MONDAY MAY 4, 10:00 am. IN WOOLWICH COUNCIL CHAMBERS - AUDIT COMMITTEE - SCOTT HAHN

An audit committee comprimised of past and current regional politicians will be looking into the facts surrounding Woolwich Councillor Scott Hahn's lack of proper election expense reporting. There will be a public meeting this Monday morning at 10:00 am. in Woolwich Council Chambers. The issue appears to be Scott's brochures and election signs which he did not state any expenses for. Scott has since advised that the election signs were donated which is fine however he has not stated by whom they were donated. Similarily the brochures are an expensive question mark. When the smoke clears it absolutely could turn out to be no more than inattention and a failure to attend to the details.

On the other hand if for some reason Scott is embarassed to admit who was donating to his campaign and he intentionally tried to hide his donations, then he could be in serious trouble. This for me is the interesting question. Are the donations he received from friends or family and essentially no big deal or is it a big deal as to who donated to him? These are the questions that this audit committee absolutely must answer. Any attempt to give Scott no more than a slap on the wrist while not telling the public who donated to his campaign will reek of a coverup.

What if any are the environmental implications in all of this? At this point in time I do not know. Potentially worst case scenario Scott might have to step down as Ward One Councillor. If that occurred a proven friend of the environment, Dr. Dan Holt, is the next in line via last October's election. Scott's performance has been mixed on Council and his obvious support of Mayor Shantz in all things is worrisome.

Again until the audit committee have done their work it is idle speculation as to whether an enemy of the environment may have donated to Scott's campaign. That is what the big deal is all about. Idle speculation will occur until this audit committee do their important work and put idle speculation to rest.