Recorded Votes Prove Voting Blocks
Posted by auroracitizen on January 27, 2010
Council Watch #3 – by Richard Johnson
Letter to the editor of the Banner regarding: Councillors receive vote report, Sean Pearce, January 26, 2010:
Numbers often do tell a tale. In an effort to see if there was in fact a pattern that indicated a block voting mentality on Aurora Council I decided to take a sampling of the recorded votes provided in the 84 page staff report (CLS10-002- Recorded votes) requested by Councillor MacEachern.
I found that it took 40 votes before the pattern was broken.
32 times the Mayor’s block voted faithfully together.
Seven times Councillor Wilson dissented from the block and only once did the Mayor and Councillor Gaertner vote outside of the block.
I will leave it to others to count the other 80 votes, but I’ve seen enough to make up my mind as to what is really going on at council.
It appears that in all too many cases the facts don’t seem to matter at the town hall — but in the big picture the facts do matter.
We can only wonder now if the new Integrity Commissioner will join the block.
Aurora Citizen 
evelyn buck said
Someone asked if it is normal for the Mayor to defer to councillors in the matter of proposing resolutions.
First let me commend everyone who has analyzed the statistics. It’s a task for which I myself would need guidance.
The Mayor can propose a resolution…but not from the chair. The gavel must be surrendered.
The presiding member has a different role to councillors It is to move the business along effectively and efficiently with the objective of completing the agenda within the time decreed by bylaw. The objective is to determine the will of the majority.
In the past,the Mayor did not vote on motions. Except in the case of a tie. It was the only additional authority vested in the office of Mayor. If the vote is even for and against , the Mayor had the the power to cast the deciding vote. A secondary purpose was to ensure the business of the corporation would not end in stalemate.
Then somebody got the bright idea the Mayor must vote on all questions. Sometimes, it tied the vote. Exactly the opposite of determining the majority will,
Without examining the statistics, I would hazard a guess many votes are simply procedural e.g. a motion to approve the agenda at the start of a meeting. If that’s among the statistics it proves nothing.
In the case of recorded votes, Quite often , usually the Mayor, will ask for a vote to be recorded when there is obviously no opposition. A recorded vote in that instance is totally redundant. .
Early in the term I often experienced the dilemma of withholding input on a question. My support would mean the block would instantly coalesce in opposition.
For the same reason. I gave up putting forward motions. Whatever I proposed would be automatically be opposed
Repeatedly ramming one’s head against a wall is not productive. I decided then if I could not have an ear in the council chamber, I would seek an ear in the community.
I could either do what I hoped to do and contribute at the council table. I could do what Grace did. Or, I could create another role and inform people of details they might never otherwise discover. Obviously it pleases some and infuriates others,
Ordinarily it would not have been my choice but it was my only option.
I make no apology.
Fred said
Time for a fresh post. Hey, where is Council Cop?
Anonymous for a Reason said
Let’s see what Roger Clownwater has to say…
someone who loves this town more than Anonymous said
oh my god…… lets send that to Aurora’s Funniest Home Videos, it would place runner up to the video of the mayor trying to dance, but still a worthy contender.
Who is coaching Roger? Why does he feel the need to lecture us on the roles of a mayor?
He obviously hasn’t learned much from his time behind the camera at Rogers. if you’re going to shoot a campaign video choose a better location than your front steps.
The fact that he is stumbling when reading from a script leaves little confidence in how he will hold up in a debate.
Please for the love of god, will someone else please enter the race so candidates like these can fall down the pecking order.
Aurora deserves better than this.
Anonymous for a Reason said
Yes, Christopher Watts, I can barely contain my excitement anticipating the next installment of Mr. Clowater’s lectures.
From his interview with the Banner at http://www.yorkregion.com/News/Aurora/article/102215:
“”I think it’s time to move forward,” Mr. Clowater said. “I really think the mayor and council have done a good job, but I think I can bring a different type of leadership to move things forward to create some refreshing change here.””
Hmmm, Roger, riddle me this. If you think the mayor and council have done a good job then why do you think it’s necessary for you to go forth and offer your particular brand of a “different type of leadership to create some refreshing change here”?
Talking out of both sides of your mouth illustrates a political naivete or shades of Morris like behaviour – tell the people what you think they want to hear, and pretend you’ve got the goods to deliver.
Sorry, Roger, I bought Morris last time, and I ain’t going down that road again nor am I taking your fork in the road either.
I’m hopeful that a real candidate for mayor is just biding their time…
Horrified said
Lord help me, but I tabulated the votes on a spreadsheet.
