OlympicVillageBailoutVille
Because in Sam's world, whistleblowing is anti-democratic.
As is the people's right to know how their money is being spent.
In fact, according the current, and soon to be former, Mayor of Vancouver, the two together are downright criminal.
Or some such bizarre and twisted pretzel logic kind of thing.
Robert Matas of the Globe and Mail has the story:
"VANCOUVER — Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan asked the police Wednesday (Nov 12/08) to investigate the “theft” of documents from city hall that revealed that city council had authorized a loan of up to $100-million to the financially strapped developer of the 2010 Olympics athletes village.
“I met with the [city's] legal department this morning and they gave me a full briefing of my options. I decided immediately to take the option of calling the police chief and asking him, on behalf of the city, to launch an investigation into the alleged internal theft of classified documents,” Mr. Sullivan said.
“I believe that the businesses and agencies that the city does business with need confidence that their information will be respected,” he said in an interview. “Citizens need confidence in the integrity of the people who represent them.”
Mr. Sullivan also speculated about the impact on the increasingly bitter municipal election campaign. The financial information could be used to influence the outcome of the election, he said. “And that goes beyond just criminal. That goes to the very heart of the integrity of our democratic system,” Mr. Sullivan said.
Look.
This is codswallop and deflector spin at its worst.
Because the so-called 'leak' is not the story.
The real story is the top secret $100 million dollar bailout using phantom cash from a City of Vancouver property endowment fund that currently has no cash.
And as the Pivot Legal Society, a group that actually knows something about the law, is saying - the entire premise of the thing being done in secret may just be bogus in the first place.
Not just because it was anti-democratic, but also because it probably was not even legal.
The secrecy I mean.
Again, from Mr. Matas' story:
Later Wednesday (Nov 12/08), Pivot Legal Society, a community advocate group in Vancouver, filed a complaint with the B.C. Ombudsman against the city, alleging city hall did not have legal authority to hold a meeting in secret to discuss the $100-million loan. The group says closed-door meetings are allowed only if public discussion of the acquisition, disposition or expropriation of land or improvements in land would harm the city's interests. Those provisions do not cover discussion of the $100-million loan, the group says.
OK?
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