Integrity Niagara

Niagara Regional Council hired what was supposed to be an 'Integrity Commissioner'.

It is expected that everyone is to respect the integrity commissioner's report as fair, balanced, accurate, and above all honest.

Surely it would follow that an 'integrity commissioner' would represent the highest standard of INTEGRITY. We do not question Integrity Commissioner Robert J. Swayze's integrity but we do insist on pointing out possible inconsistencies, short-comings and what may be considered as inaccuracies. In fact we would point out that the report is imbalanced to such a degree that it is useless.

The Niagara Region's Integrity Commissioner's complete report can be read in its entirety at the bottom of this page.

In the very first paragraph of Page #1 Integrity Commissioner Swayze pronounces his authority to conduct an ‘INVESTIGATION’. 
Still on page #1 Mr. Swayze contends that Bill 91 authorizes him to carry out ‘INVESTIGATIONS’.  

But what kind of investigation was conducted?

According to thesaurus: Investigator: researcher, canvasser, examiner, and pollster

Did Mr. Swayze perform due diligence as an 'investigator' by researching and examining both sides of the charges against Councilor Petrowski? Did he interview any of the other witnesses present at the July 23, 2013 meeting; the meeting where he supposedly bullied NHS ‘front line’ staff? Did he even read the six pages of notes taken at the meeting by one of the ignored witnesses present?

He did not! 

His own report clearly indicates that his only interviews were with Niagara Region personnel. He points to the fact that he received his ‘source documents’ from the Region’s Solicitor. Integrity Commissioner Szayze was paid $30,000.00  to INVESTIGATE and report back to our Niagara Regional Council his findings. Here we are providing council with a more definitive report and it won't cost the taxpayer one red cent!

Have we been here before? Is this just the latest episode conjured up by political foes? This new condemnation of Councilor Petrowski bears all the earmarks of previous attacks with the added specter of an 'Integrity Commissioner'. The fact is that the Regional Council already has the power to penalize Councilor Petrowski for his insistence to 'investigate and, if possible, resolve' as suggested by the The Municipal Councillor’s Guide of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Having persistently failed in their many squalid and false Machiavellian attacks, the stale 'old guard' turned to an 'Integrity Commissioner" to do their dirty work. Several Councilors spoke against the hiring of Mr. Integrity fearing it would become a which-hunt or used as someone' tool. Preston Haskell braved the lion's den to speak against the $10,000.00 per month waste of hard earned tax dollars only to be insulted by Regional Councilor and Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn commenting that the presentation was so full of errors that he couldn't  even vote to have the presentation accepted into the record! The result was a 10 to 8 vote to block the presentation from the eyes of the public.

Under the title 'CONCLUSION' Mr. Swayze states: ‘I believe the six staff members I interviewed (all at the same time and in the same place) and I do not believe the testimony of Councilor Petrowski in his interview’!

WOW! 

How can an Integrity commissioner bring his investigation down to a level of they said/he said without even trying to interview all of the witnesses? He casually stated 'I don't believe other witnesses are relevant'.

As a point of reference to the geneses of the situation click here

Dear reader, before we continue surely you can see that we have already come to an obvious and disturbing conclusion that Integrity Commissioner Swayze’s report is a one sided and inaccurate report more in keeping with a prosecutor than an investigator. If you read on you will find that Lawyer Swayze's report to Regional Council should be disregarded and a full investigation of the events be investigated.

For instance, 
Report: Swayze attributtes the words "get me" (him). False! Never happened.
Report: Swayze says Petrowski prefaced his words: "I put an end to". False! never happened.
Report: Swayze accuses Petrowski of monopolizing the first hour of the interview and that he was only able to ask his first question in the second hour. Total Fabrication!
Report: Swayze says Petrowski was confused about the purpose of the meeting and thought it was to evict the tenent. 
 Obviously it was Mr. Swayze who was confused as to the purpose of the meeting since the very complaint he sent to Petrowski  states: 'Recently, on July 23, 2013, a Landlord & Tenant mediation was scheduled'. Did Someone mislead Mr. Swayze as to the purpose of the meeting? Petrowski was called to the July 23, 2013 meeting precisely because of an eviction notice  and precisely to champion the cause of the abused tenant amputee Mr. Bob Hansplant. 
 