Interested parties can select the data below and paste it into Excel or other spreadsheet. It may not look like it here, but it should go into Excel very cleanly. I may have made some errors in transcribing, so please let me know if that is the case, and I will commit to updating. In separate commentary, I will provide some of my observations.
Number Date Moved Seconded Morris Granger Wilson Gaertner MacEachern Gallo Collins-Mrakas McRoberts Buck Marsh Motion Votes For Votes Against
1 12/19/06 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Y Y N N Absent N Carried 5 3
2 2/13/07 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Carried 8 1
3 2/13/07 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Y Y N N N N Carried 5 4
4 2/27/07 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Carried 8 1
5 3/27/07 Buck Marsh N N N N N Y Y Y Y Defeated 4 5
6 03/28/07 MacEachern McRoberts Y Y Abstained Y Y N Y N Y Carried 6 2
7 04/10/2007 Marsh MacEachern Y Y N Y Y Y N N Y Carried 6 3
8 04/27/07 Marsh McRoberts Y Y N Y Y Y Y N Y Carried 7 2
9 05/08/2007 MacEachern Wilson Y Y Y Y Y Absent Interest N Y Carried 6 1
10 05/08/2007 MacEachern McRoberts Y Y Y Y Y Absent Y N Y Carried 7 1
11 05/22/07 Buck Collins-Mrakas N N N N N N N Y N Defeated 1 8
12 05/22/07 Buck Collins-Mrakas Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Carried 8 1
13 05/22/07 Buck Collins-Mrakas Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
14 06/12/2007 MacEachern Buck Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
15 06/12/2007 Buck Wilson N N Y N N N N Y Interest Defeated 2 6
16 06/27/2007 Collins-Mrakas MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
17 7/17/07 MacEachern Marsh Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
18 7/17/07 McRoberts Granger N Y N N N N Y N Y Defeated 3 6
19 11/06/2007 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Carried 8 1
20 12/11/2007 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y N Y N Y Carried 7 2
21 1/22/08 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
22 02/12/2008 Wilson Granger Y Y Y Y Y N N N N Carried 5 4
23 02/12/2008 MacEachern Wilson Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
24 02/12/2008 MacEachern Wilson Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N Carried 7 2
25 02/12/2008 Marsh Wilson Y Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Carried 7 2
26 02/12/2008 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y N N N Absent Carried 5 3
27 02/26/2008 Wilson MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Carried 8 1
28 02/12/2008 MacEachern Granger Y Y Absent Y Y Y Y N Y Carried 7 1
29 02/12/2008 MacEachern Granger Y Y Absent Y Y Y Y N Y Carried 7 1
30 02/12/2008 Collins-Mrakas Granger Y Y Absent Y Y Y Y N Y Carried 7 1
31 04/08/2008 Wilson Marsh Y Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Carried 7 2
32 04/22/2008 Marsh Buck N N N N N Y Y Y Y Defeated 4 5
33 04/22/2008 MacEachern Gaertner Y N Y Y Y N N N N Defeated 4 5
34 04/22/2008 Wilson MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y N N N N Carried 5 4
35 04/22/2008 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Carried 8 1
36 04/28/2008 Buck Collins-Mrakas Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 8 0
37 04/28/2008 Buck Collins-Mrakas N N Y N N Y Y Y Defeated 4 4
38 05/13/2008 McRoberts Collins-Mrakas N N Y Y N Y Y Y Failed To Carry 5 3
39 05/13/2008 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Y Y N N N Carried 5 3
40 05/13/2008 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Y Y N Y N Carried 6 2
41 05/27/08 Gaertner Wilson Y Y Y Y Absent Abstained Y Y N Carried 6 1
42 05/27/08 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N Carried 6 3
43 06/10/2008 Wilson Granger Y Y Y N N Interest Y N N Defeated 4 4
44 06/10/2008 Buck MacEachern N N N Y Y Interest N Y Y Defeated 4 4
45 06/10/2008 Buck MacEachern Y Y N Y Y Interest Y Y Y Carried 7 1
46 06/10/2008 Buck MacEachern Y Y N Y Y Interest Y Y Y Carried 7 1
47 06/10/2008 MacEachern Collins-Mrakas Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
48 06/24/2008 MacEachern McRoberts Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
49 06/25/2008 MacEachern Wilson Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
50 07/15/2008 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
51 07/22/2008 Granger MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
52 08/12/2008 McRoberts Wilson Y Y Y Y N Y Absent Y Absent Carried 6 1
53 09/09/2008 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N Carried 6 3
54 09/23/2008 Buck Collins-Mrakas Y N Y N Y N Y N Y Carried 5 4
55 09/23/2008 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
56 09/23/2008 Wilson Buck Y N Y Y Y N Y Y Y Carried 7 2
57 09/23/2008 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y N Carried 7 2
58 10/14/2008 Collins-Mrakas Buck Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
59 11/10/2008 ? ? Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
