No sponsor to push to look into event, says Mayor? Who raised this question anyway??
Ron Bolin: Feb. 19, 2015
The following Letter was sent to the Daily News yesterday. I am at a loss to understand the City’s position in this matter as it involves spending taxpayer funds, apparently without Council agreement, to protect the status of a horse that has long since fled the barn unofficially. Why is the City willing to pay legal council to protect anyone in this matter if there is nothing to hide ? And why has the position of now Mayor McKay changed from that of Councillor McKay who read out the original Notice of Motion?
Daily News readers will have to bear with me as the word limit on Letters to the Editor is just barely more than two tweets and while this may be sufficient for statements, it is hardly up to presenting an argument. As noted in the letter a much more complete statement of the issue can be found in previous posts on this blog.
___________________________________________
Letter to the Editor: Nanaimo Daily News
Re: Leadercast: No sponsor to push to look into event, says Mayor – Daily News, Feb. 18, 2015
The Leadercast issue remains open in the files of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner with regard to the removal of public information which formed part of the video of the Council meeting of July 14, 2014. The clip which was removed showed then Councillor McKay presenting a Leadercast related Notice of Motion. Further, upon request, then Councillor McKay provided a copy of the motion to me. An examination of the Minutes of the July 14 meeting shows that the motion, while alluded to, was not given nor was any reason for its absence from the record.
At the time I requested an examination of the authority of the City to remove parts of a public record after the fact. That examination has recently been moved to an Inquiry by the OIPCBC and will be assigned to an adjudicator. The history and documentation of this process can be found at http://www.nanaimocityhall.com ,“The Inquiry Begins”, for those who wish to understand the issue more fully.
It is ironic that it should be Mayor McKay who wishes to see the last of the Leadercast issue as it was he who made the offending motion during a Council meeting. Doubly ironic, as if the City maintains its right to redact public records, it will be he who must then be found accountable for the breach and triply ironic as the Councillors to whom I have spoken about the issue were not aware that the City is using taxpayer funding to address the OIPCBC Inquiry.
The reticence to examine the events leading up to the Leadercast debacle expressed by Mayor McKay may be related to the fact that both the editor and the publisher of the Nanaimo Daily News which received compensation from the City as sponsors of the event at that time, are no longer with that paper, not to mention the unwanted attention that such an examination might bring to the Administration.
__________________________
Posts and Comments on Nanaimo Governance 
Has anyone else noticed the similarity of the Empire Days scenario to that of Leadercast?
Both matters were raised and passed inside a single Council meeting in an atmosphere of moral indignation and without the opportunity for sober second thought. While I have written earlier about the fact that I have no position in the Empire Days case, like Leadercast it demonstrates the self proclaimed power of Council to make moral decisions without significant input from Citizens at large. Denying funding is Council’s prerogative. Blackmail is not. On this basis I have to give the decision a failing grade.
I agree whole heartedly with the above post. Council are not elected to be our moral compass. there are strict guidelines for accessing grant money. That should be the only criteria!