Listen for yourself to the audio of the complete Swayze/Petrowski interview.

Predicated on the many inconsistencies in Integrity Commissioner Swayze's report we feel that the recording of the Swayze/Petrowski interview is relevant and on that basis we are making it public.




Following are audio recordings of three witnesses named J. Corrigan, Bob Hansplant (victim), Jenny Oill who could have and should have been interviewed by the investigator long before November 15, 2013, the last day of Mr. Swayze’s ‘investigation’ and even then only under protestations from Petrowski. When questioned by Petrowski as to why he didn't interview other witnesses, the integrity commissioner stated 'I don't believe other witnesses are relevant'.



The investigator had months to interview non-complainants and non-region personnel.  The six staff members that the investigator interviewed (three of which were not present at the July 23, 2013 meeting) and of the three who were at the meeting were among the regional personnel upset by the fact that their conduct toward their victimized double amputee senior was made public. But it was Niagara Region Personnel that made public their shabby treatment of an amputee senior. They inadvertently made their sleazy secret public, through their many ‘Reply to All’ emails, in their haste to pin a harassment charge on a dedicated and caring councilor who threatens their accustomed behavior. The flood of 'Reply to all' emails clearly suggests a concerted effort to rid themselves of 'Renegade for the Citizen', Petrowski. Their emails go so far as to deny culpability involving the inhumane treatment of victim Bob Hansplant by denying ownership of the building Mr. Hansplant was being unfairly evicted from.

Then of course there is a second complaint. In this complaint we are lead to believe that Councilor Petrowski suddenly, and without reason, ‘accosted the Budget Committee Director outside committee room 4 in an agitated state and spoke to her in a in a loud and severe tone’. According to the Integrity Commissioner’s report, Interim CAO Ken Brothers (of hide pollution fame) says Petrowski ‘yelled’ at the director and in fact he states that Petrowski ‘completely lost it’. The director claims that Petrowski frightened her so badly that she was driven to locking her office door in fear.

Question, does this sound like the proven lie were Petrowski was accused of ‘poking his finger into a lady staffer’s chest so hard that her badge fell of’? After years of 'Crying wolf' its getting difficult to believe anything that comes out of their mouth especially when they accuse Petrowski of anything!

What was the genesis of the contretemps? It started predicated on the director’s excuses that their work for the council could not get done because they were bogged down by accepting work from other departments. But wasn't the committee formed by the council specifically for council matters? Why was councilor Petrowski the only councilor concerned with the Budget Committee Director's excuses.

Not wanting to embarrass the director during the meeting, Petrowski properly challenged her assertions in the hallway after the meeting. It’s hard to determine the truth and passion of the discussion because of the fact that so many continuous and outrageous accusations have been leveled at Petrowski over his three short years as a Regional Councilor. It seems that Petrowski gets along just fine with the exception of when he is around a certain core group of Niagara Region personnel.

 There is a core of Regional Councilors and Regional Personnel that feel comfortable seeking an ‘Integrity Investigator’ against Petrowski, but these same integrity filled people have yet to ‘Investigate’ the sleazy and criminal actions used against one of their own Councilors, Petrowski. 

Why would that be? 

Would that be because everyone involved knows that Petrowski would never rubber-stamp anything unless he is satisfied that the decisions were good for the Taxpayer. And that goes to Petrowski's integrity, which to the chagrin of his accusers, is still intact.

Petrowski has been harried by political opponents from the day he got elected predicated on his efforts on behalf of the taxpaying citizen. Petrowski felt the heat of the old guard councilors and some bureaucrats from the time he broke the back of their repulsive attempt to ‘block the public from the public forum’.

Petrowski was attacked for questioning the need for seven staff members continually taking hours long coffee breaks in a restaurant, for asking about length of time for crews patching potholes, and being accused of photographing work crews with telephoto lens, which he doesn't own. The complaint said they identified the so-called councilor-photographer by his car, which just happened to be in for repair at the time!