60 11/10/2008 Collins-Mrakas Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Abstained N Carried 7 1
61 11/10/2008 Gaertner MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Abstained N Carried 7 1
62 11/10/2008 Gallo McRoberts Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
63 11/10/2008 Collins-Mrakas McRoberts Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
64 11/25/2008 MacEachern McRoberts Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
65 11/25/2008 Wilson MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
66 11/25/2008 Wilson MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
67 12/09/2008 MacEachern McRoberts Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Unrecorded Carried 7 1
68 12/09/2008 Granger McRoberts Y Y N Y Y Y N Y Unrecorded Carried 6 2
69 12/09/2008 MacEachern McRoberts Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
70 1/28/2009 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Absent Carried 8 0
71 2/24/2009 Morris MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Absent Carried 8 0
72 03/03/2009 Wilson Collins-Mrakas Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
73 03/24/2009 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
74 03/24/2009 Granger MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
75 4/14/2009 Granger MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N Carried 6 3
76 4/14/2009 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
77 4/22/2009 MacEachern Gallo Y Absent Absent Absent Y Y Absent Y N Carried 4 1
78 05/12/2009 MacEachern Gallo Y Y Y Absent Y Y Y Y N Carried 7 1
79 05/26/2009 Collins-Mrakas Buck N N N Y N N Y N Y Carried 3 6
80 05/26/2009 Gallo Granger Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y N Carried 7 2
81 05/19/2009 MacEachern Gallo Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
82 05/19/2009 McRoberts Collins-Mrakas N N N N N Y Y Y Y Carried 4 5
83 05/19/2009 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
84 06/09/2009 Buck Collins-Mrakas N N N N N N Y N Y Defeated 2 7
85 06/09/2009 Buck Collins-Mrakas N N N N N N Y N Y Defeated 2 7
86 06/09/2009 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N Carried 6 3
87 06/24/2009 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Abstained Y Carried 8 0
88 06/25/2009 MacEachern Buck Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
89 06/25/2009 Wilson Gallo Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
90 07/21/2009 MacEachern Buck Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
91 07/21/2009 Gaertner Granger Y Y Y Y Y Y N N Absent Carried 6 2
92 07/21/2009 Granger MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Absent Carried 8 0
93 07/21/2009 ? ? Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Absent Carried 8 0
94 07/21/2009 Wilson Gallo Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Absent Carried 8 0
95 09/15/2009 McRoberts MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
96 09/15/2009 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N Carried 6 3
97 09/15/2009 McRoberts MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
98 09/15/2009 Gallo MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
99 09/15/2009 McRoberts MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
100 09/23/2009 Wilson Gallo Y Y Y Y Y Y Absent Y Absent Carried 7 0
101 09/29/2009 Collins-Mrakas McRoberts Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
102 09/29/2009 Gaertner MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
103 09/29/2009 Collins-Mrakas McRoberts Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
104 10/13/2009 McRoberts Gaertner Y Y Y Y Abstained Y Y Y N Carried 7 1
105 10/27/2009 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 8 1
106 10/27/2009 Buck McRoberts Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Carried 8 1
107 10/27/2009 Gaertner Wilson Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
108 10/27/2009 MacEachern Gaertner Y Y Absent Y Y Y Y Y N Carried 7 1
109 11/10/2009 Gaertner Gallo Y Y Y Y Absent Y Y Y N Carried 7 1
110 11/10/2009 Gaertner McRoberts Y Y Y Y Absent Y Y Y Y Carried 8 0
111 11/10/2009 Gaertner Wilson Y Y Y Y Absent Y Y Y Y Carried 8 0
112 11/24/2009 Granger Gallo Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N Carried 6 3
113 11/24/2009 Gaertner MacEachern Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y N Carried 7 2
114 11/24/2009 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Carried 9 0
115 11/24/2009 Buck Collins-Mrakas N N N Absent N N N N Y Defeated 1 7
116 11/24/2009 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Absent Y Y Y Y Absent Carried 7 0
117 12/08/2009 MacEachern Granger Y Y Y Absent Y Y Y Y N Carried 7 1
118 12/08/2009 MacEachern Wilson Y Y Y Absent Y Y N N N Carried 5 3
119 12/08/2009 Wilson Gallo Y Y Y Absent Y Y Y Y Y Carried 8 0
120 12/15/2009 Buck McRoberts Y Y Y Y Y Y Absent Y Y Carried 8 0
Horrified said
OK, first off, I wanted to measure the degree to which there may be voting bloqs. The summary data is quite instructive.
