Hurricane Hart Hits South Stormont After Deputy Mayor Leaks Integrity Commissioner Report

South Stormont CouncilCFN –  Hurricane Hart might be upgraded to Tornado after the Deputy Mayor of South Stormont reacted to the Integrity commissioner Robert Swayze’s report regarding her behavior towards staff and council.

Ms Hart reacted by calling the Standard Freeholder’s Greg Peerenboom over to her farm and giving him an earful even though the report was not meant to be public until November 27, 2013.   Only the Mayor & Deputy Mayor had received it leaving the majority of council caught unaware and flat footed.

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Integrity commissioner Robert Swayze has decided to warn Hart over two specific incidents: speaking to media about confidential personnel issues, and violating interpersonal behaviour conduct with other South Stormont council members.

“If in the future, I receive another valid complaint that she continues to harass the mayor (Bryan McGillis) or other persons she deals with as a councillor, I will impose sanctions against her,” Swayze said in a conclusion.

Deputy Mayor Hart spoke with CFN this afternoon.

I think it’s council against me.

We also spoke with Mr. Stan Stasko of Canadian Bio Pellet Inc.  regarding the proposed plant and he stated that council over all had been supportive and that he’s excited and working hard still to bring the project to South Stormont but was dismayed that any elected official would behave in the manner that the Deputy Mayor has; especially in front of a potential investor.   He continued that even though the markets went soft in 2008/09 he still expects the project to eventually move forward.

The South Stormont Procedural By Laws state that:

In Section 10.3 it indicates that

 

“insofar as is practicable, Council agendas along with supporting material shall be prepared and made available to Members on theFriday prior to a regular meeting”

Asked for comment Mayor Bryan McGillis said that he would consult with council, senior management and possibly Integrity Commissioner Swayze.

 

Should Deputy Mayor Tammy Hart Resign or Be Punished for her Violations as per the Integrity Report and leak?

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What do you think dear viewers of CFN?   Has the Deputy Mayor crossed the line and gone too far?  You can post your comments below.

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30 Comments

  1. This is too funny! Ms. Hart sure loves the spotlight. Maybe she should take up smoking crack and driving drunk.

  2. Hart is a disgrace as a politician, and has done a lot of damage to the reputation of this area. It will be interesting to see how S. Stormont votes in the next election.

  3. Furtz
    Seems there is a god in ford nation
    sun news cancels their tv show after one night
    Must have been the wacko rant by ezra O’reilly junior
    Hey Tammy they have a vacant slot at 8 pm
    maybe you and Mayor Kilger could do a show
    MP guy Luzon(freeholder spelling) could provide the legal opinions from his “lawyer” Canadas justice minister lol

  4. a talking machine that says nothing

  5. @ Big Mac. Sun News said it took five hours to record, and another eight hours to edit, making it an unusually expensive one hour of BS. I’m sure wiping spittle off the camera lenses, and editing out all the belching and farting took some time, but thirteen hours to produce one hour of third rate TV?

  6. I feel that it is unjust and unfair and offensive to even mention Rob Ford and Tammy Hart in the same article , let alone have them mentioned in a poll together .
    In politics there is always a difference of opinion . That is what makes us a democratic society.
    I would rather see a politician stand up and fight to keep our taxes under control than to sit and vote for what ever the Mayor ,Premier , or Prime Minister wants.
    There is no doubt that Ms Hart may have overstepped her boundaries however I have never met ONE SINGE person who has not made a mistake, Her intentions were honourable in that she was the ONLY one on council that even cared about the constituents. The results of the report in question could have been broken down and some need not to have been applied . It is easy to pass a motion to give yourself a raise !! Does anyone realize that Ms Hart was the only member of council who voted AGAINST giving herself a raise ?
    I only wish that we in South Stormont had more members of council that cared about OUR wallets instead of filling their own .
    Just one more point …I don’t remember the ballot of the last municipal election asking if we wanted to give council a raise !!

  7. Oh my goodness. Some more Don’t You Dare Rock the Boat bullying from the progressive faction. If this woman wants to vote against every motion brought forward it is her right to do so. Who is this biased, non-objective Integrity Commissioner anyway? This has nothing to do with integrity. As she says, the report was all about her anyway so how could she be violating privacy when it was her own privacy in question. I hope Ms. Hart sticks to her guns and tells them all to drop dead.

