Backroom meeting raises the stench of corruption yet again

The only thing missing was the eerie violin music, the stogies and the dimly lit backroom, but all the characters of a scene straight out of the 'Godfather' where present. Sam 'The Bully' Merulla played the lead thug, trying to persuade Bob 'Red Light' Bratina and Brian 'Flip-Flop' McHattie into back tracking on their decision to agree with a transit fare hike. All under the cover of an off camera, extremely fishy out of chambers meeting.

Here's how the scene played out. Twenty four hours after Merulla had a tantrum worthy of cheap award show nod for best villain, calling McHattie a 'hypocrite' and heckling any other who dared oppose him, the three where huddled in Bratina's private office, off limits to the public and cameras discussing an alternative for the rate increase.

Merulla says Bratina was taking such flak from the public for voting for the increase, he offered to help the Ward 2 councillor "find a way out". Bratina said he only voted for the hike because he didn't want to seem "bullied or intimidated" He later recanted. Before the meeting was over, Bratina changed his position. He said the fare increase is "satisfactory and workable" because of attempts to mitigate the socio-economic impacts, but he still philosophically opposes all HSR increases.

"That's not to say that I voted for something that I don't agree with," he said. What does that mean? You either are for something or your not, there's no fence here or did the "bull" offer to shove the whole post up McHattie's, well, a very dark, smelly place, not unlike the whole gathering.

Here's where the grey area could have been crossed, turning this already sceptical meeting between two councillors into a potentially illegal gathering. Besides himself, Bratina named five councillors who were involved in the discussion -- Merulla, McHattie, Terry Whitehead, Chad Collins, and Robert Pasuta, who "wandered by." The magic number to keep in mind is nine. Nine members of city council congregating together to discuss city business without proper notification and clerical record-keeping would have constituted a quorum and almost certainly an illegal meeting.

Bratina identified six participants but McHattie says there was a "core" of four, with others sticking their heads in but not actively participating. Merulla says there were five or six. Whitehead said six, and others walked by who "would just stop, either join the conversation or walk through."

The meeting became so bizarre a fearful McHattie raised concerns about forming a quorum were. In typical sleazy fashion, Merulla laughed his concerns off as a joke. But they agreed to take a head count anyway.

Jokes aside, transit fares are an important issue worthy of debate in an adult way and should be held in public, not diluted in private backroom agreements. This was not a casual hallway discussion over a coffee, this a well cooked up and covered up attempt to deceive the public.

Everyone who took part at this meeting should feel ashamed and shouldn't wonder if anything they say from now on isn't believed by the people they say they represent. Openness and transparency at the grand hall downtown was nothing more than a cheap campaign slogan, the reality is city hall is rife with the stench of corruption and will only get worse until we get an independent integrity council that can't be corrupted, and willing to put an end to the shenanigans.

Later,
Kenaz