I recorded 120 votes. Mayor Morris voted in all 120 (unique among all members of Council, she was in attendance at all votes, and did not declare any interest or abstain from voting). The following data is the percentage of time the Councillor in question voted with the Mayor:
MacEachern 97.4% (112 of 115 votes)
Granger 96.6% (115 of 119 votes)
Gallo 96.0% (72 of 75 votes)
Gaertner 93.8% (106 of 113 votes)
Wilson 92.1% (105 of 114 votes)
McRoberts 76.7% (89 of 116 votes)
Collins-Mracas 73.7% (84 of 114 votes)
Marsh 72.7% (24 of 33 votes)
Buck 34.3% (37 of 108 votes)
Horrified said
Of the 120 motions voted on, I note the following movers, and the degree to which the motions are carried:
MacEachern 50 motions- 49 carried
Buck 16 motions- 8 carried (corrected by moderator)
Wilson 13 motions- 12 carried
Gaertner 9 motions- 9 carried
Collins-Mracas 8 motions- 8 carried
McRoberts- 8 motions- 6 carried
Granger- 6 motions- 6 carried
Marsh 4 motions- 3 carried
Gallo 3 motions- 3 carried
Unknown 2 motions- 2 carried
Morris 1 motion- 1 carried
Notable:
There were numerous votes where there were amended resolutions with different movers and seconders. I used only the original mover and seconder in my data.
I couldn’t find the mover for 2 resolutions. That could be a mistake on my part, or the data may not actually have been there.
Obviously, this data is purely quantitavtive- a motion merely to receive information is given the same regard as a highly contentious issue.
Councillor Buck has as many defeated motions as carried motions- a clear outlier in the data. When I looked into it a little further, I did not find that there was a consistent group voting against her on the defeated motions.
Mayor Morris moved only 1 motion I can find. as another poster (Thanks Will Be Given Come October) points out , it was the Year of Business motion. I don’t know if it is standard procedure for Mayors to defer to other members of Council to make the bulk of motions. Someone more knowledgeable than myself on this matter should comment.
Horrified said
Shoot- Councillor Buck made 16 motions, of which 8 were carried. Not 18 of which 8 were carried.
Anonymous said
Similar to what I did for Mayor Morris, I’ve indicated below each Councillor’s voting coordination with Councillor Buck (who has recorded 108 votes). In rank order:
Collins-Mracas 59.4% (63 of 106 votes)
McRoberts 54.8% (57 of 104 votes)
Marsh 43.8% (14 of 32 votes)
Gallo 39.1% (25 of 64 votes)
Wilson 38.1% (40 of 105 votes)
Gaertner 36.3% (37 of 102 votes)
MacEachern 35.6% (37 of 104 votes)
Morris 34.3% (37 of 108 votes)
Granger 32.7% (35 of 107 votes)
Buck 34.3% (37 of 108 votes)
Interested Observer said
That’s an amazing effort Horrified…Needless to say all will try and provide their interpretation and analysis, which will inevitably be slanted to try sway views to their desired outcome. The only thing that really stands out, no matter how others want to interpret it, is that in 73% of the votes 8 out of 9 voted as a “block”. This only leaves two interpretations, personalities aside, Councillor Buck has been elected as the concience of council or she’s taking a contrarian stance for some other motivation.
Hugo T. Kroon said
Interested observer said:
“This only leaves two interpretations…Councillor Buck has been elected as the conscience of council or she’s taking a contrarian stance for some other motivation”
Since the somewhat fanciful moniker “concience of council” is not an actual office one can run for, I think the obvious answer is the second option.
But I think most sane people realized that already…
But in the meantime, thanks Mr. (Ms?) Interested.
Thank you for yet another sign of the gradual re-emergence of insight and sanity in your town.
And as for Horrified’s and others “analysis” of the voting record for this incompetent council…remember this, figures lie, and liars figure.
On the other hand, this admisson: “I don’t know if it is standard procedure for Mayors to defer to other members of Council to make the bulk of motions. Someone more knowledgeable than myself on this matter should comment” …shows at least that you do understand you may be over your head.
And you are.
As most of this blog’s commenters are.
I’d like to help, but unfortunately, I don’t have the time, nor the patience either actually…
someone who loves this town more than Anonymous said
Is it possible for you to post the spreadsheet. Excel format or even .csv would be great. I’d like to load it up and run some comparisons but can’t find a clean way to copy/paste what you have as text without spending a considerable amount of time.