  8. The previous comments,I hope, are not indicative of the ignorance of people of SD&G. Any comments referring to Rob Ford shows complete ignorance of what is actually going on. What might be more helpful is if people would start asking why has the council sicced the Privacy Commisioner on Mrs. Hart? What is it that they are so scared of her making public? Why does she have to support council when she was elected to do the best for the people who elected her? Why are people writing and saying slanderous and libelous things about her? What are they afraid of?
    Keep up the exceptional work Mrs. Hart!

  9. Correct me if i am wrong but, wasn’t it

    — her feelings —
    about the report
    — and how she disagreed with how things were handled —

    that was “leaked” and NOT the report itself and or what it contained ?

  10. Author

    No Kilroy. The Free Holder report quoted from the report and it was confirmed to me by both Ms Hart and Mr. Peerenboom that he had the report.

  11. Obviously one can be dissatisfied with a process or system and want to champion a fight for change. A politician with merit understands that knowing the system and working the system is the diplomatic route that can pave the way for change. People that butt heads with the system are usually branded as radical and wind up loosing credibility in the process. Although Hart might have a valid point to make, the appearance is that she definitely lacks the finesse to accomplish her mission. Unless Hart dramatically changes her tact she likely will not survive to continue her battle. The electorate generally don’t like to be embarrassed. I say generally because Cornwall still has Bob Kilgor et al.

  12. Oh the power of the in camera meetings ! It leaves us to “he said she said” to judge and we all know that in Canada in politics we are judged in the press and by our accusers the Senate just taught us that . Interesting how the Integrity Commissioner Robert Swayze was even able to make judgemental comments on the pellet plant only to admit later in the press he did not even have the facts. What I see is a politician voting against a raise for themselves by accepting a highly paid consultants report that means also increasing other employees salaries to justify their own maybe , and there is a big difference between the meaning of Liar and dirty dirty dirty one is a description of a person and the other is a description of the politics or situation of course we will never know I guess if this happened also in a closed meeting but to me it makes a big difference. Always good to see someone questioning the status quo .

  13. Bravo Ms.Hart! It would be nice to see our own Cornwall councillors stand-up to our Mayor for things that they believe in.

  14. Funny
    We ask for transparency and when it arrives it is critized as well….
    Solution one new people from outside the area.
    solution two new ideas and less focus on lost villages ideals
    solution three business type people in their places…I wouldn’t tell a farmer how to milk a cow and they shouldn’t try their hand at business
    Solution four focus on soultion one intensly

  15. I thought the raises Hart objected to were those recommended for Twsp. staff. NOT the council.

  16. The pellet business would be a good idea as any business in the area is needed.
    What ever happened to the similar business in Alexandria how did it help the local economy out there?

    Here we have the pragmatic ironies of a mayor that claims concern for the environment.
    Here he supports the growth of industry that will provide additional resources for heat, but he hires a company to determine the best way to minimize garbage whose stance is to bury it elsewhere.

  17. GIVE IT UP BOB, you sound like a broken record. RAISE RAISE RAISE is all you can talk about. You are totally unfair and off the mark. Why don’t you ask yourself when was the last time council had a raise? How far are they behind other Municipalities? When you worked, did you not want a FAIR wage? Did you ever accept a pay raise? Where do you see on a ballot to vote Council a raise? You are talking as nuts as Hart. Jamie asked her if this was her second term as a Deputy Mayor and she said yes. Wow…..This was her first term as Deputy Mayor and one term as a Councillor. Hopefully the last.
    The Mayor stated at the last meeting of Nov. 4, that Hart seconded and supported the motion to approve the compensation for Staff and Council. At the next regular meeting she totally voted against it. “Not me,” I’m for the tax payer….bull……She sets herself up to grandstand and undermine her Staff and Council who works hard to get reports together. Really sad.
    The Mayor questioned her motive and she said “thats me”. It seems to me that no matter what this women does, Hart’s little click will support her even when she is dead wrong.
    The Integrity Commissioner is a prominent Lawyer who based his decission on all the facts from ALL Councillor members. That is what a Judge does, and I am sure that Hart’s remarks towards him will have severe consequence.
    She will never change. I just cannot believe that some people can’t see through her. The smart ones do. She will never get a single vote from anyone in my family in South Stormont. I have a lot of family. My heart goes out to the Mayor and the other council members in South Stormont. They show a lot of class not to lower themselves to her level.

