Pot Calls Kettle Black
Posted by auroracitizen on March 2, 2010
Great quotes by Mayor Phyllis Morris,
“If the debate is to be halted because members prefer to wait until TV cameras are running next week, I think it would behoove us to move forward tonight.”
“As mayor of the town it is extremely frustrating to see this modus operandi used consistently.”
As the all time leader in TV face time for this town and a dedicated media hound, who does she think people learned this technique from.
Councillor Morris was well-known to hold her comments until the cameras were rolling to use the spotlight to try to embarrass Mayor Jones the entire last term. Does she really think the community doesn’t recall her past record?
Plus, this term she insists on repeating virtually everything anyone else says to establish her role as the Queen and ensure that no one gets any more face time than she. She knows how to turn a 2 hour meeting into a 4 hour monologue.
She has even hired people to write her speeches since she seems unable to string sentences together in any understandable manner without written notes. If you ask her what time it is — she will tell you how to build a watch.
Surely this is one of the most duplicitous statements to come out of her mouth.
Well that, and she will bring more openness and transparency to Council.
Aurora Citizen 
anonymous said
The question posed was fairly straightforward:
Who has been hired to write speeches for the Mayor? If you have a name, please provide it.
Anonymous said
The same person who posts blog comments (i.e. straightforward questions) for her, perhaps? Hmmm?
Anonymous said
sorry but the straightforward question is this:
Does the mayor write her own speeches? yes or no
if the answer is no
then who writes them
evelyn buck said
Ssveral weeks ago, in The Banner, an announcement was made by the Chief Administrative Officer of a new hire. The person would be responsible for correcting mis-information and writing speeches. I assume the role would include monitoring all news stories, blogs and comments to blogs. Picture that!
I do not recall that the Mayor’s speeches would be written for her but since no-one else makes speeches that could be a reasonable assumption. I think it’s safe to assume any coherent and articulate speech delivered heretofore by the Mayor has been written for her.
Probably by her friend Ken Whitehurst.
I myeelf only know what I read in The Banner about the new hire. The nine member council was not consulted. I can’t speak for the six member inner sanctum. There is little communication between the two groups. We have no idea what they may have discussed and agreed to when they lnger behind in the council chamber after council meetings have adjourned.I doubt it is social interaction
Any time a quorum of council is together in one place,that’s a council meeting. In the circumstance referred to no notice has been given, no staff are in attendance, no records are kept, no reports are submitted. The public as well as three members of council are therefore in the dark.
Knowledgeable in Aurora said
A few weeks back there was an ad in the Banner for a Communications person and part of the responsibilites were to compose speeches for the Mayor.
I do know the current communictions person was told she would have to apply for the job (effectively applying for her own job).
Perhaps someone else knows who “won” that nightmare position and will share the name.
Anonymous said
Why, with only seven months until the next municipal election, would Mayor Morris think it is appropriate to bring on “communication” staff to do her bidding? Was this position budgeted?
Another case of damn the torpedoes and full steam ahead in her personal agenda, and to heck with the taxpayer’s money.
Please let there be someone of substance come forward as a candidate for mayor.
Anonymous said
So in other words, no one has a name of anyone who writes speeches for the Mayor, or can provide even a shred of evidence to attest to the fact that she does not in fact, write her own speeches.
My, my, my…no wonder no one takes this blog seriously.
Anonymous said
“no one takes this blog seriously”
Typical Resident Morris Apologist overstatement and untruth.
It’s patently obvious that many (even if only the contributors) do. And it’s equally obvious that those (yes, ‘you’ and all those ‘friends’ that you used to cite before the cone of silence was lowered) that wish to diminish this blog also take it seriously, judging by your attempts to dismiss it.
It’s just more wishful thinking on your part – much like thoughts of Morris’ re-election…
Knowledgeable in Aurora said
My, my, my back at you Anonymous 2:04pm.
An ad in the Banner, paid for with taxpayer dollars complete with a description of the job that includes “writing speeches for Mayor and Council” is solid proof. Just because we don’t know the person’s name who got the position does not mean it’s not real.
And as for no one taking this blog seriously, you might want to get your head out of that cloud. The contributors here are very serious about the abuse of power that has taken place in this Town for the last 3 1/2 years, and will be instrumental in effecting change in October.
Anonymous said
“My, my, my…no wonder no one takes this blog seriously.”
Well, you may want to go back and check with the mayor, because she definitely does. You may recall that last year Mr Garbe contacted the AC moderator about a post by “New Man In Town”. He demanded, on behalf of the Town, that the comment be removed and an apology tendered by both the moderator and the individual poster.
How did the comment come to Mr Garbe’s attention? Who directed him to contact the moderator on more than one occasion? When did the CAO of the Corporation of the Town of Aurora become the personal secretary of the mayor? Why was Town time and taxpayers’ money spent on something well below Mr Garbe’s area of responsibility? Hey, Phyllis, if you read something you don’t like, do your own dirty work!
I guess she must take this blog seriously.
And what became of Mr Garbe’s formal demands? Well, the comment wasn’t removed and I doubt any apologies were issued. It would seem his bluster is much like those of “she who must be obeyed” – like farts in the wind…
OK said
Exactly who has been hired to write speeches for the Mayor?
Richard Johnson said
The town changed the job description of the lady in the town’s communications department after, eight years and glowing job reviews when they did reviews (i.e. before the flood of staff departures made reviews difficult to do).
The new CAO replaced John Rogers after he was fired, changed the communications department’s job just enough to make the person doing the job now unqualified. One of the new roles of the town’s communications department in the lead up to the next election is to write speeches for the Mayor. I guess Ken Whitehurst does not have the time to keep doing this job and clearly the Mayor can’t write her own. Ken may be busy rewriting professional reports such as the recreation report that the town paid $50,000 for and then promptly disregarded because Councillor Evelina MacEachern and Ken had their own ideas about what was best for the town.
Anonymous indeed said
“Granger resigns from market” in this week’s Auroran is a very enlightening article. I particularly enjoy what Mr. Mike Watson has to say about Stephen (Component) Granger:
“Mr. Watson said he left the meeting because he didn’t want to be in the same room as Councillor Granger while he proceeded with his typical self-indulgence of attempting to be a leader.”
Mr. Watson is obviously a man who is a good judge of character.
Anonymous said
A child could see that Granger is a buffoon.
And did you notice that the Snowball Self-Promoter was quick to jump to his defence? The Inner Circle looks after its own – just not after the rest of us.
Richard Johnson said
This is a “must read” story as is Scott Johnston’s column this week. Apparently Granger went mad on the reporter last night and even Brian Morris ganged up on the reporter. They went crazy on the Auroran. I guess the truth hurts and when the full story comes out it will hurt even more.
It is fair to say that not all is not what it appears to be at the town hall these days and don’t dare mess with the spin doctors or you’re likely to catch their wrath.
Anon Anon said
Scott Johnston’s column in the Auroran this week is great fun. And, as always, his cartoon nails it on the ‘ead.
Somewhere on this blog someone commented a while ago that it is incredible that whatever Mayor Morris deems as unacceptable behaviour can be directly attributed to her own actions. I see it time and time again. It’s truly pathological.
Anonymous said
The woman lacks even a scintilla of self-awareness.