to Don Lubberts. The next four years may be, for him, like the plot of Lord of the Flies, but we all know he'll do just fine.

PS. I will continue to call Kim Zanko and Marina Butler the Chamber Maids as that's where they both gor their start and their support.

NEW COUNCIL MAKE-UP IS A COSMIC JOKE. BUT WE'RE NOT LAUGHING





Councillor Paul Collard offered this to me to use because I'm pretty sure it will be needed over the next little while.  All but one of The Four will not be representing the people of Fort Erie next term.  They've been replaced by a newbie, a Barbie Doll and Lucrezia Borgia.

I would imagine that some members of the Chamber of Commerce are celebrating the win for their side. They managed to do a very thorough job of destroying the reputations of The Four Councillors, starting with Marina Butler's Compliance Audit of the man she has now beaten: John Hill.  Then there were the billboards attributed to Kim Zanko who is now Ward 3 Councillor-elect.  And who can forget the lawsuit filed by Tim Whitfield and funded with help from Marina Butler and some other members of the CofC.

Yeah, that's what some Chamber members think is good for the town, right?  Spend time and money to trash the duly-elected representatives of the people.  Such nice, responsible people. Put up signs; put out a slanderous flyer; fund a frivolous lawsuit; and then campaign on honesty and integrity. It seems to have worked if one believes in honest elections.

We have four years to observe how these new councillors will change Fort Erie for the better.  Pay close attention.  There will be a test on this. In four years.

In the meantime, I'm going to design a flyer and a billboard or two.



PAST ISSUES