Thanks in advance
Horrified said
There’s been a request for the spreadsheet file- I’d be happy to provide it (along with a couple of minor changes from the original) to either the moderator of this website (and the moderator, if able to, can post the file for public download). Alternately, anyone interested can send an email to me at Aurora.Horrified@gmail.com, and I’ll get it to you.
Regards.
auroracitizen said
Send the spreadsheet and we will try to make it available.
Thanks will be Given come October said
What’s the old expression? Lies, damn lies, and statistics.
Richard, it looks like your 40 vote count wasn’t exactly consecutive. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in any way in favour of the gyrations going on in this Council, but here are some other interesting numbers.
Of the 121 motions and amendments that went to a recorded vote, Councillor Evil Leena made 50 of them. Next busiest member, Councillor Buck with 16. Our micro managing Mayor contributed all of ONE in four years, a chest beating blather about 2009 being the Year of Business. Makes you wonder who’s really steering the train.
In all of the recorded votes the Gang of Six actually only voted as a block against the others 17 times, and I take the liberty of including 5-4 votes when Grace Marsh still sat at the table. At the same time Councillor Buck voted alone thirty six times. Ah, and here’s where some work comes in. Most of these recorded votes were taken on mundane items that municipal governments are elected to process.That’s why there were also 37 unanimous votes.
ah, but read the actual motions. It’s the issues on which those 17 votes were taken that the conspiracy theory can be formulated.
Unfortunately, the bottom line for me is that a colossal waste of staff time was taken to produce this report. There are numbers inside that will be used to make several people look bad, or good. Of course most of the voters in Aurora won’t take the hour or so to read it all.They won’t see how the incredible amounts of money that has been spent on legal fees, staff changes and empire building has occurred this term.
Unless we tell them.
We now have a written document produced by the town, in the public domain, that raises questions. The answers to which anyone running for re-election will have to answer.
Richard Johnson said
I counted the first forty votes before I saw a clear change in the pattern as it related to the voting block. My criteria may have been slightly different than those used by others but the pattern appears to be the same.
I totally appreciate how numbers can be interpreted in many ways but I stand by my initial post. In fact the rankings of who supports initiatives brought forward by others is consistent with my conclusions as well. The voting block may change somewhat, with one or more of its members dissenting or being absent, but the end result is the same.
If the numbers say anything, it is that the Mayor’s block has ruled and Evelina looks to be leading the charge. This of course should come as no surprise to anyone because the facts can be demonstrated in any number of ways. They are what they are.
The analysis done by various people here is very helpful and enlightening. Thanks to all !
someone who loves this town more than Anonymous said
This is not surprising, exactly what I expected it to show.
It’s one thing to say there’s no pattern, but as some like to say “the facts are the facts”
For curiosity I think we should count the remaining 80 votes and make a proper assessment.
Thanks for posting the link here, what vote/page did you leave off on so that we can continue to flesh out a pattern?
Richard Johnson said
I checked the first 40 votes of the 120 votes listed in the 84 page staff report. I counted the votes cast by those Councillors in attendance at any given meeting (i.e. absence from any given meeting was not counted either way).
“The facts are the facts” (yet another quotable quote from this Council) and as far as I am concerned the facts should matter more than they apparently do.
Anyone sitting on a council should be willing and able to agree to disagree based on the facts, clear logic and personal perspective, in an effort to find a tested consensus. However when you see the kind of clear and apparent block voting Aurora has been subjected to for the past few years you really do have to wonder what is going on.
Do you really think that the Mayor is listening to anyone but her inner circle about the Integrity Commissioner, the posting of inflammatory and unsubstantiated allegations on the town’s website (while completely turning a blind eye to the actions of others), and do you think for one second that Granger can even fathom the most basic arguments for and against the ward system ? This is a guy that expects 50% of ALL eligible voters to vote on a referendum question that asks council to consider the ward system ! How whacky is that ? There are so many examples of one sided and whacky logic being applied that I don’t even know where to start (“or stop”, as the case may be). These people need more help than they are willing to accept.
I honestly think that Her Worship, Granger and MacEachern are incapable of hearing or incorporating anything but what they want to hear and the rest of the GOS are just followers, with Wilson showing some glimmers of independent thinking.
The voting record speaks volumes and with any luck the next election will speak volumes as well.
Anne said
Richard you read my mind – thank you for providing the link to this document – I was just on the town website trying to find it myself. While there, I did a quick read through the Code of Conduct. What a bunch of hypocrites the Group of Six are.