Then he had to endure the hurtful and degrading ‘Tim Lewis’ fiasco, designed to damage the credibility of Petrowski, which, by the way, has never been resolved.  Now the same individuals who were piling on Petrowski as if the 'Tim Lewis' charges were actually fact are the same individuals that are once again piling on Petrowski over this so-called, questionable, and lopsided code of conduct report.

And how has Councilor Petrowski faired in his local newspaper? Read Grant Lafleche's ill informed opinion piece in the St. Catharines Standard. Everyone can post a comment on this blog but for some reason the Standard removes comments that THEY don't agree with no matter how polite.

When Mr. Swayze referred to irony, it was not lost on anyone that the irony is embedded in the concept of always going through channels.

Why Is that? 

 Is that to give those failing in their duties a heads up that you’re coming? And how well has ‘going through channels’ really worked?

How successful are the five Regional Councilors who have been sitting on the Niagara Regional Housing Board at a cost of $9,000.00 per year? Did Niagara Regional Housing fulfill their obligation to inform the five Regional councilors about the shabby treatment of their tenants or the condition of their buildings? We can only hope the five Regional Councilors knew nothing about this sordid affair. The five Regional Councilors either knew nothing or did nothing. Which?

According to the The Municipal Councillor’s Guide of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, which states:
'In practice, there is no single, correct approach to the representative role and on most issues you may find that you fall somewhere between the two opposing viewpoints. You will quickly develop a case-load of citizen inquiries that will need to be investigated and, if possible, resolved'.

If it wasn’t for a minority of councilors with integrity challenging the decades-long build-up of autocratic decay we would never find out what is going on as evidenced by the Niagara Regional Government's Conduct. We've even come to point were the Niagara Regional Government incorrectly demands that OUR Regional Councilors betray their oath to represent their constituents! Our elected officials are not there at the pleasure of the bureaucrats or the long-term bullies that think their tenure gives them special rights. Citizens expects those they have voted for to look after their interests at any reasonable time and place without fear of reprisal.

Perhaps we would all be better off if those we have elected and hired were more transparent and far more proactive in pulling back the shroud of secrecy.

No ‘Code of Conduct’ should ever interfere with Integrity.

Excerpt from the Niagara Regional Council Meeting 

November 21, 2013

Re: Code of Conduct report of the Integrity Commissioner Robert J. Swayze:

● A visibly shaken Councilor Andrew Petrowski trying to report the passing of Robert Hansplant who was the geneses of the code of conduct report.

● Councilor Brian Heit objected to Petrowski’s death report saying the report could be made at another time.

● Councilor Petrowski asked the Integrity Commissioner to attest to the veracity of his report. Integrity commissioner said he would if there is anyone present to take his oath. Regional clerk Janet Pilon, who can take an oath, sat in silence. Chair Boroughs also said nothing.

● Councilor Brian McMullan immediately objects to Councilor Petrowski asking Swayze to attest and demands the Chair to rule Petrowski ‘out of order’.

● Councilor Debbie Zimmerman asks who would be responsible to administer Petrowski’s punishment.

● Councilor Andrew Petrowski expresses concern with the ‘Code of Conduct’ report.

● Councilor Barrick says that from day one he worried that hiring an integrity commissioner might turn into a ‘Witch-hunt’. (it obviously did turn into a which-hunt)

● Councilor Zimmerman wants penalty above that in the report.

● Councilor McMullan gives a long-winded demand for a stronger penalty.

● Councilor Eke wants Council to apply the Penalty.

● Councilor Brian Heit wants rules set to permit anyone to make a complaint, which of course anyone can.

The most nauseating thing about this whole repugnant episode is not the fact that political enemies are piling on Councilor Petrowski. The most nauseating thing is to witness silent councilors allowing vicious and spurious attacks on a fellow councilor. Disgusting! 

For more Information Click Here

 

According to thesaurus:

Integrity: Honesty, truth, truthfulness, honor, veracity, sincerity, reliability and uprightness…

Antonym to Integrity: Deceitfulness

Deceitfulness: Dishonesty, deceit, treachery, lies, falseness, fraudulence, untrustworthiness and faithlessness…