CFN – Cornwall Mayor Bob Kilger issued a statement today about his alleged Conflict of Interest issues. It’s very cryptic and twisty; like a very expensive lawyer wrote it.
The Free Holder ripped off a headline that was even more odd than the press release. Crack reporter Cheryl Brink whipped out!
“Lawyer rules mayor not in conflict during in-camera meetings”
Bill Kingston of the cornwall daily covered the release as well with the following headline:
Law firm clears Cornwall mayor of conflict of interest
Now I know I’m not a lawyer, but last I checked it was up to a judge to make such a RULING or ….JUDGEMENT. I’m sure Rob Ford and Hazel McCallion also had lawyers that thought that they too might not be in Conflict of Interest. Of course that’s why you hire a high priced lawyer such as Will McDowell or Guy Regimbald, or the new un named lawyer for Mayor Kilger.
It gets even weirder when it comes to minutes. How can the mayor, clerk, or council add to minutes in this fashion? Where are the minutes from February 25th, 2013? Where are the adopted minutes from February 11, 2013. When I click on them I get this message.
Error 404
HTTP Web Server: Lotus Notes Exception – Document has been deleted
Guy Regimbald works for the firm Gowlings. Will McDowell is with Lenczner Slaght. David Sherriff-Scott is with Borden, Ladner, Gervais. So who is Mayor Kilger’s lawyer and what are Messers Regimbald, and McDowell representing? How deep does this go?
Reading the release itself is also quite cryptic. Are the meetings of February 19th from 2012 or 2013? Why is the mayor mentioning that he recused himself now and why were they not in the minutes from the 11th or 19th of February 2013?
Why is the mayor refusing to comment further and while it’s great that he’s talking about not being in conflict of interest he doesn’t say what he’s not in conflict of interest about and I don’t mean a specific case, but he’s not stating if it’s about an incident or specific case.
Is this statement only coming out now because of media pressure and public scrutiny? Is it because of pending litigation, possibly connected to the two Whistle Blowing cases against the city? Does it have to do with the recent ad in the Ottawa Citizen for the City of Cornwall looking for a new Fire Chief? And why is that ad stating that Cornwall is a bilingual city? Which secret council meeting passed that motion?
Does it have to do with other councilors? Former CAO Paul Fitzpatrick? We just don’t know because the city refuses to come clean. We don’t even know if the Judith Allen investigation is over and what those results were?
The problem when you don’t have clear accountability and transparency and instead fatten up expensive lawyers is that we, the public, never really know up from down or right from left? Does this release simply mean that Bob’s high priced lawyers suggest that he’s not in conflict over a single issue or meeting?
If he’s not in conflict and has done nothing wrong why all the high priced legal beagles in the room?
Does any of this make any sense to you dear viewer of CFN? If so please explain it to my small brain. Could this be why our taxes just went up 2.88% and why is council remaining so hush hush over this mess?
Mayor Bob Kilger issued the following statement today regarding his decision to not participate in discussions at two in camera meetings of City Council regarding personnel matters:
“There was an in camera meeting of City Council on February 19th regarding personnel matters. The same matters were also briefly discussed during a portion of an in camera meeting on February 11th. I did not attend the February 19th meeting and I recused myself from a portion of the February 11th meeting while these matters were discussed because I wanted to obtain independent legal advice as to whether I was in a conflict of interest. If I was in a conflict of interest situation with respect to the matters discussed at these meetings, the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act states that, because I was absent from the one meeting, I must declare that conflict at the next regular meeting of Council.
On this question, I sought and have received independent legal advice from the national law firm of Blake, Cassels & Graydon. The advice I have received is that I am not, and have not been, in a conflict of interest situation with respect to the matters discussed at these in camera meetings.
Accordingly, I did not have a conflict of interest declaration to make at the City Council meeting of February 25th.
While I accept my lawyer’s advice that there is no conflict of interest, I do not intend to participate in any of Council’s future consideration of these specific matters because I would like Council to deal with these matters with as few complications as possible.”
Mayor Kilger will not comment any further given the confidential nature of these matters discussed at in camera meetings of City Council. For clarity purposes, this information will also be included in the meeting minutes of February 25th, 2013.
The Free Holder of course, is not allowing comments on their gloss over of this release which they did not release in full and unedited as we have at CFN.
Our comments are open and welcome from the public because after all, Cornwall belongs to all of us; not just the Mayor and a few cronies.
We will be updating this story as it unfolds further and we expect an awful lot of laundry on this one! Is this another Project Truth cover up?
Something is covered up here, a rat in the house no doubt. Keep pressing CFN, your on to them and the house is starting to crack.
What a freaking joke! What is Kilger trying to pull? Does he really think the people of Cornwall are that stupid? When the Freeholder omits comments on an article it is a red flag. This way the truth will not be easily let out. Well we find out most of it here. People of Cornwall I hate to say it, but your tax increase is paying for all of this underhanded, sneaky, lying BS!!!! If Kilger needs a high priced lawyer to say that he didn’t do anything wrong, then what is he still covering up. Ok not what but how many issues and incidents? The pressure is on and now he is trying to make himself look squeaky clean at the taxpayer’s expense. STEP OFF OF THAT PEDESTAL OF YOURS! WE WANT TRANSPARENCY IN THIS CITY!!!!