  18. The raise should be based on the industrial/commercial economy. if we have growth in either section then a raise is added on the next election ballot. They do work FOR the public therefore the public should decide the rate. I think that would eliminate any of the nonsense politics we have now where in a select few are involved because abusing the system with friends support is the norm.

    A point of note, has anybody ever wondered why the government no longer provides funding for roads and that type of infrastructure? Have you ever noticed how no roads are a direct route from point A to point B? At the time of that growth if you were on board with the local politicians and you needed a little money for your farm they would sell sections off for the highway at a interesting rate. Part of the local team building scenario. I wonder is Tammy could elaborate on this?

  19. Let’s be clear here
    Tammy is No Rob Ford
    She is worse her going off the rails isn’t caused by any outside product
    Furtzie
    When Canadian Tire won’t advertise on your show(Ford Nation) and even asks
    its suppliers not to use CTC logo during the show…Your toast
    CTC products and ads are all aimed at Ford Nation type customers
    Stella
    Those wackos over at Standard Freeholder are mocking you again
    They seem to hate the truth you tell
    Don’t ever stop because of them…right!!!!
    http://www.standard-freeholder.com/2013/11/19/unrepentant-hart-violated-code-of-conduct

  20. Author

    lol, mock away!

  21. Jamie
    your a good guy
    just because stella accused somebody of theft…LOL
    and poor old mac his last free column over at the plastic bag newspaper
    was about pidgeons
    oh how the mighty have fallen
    Stay Tuned for question period Live from Parliament Hill where PM and NDP pull out
    the talking points and fight over the latest Nigel Right RCMP documents..not as
    HARD Hitting as Toronto city hall but we must see how they waste our tax dollars
    RIP
    Ron Johnson local bartender at the scribblers hangout

  22. @ Admin. The lists of recent comments and posts seem to have disappeared. 🙁

  23. Thank you Tammy for standing up again for the little guy,I love how you speak your mind & don,t just be a yes person when it comes to council decisions,nobody likes brown nosers or bullies.You are being bullied unfairly by a bias Integrity Commissioner who appears quite inadequate to have even mentioned Mayor Ford in the same breath as yours,that sure takes him down a peg or two & a $2000 unneeded expense .Who will pay for that A hole…Oh yes…ME.Bravo Tammy ,he is a bully & cannot define who you are,only you can & you do it well,I,d vote again for you because I love high achievers who do not just go with the flow but go with their heart & brains.

  24. Yep …..mock away!! Who cares? Considering the mentality I certainly don’t.

  25. Mary Bray, Are you for real? I’m laughing my head off right now thinking what you wrote on here. You or Hart have no concept of how a process should work.You knew nothing about the Integrity Commissioner’s Report,
    yet commented on it anyway. Maybe you should stop listening to Hart and do some research for yourself. You are definitly missing the point here. Everyone agrees that one should speak their mind but not in the manner Hart does. She cares nothing about rules or regulations. Hart is totally disrespectful towards her Staff, Council and anyone who disagrees with her, as per the report. Read it again.
    By condoning that kind of behavour reflects a lot about you. Mayor Mcgillis stated council had given Hart many chances and warnings to change her behavour to no avail. Council had no other alterative but to call in the Integrity Commissioner. This lose cannon is going to get the Municipality sued. Her constant ranting uses up a lot of municipal resources and time. Harts behavour creates a lot of delays which adds more cost to us tax payers.
    The only unneeded expense was when Hart filed a complaint regarding a closed meeting last year. The investigator’s findings was council did nothing wrong. Who paid for that cost? You and I as a property tax payer. Hart said on the radio yesterday that the Integrity Commissioner was bias towards her before he left his office. Give me a break!!!Do you seriously believe that?…lol. IS THEIR NO SHAME. Mary said she would vote for her again….lol.oh ya, about who should pay the cost of this NECESSARY report ? I think most would say the one who was found GUILTY of all charges………. Yes your friendTammy Hart.

