WOOLWICH OBSERVER SPEAKS TRUTH TO POWER - SLAMS MAYOR SHANTZ

Today's Woolwich Observer is in my humble opinion one of the more devastating edition's speaking to the credibility of Woolwich Council in general and to Mayor Shantz in particular. A total of four articles, two regarding Elmira's toxic legacy and two regarding the election expenses scandal, have correctly and appropriately exposed much of the wrongdoing of this Council and members during their short tenure. These articles include "As CPAC winds down, longstanding concerns remain" and "New evidence demands further cleanup orders be directed at Chemtura, says watchdog group". The two regarding the expense scandal are "Woolwich resident urges reform in wake of council election expense woes" and "Hahn cleared by audit committee". As an aside for now the K-W Record also published yesterday the following article titled "Woolwich councillor won't face legal action".

The Observer's first listed story above mentions that even Chemtura have finally admitted the obvious in that their pumping and treating of groundwater alone will not achieve full aquifer cleanup by 2028. The following quote is crucial to understanding the mindset or lack there-of, of mayor Shantz namely "That's long been the position of the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee, the environmental watchdog group whose term expires at the end of the month, to be replaced by a more company-friendly arrangement cooked up by Mayor Sandy Shantz."

The second devastating quote speaking to the credibility, integrity and even intelligence of Mayor Shantz is in the second article above and states "...council opted to refer the matter to the new environmental committee the township formed when it opted to disband CPAC to entice the MOE and Chemtura back to the meeting table.". And that folks is the truth. CPAC were not dissolved/disbanded due to any problems or failures on their part but just the opposite. CPAC were honest, intelligent, experienced and INDEPENDENT. They could not be stifled or intimidated by the professional liars and bureaucrats of Chemtura or the Ministry of Environment. CPAC were disbanded by the liars on Council, particularily Sandy Shantz and Mark Bauman, because Chemtura Canada and the Ontario M.O.E. begged them to.

Two quotes stand out for me from the story "Hahn cleared by audit committee". The first by Dr. Dan Holt is ""It shows the system doesn't work," he said of MECAC's decision. "The whole system is designed to protect the elected officials."". The second is the statement by MECAC member Kevin Bambrick who stated "I conclude that it appears that Scott Hahn has contravened provisions of the act relating to campaign finances, and that this matter be referred to a prosecuting attorney for further consideration." That simply and elegantly states what the criteria are supposed to be for the Municipal Elections Compliance Audit Committee's (MECAC) decision. All the excuses, comparisons to others, references to intent, alleged integrity and everything else were simple whitewash. Scott Hahn's Financial Statement was in gross contravention and his attempts to "fix" it including highly suspicious production of after the fact receipts and invoices only dug him deeper into the hole. Let us also not forget the conflict of interest of to date one member of this committee pointed out in yesterday's posting here. Let us also not forget that there were two former regional councillors on MECAC (Zehr & Sudden) and that mayor Shantz currently is a regional councillor. Are there other glaring conflicts of interest as well?

The last article titled "Woolwich resident urges reform in wake of council election expense woes" is a barnburner. Richard Clausi gently, exquisitely and professionally dissected each and every lie, excuse, complaint and overall whining from Councillors Mark Bauman, Scott Hahn and Mayor Shantz. Richard at last Tuesday's Council meeting publicly spanked the entire council for their stupidity, laziness and amateurism surrounding their ridiculous failures and responses to their own members' (3) failures regarding the Municipal Elections Act 1996. Do not forget that both Mark Bauman and Sandy Shantz have multiple elections and terms of council behind them. Scott Hahn has not but clearly he has proven he will be a typical Woolwich Councillor to all our detriment for far too long.

The final dialogue Steve Kannon of the Observer captured was Sandy's "honest I lied" comment to Richard and the public, also captured by CTV and Rogers Cable TV. The "honest I lied" is a famous remark made in the Ontario legislature by M.P.P. Shelly Martel many years ago. Richard's response to Sandy was "Are you telling me you perjured yourself?".

Are the scandals enveloping Woolwich Council over or are they just beginning? I wonder right now how council feel about citizens criticizing and condemning them truthfully after they spent months falsely and dishonestly criticizing and condemning CPAC. Have the idiots and liars on Council learned anything at all or will they continue in their self serving, anti public interest ways?