When you are the Ruler of a Kingdom ..you feel above everyone else …EVEN THE COURTS. !!!!! A Lawyer has his opinion and gives advice … Sorry fella’s a Lawyer is NOT a Judge …or maybe we have our own laws here …lol… How dumb is that ???
This whole mess should be made into a cartoon so children can laugh at how dumb adults can be .
The lawyer told him to ensure no conflict of interest can be brought up it is best to stay away.
It has nothing to do with him wanting council to have little intereference…
Great comment Hailey! I think you hit it on the head! Sort of like him ducking Budget to miss the change over Glen Stor Dun Lodge 🙂
Jamie you are a real jem and a lovable one at that. I can’t stop laughing this is so funny and mysterious. I am shocked and you know why – Kilger hasn’t contacted O.J. Simpson’s legal team yet and most likely very hungry looking for cases to solve. Johnny Cochrane himself appeared on TV (the boob tube) advertising his firm. LOL LOL. ROLF!
Jamie Kilger is so mighty guilty at whatever is going on that he has to get lawyers from elsewhere since those of Cornwall cannot solve whatever the problem is. Kilger thinks that he owns Cornwall along with the other goons. There is no way in hell that I could ever live there again. The people are stunned like the cop with the beard. Be careful that nobody opens a window since that fat cat lawyer will fall overboard on his fat wallet. LOL LOL. Tombstone will be bankrupt very soon.
Most likely Kilger will have to be sent out on the rail as well if anybody in Tombstone has any guts to do it to him as well. A good man was railroaded out while the evils are left behind. I am also wondering if any of this has to do with “the Bernie Madoff – Willie Wise case” of accepting stollen loot to build that “tax mahal” they call a Benson Centre. Well I warned every sheeple for a long time now and expect the taxes to keep on rising. You all know nothing about what is going to happen in the not too distant future and think back about my warnings. Canada is going to go through some mighty hard times financially.
Now Jules I have a hunch Bob will retire to Ottawa and hang with his squeeze Courtney May, Mayor Watson’s exec assistant just fine.
That statement doesn’t solve anything or mean anything except that he paid somebody to do something. Does he think it’s just those meetings? What about the humunkulous son’s job? the Benson Centre? the shunning of the HR manager etc?
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I asked my lawyer to give me an opinion a while back. He said I wasn’t an asshole. He was wrong.
@Wow……If i was stuck in a burning house, i would not refuse a strong and capable firefighter like Chad Kilger to come and save me !
Hey Jamie did you see on the news 50 more RCMP coming to Cornwall , its not for cigarettes i don’t think there not much going on .Maybe there here to do a sweep on city hall like they did in Montreal.It could be political project truth?
POLITICAL SMOKE AND MIRRORS !!!
As previously stated who cares that some lawyer has rendered an opinion to Bob Kilger, opinions are a dime a dozen. Opinions are not formal declarations of innocence or guilt, that is for the judiciary to decide and pronounce publicly.
The obvious hope of this press release is that the taxpayers of Cornwall swallow this gobble gook hook line and sinker and not ask in OPEN COUNCIL any further questions regarding a possible conflict of interest of the Mayor or any other public official of the Corporation of the City of Cornwall for that matter.
How irresponsible of media sources to create headlines that suggests to the readership that lawyers can make declarations of guilt or innocence without the benefit of the judiciary. The STANDARD FREEHOLDER represented by CHERYL BRINK and the CORNWALL DAILY represented by BILL KINGSTON have both seemingly turned their backs to responsible journalism with their blatant attempt to dupe citizens into a false sense of security.
David to be fair to Eagle Eye Brink, sometimes an editor will write your headline or rewrite it. Apparently the SF had two headlines for that story published online last night….
ADMIN – point made . My dilemma is that I am a very independent individual . I personally would not have tolerated a headline that in any way discredited me as a journalist. I understand that not everyone has the same level of conviction or principles.
Since when does legal council do anything BUT offer opinion.
This is a clear cut case of the Mayor attempting to dazzle the public with what he considers lawyer speak…..Head up Bobby, the collective are a little brighter than your 10th grade education. We are savvy, we can share information, we are well read.
It’s nice your lawyers have declared your non-conflict Bobby, but most if us have a different interpretation and there is a big likelihood you will be tried properly on that interpretation.
{MODERATED} Again…who knows, it’s all small town rumor.
In response to Nugget…I would never refuse being rescued by any firefighter but the story goes like this…
When this person was hired as a firefighter, there were many more men and women qualified to do the job. These people did the written examination and passed with flying colours, whereas the written test that was done by the new employee had to be shredded because of it being a failure. Do you really think that is the way to do things because your Dad is in a position that would allow this corruption? I think not! May all the idiots burn in hell!
No firefighters down there….Well maybe one!