SMOKE & MIRRORS, THE MEA, POLITICIANS AND MECAC

Yesterday both the competence and the credibility of the Municipal Elections Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC) were on full display. As was the same for Mayor Shantz. She was rude, nasty and disrespectful which based upon her public preaching also makes her a hypocrite. Thank you Sandy for showing us that we're supposed to do what you say, not what you do. Similarily Councillor Mark Bauman who allegedly spoke in support of our Mayor actually was all about Mark. He whined and carried on about how badly he'd been treated by yours truly. Boo hoo. And again he also showed himself to be the hypocrite as I in the entire process both verbal and written to MECAC have virtually said and written nothing critical or derogatory about Mayor Shantz. Amazing isn't it Mark and Sandy how easy it is to wind someone up? The difference is I wound you pair up by speaking the polite truth about you both whereas in the past you've wound me up with your deception and obfuscation regarding CPAC and Chemtura. Set and match to moi.

MECAC were unbelievable. Mayor Shantz via the Deputy Clerk handed out a 27 page document ten to fifteen minutes before the start of the 11 am. meeting. The Chair, Carl Zehr, arrived at 4 minutes after 11 due to traffic. Several of the MECAC speakers had the honesty (naivety?) to mention the obvious, namely they did not have time to read the Mayor's submission. Nevertheless after the Mayor verbally explained to them that everything in my Application for a Compliance Audit was correct hence she was revising her Financial Statement AND including an Auditor's Report; they bought it hook, line and sinker. Rest assurred the words "Alan was right" did not pass the Mayor's lips. She stickhandled like a pro and attempted to give the impression that all on her own she decided to comply with the Municipal Elections Act (MEA). Did I mention the word "hypocrite"?

MECAC unanimously voted to dismiss my Application on the grounds that the Mayor SAID she had now complied three months late to the MEA. They also by their vote have put themselves, their independence and their credibilty on the line. Nobody, myself included, remotely had enough time to properly absorb the information, including Auditor's Report, in her late submission.

Is her amended Financial Statement- Auditor's Report Form 4 acceptable? The answer is still no. What she submitted yesterday is unsigned and undated by either her or the Township CLerk. The submitted Auditor's Report is dated June 16/15, the very day that I filed my Application for an Auditor's Report. What the hell? BUT... page 8 of her new Financial Statement lists the name of the Auditor, his employer, address, phone number and date that page was written and the date is March 23/15 FOUR DAYS PRIOR to the filing deadline of March 27/15. Curiouser and curiouser. There are different possibilities here. One is simply further mayoralty incompetence and error. The skeptic however might think that while the Mayor allegedly filed her first Financial Statement on February 2/15, in fact she knew that she required an Audit prior to the March 27/15 deadline and initiated the process only to learn he couldn't do it that quickly. She then decided to bluff her way through and pretend all was well. This included lying to the Elmira Independent on June 16 (published June 19) claiming she thought her initial return was without error and one Alan Marshall didn't know what he was talking about. This would also explain how the very same day I filed my Application for a Compliance Audit, she suddenly has one.

These are not the only problems with the Mayor's revised Financial Statement - Auditor's Report. Allegedly she has filed ALL her expense receipts. Oddly several meetings including campaign kick off meetings and Meet & Greet's at two local restauarants appear to be missing. Also there is no response/explanation to my formal request in my Application regarding these missing expenses. Oh and she also didn't claim her Auditing expense as she should have.

All of these failures, inconsistencys and discrepancies were missed yesterday intentionally by MECAC. How do professionals gloss over that kind of incompetence? One by being unanimous in their incompetence. Something like Woolwich Council on occasion. Citizens find it hard to truly believe that they are being scammed by all of them on some issues (CPAC for instance).

I've listed the bad news. The good news is that mayor Shantz has been held to account. She grossly violated the MEA and has been forced to refile (sort of) her Fnancial Statement. She has been forced to include an Auditor's Report as the law demands. She has admitted (backhandedly) that her expense reports were inadequate and inaccurate and that everything I claimed about her contraventions was true and accurate. That is killing her right now when it should not. I repeat that at no time to date have I suggested or inferred that she is corrupt, at least regarding this issue, nor have I stated to the MECAC that she intentionally violated the Municipal Elections Act (MEA). Frankly right this very second I'm not so sure. Those differing Auditor's dates require serious explanation.