  26. It’s interesting how a certain segment of voters consider politics pure entertainment and entertainment only. The more disruptive and outrageous a politician is, the more they like them. Look at Rob Ford. The crazier he gets, the more his core supporters love him. Thankfully, the majority of voters see through the nonsense and showboating, and will support someone else in the next election. From what I know of Hart from reading on this site and the Freeholder, she craves attention more than anything else. Sadly, her personal needs trump good governance every time, and her core supporters are fine with that.

  27. I will speak in support of Ms Hart . . . she took a stand in the interest of the people.

    With regard to that pellet plant that was promised government funding, let us recall that Cornwall rejected that abomination from setting up in the industrial park. The ill-fated farce of the ethanol plant also depended on government funding . . . . and there was political BS galore in that debacle . . . fortunately, Greenfield Ethanol set up a competing plant at Johnstown and rectified all the mistakes of the Cornwall proposal.

    And long prior to the ethanol plant, there was a government grant given to companies that set up shop at a place like Cornwall . . there were takers galore that quite literally did the equivalent of an economic ‘one-night-stand’ in Cornwall. When the government funding ran out, they high-tailed it out-of-town.

    In the history of this area, no industry that depended on government funding and that actually opened doors in this area, ever stayed for very long. If their business plan was that good, then there was NO need whatsoever for government funding. The political claim that government funding brought the first big distribution centre to Cornwall, is pure BS.

    Much of Deputy Mayor Hart’s woes revolved around that pellet plant . . . . it was a spin off of political crap going on at Queen’s Park. The BS claimed that the Ingleside Pellet plant was supposed to provide fuel for Ontario coal fired power stations that were being converted to burning wood pellets . . . . then there was a wood pellet explosion at the 120MW Atikokan Power station in Northern Ontario (Moses-Saunders generates almost 17-times the output of Atikokan). In Spain and Holland, Argentinian experts guided the conversion of coal-fired power stations to burning wood chips . . . and with overwhelming success.

    Except that the bigots in Ontario would not even consider engaging proven expertise from Argentina . . . though in private discussion, one of the Argentinian experts expressed reservation about converting the coal-fired Nanticoke power station to wood combustion. And let us not forget the $1-billion screw-up related 2 x cancelled natural gas power plants near Toronto and the $1-billion ‘investment’ into Samsung Wind Energy . . . within a few months of that announcement, Hydro Quebec bought new wind turbines, with blades imported from India . . . and other wind power installations bought turbines from Vestas and from Siemens (and NONE from Ontario).

    Most of the political BS in South Stormont and the deputy mayor revolves around that pellet plant proposal . . . it my view, it had the credibility of the Cornwall ethanol plant. She stood up and called it for what it was . . . the best that could have been done for South Stormont was to have sent it on its way. With that pellet plant gone, South Stormont has excellent potential to attract new sensible, privately-funded industry that can invest free from government funding.

    The new industrial area between Hwy 401 and the CN Rail line, also between County Roads 12 and 15 and accessible from Moulinette Road, has great future potential. A series of greenhouses/hothouses would be ideal between Moulinette Road and County Road 12 . . . and could supply a food distribution centre at Cornwall, with a similiar centre to the east of Moulinette Road.

    South Stormont deserves better that to have a repeat of the lunacy of the pellet plant or another Cornwall Ethanol plant saga. There is plenty of proof in the history of this region that no industry that needed to start or depend on government ever went anywhere over the long-term. It would be sensible for area politicians to as Cornwall did with the pellet plant proposal, when another industry that depends on government funding, come calling. In many states in the USA, economic development is a function of the Chambers of Commerce, not the city councils. That approach may be an improvement in this region.

  28. @ Harry. There might very well have been legitimate concerns re your above post. However, ongoing rudeness and disrespectful behavior and showboating for the press isn’t the way to influence decisions by any municipal council. The council is a team. The idea is to get your team on side, not alienate them. Pretty basic stuff.

  29. I stand with Harry Valentine in support of Tammy Hart as the Pellet Plant idea was a stupid idea from the Get Go . Re Furtz point that Council should be a team fine,but sometimes it doesn’t work, look at Corn City Coun
    Leslie O’ Shaughnessy the man with the most experience and knowledge, he couldn’t get that group to break with the Mayor and do the right thing and support him ( the gutless bunch ) . If Leslie would run in 2014 he could send his worship packing perhaps back to Ottawa . Anyway Tammy continue doing whats right .

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