ON TIM TIERNEY — WHEN SORRY IS NOT THE HARDEST WORD
It just doesn’t feel like the councillor faced his accusers and made a full confession
Tim Tierney is lucky he has a job today.
No trial, no real explanation, no charge on the books, even, and a “penalty,” if that’s even the right word, he “volunteered” to pay.
He, of course, takes “full responsibility” for the embarrassing episode and wants to move forward. But don’t they always? (Trudeau on Lavalin-Raybould mess, etc., etc. … as though “partial” responsibility and time travel were options.)
What does that even mean? Wouldn’t we all take “full responsibility” for our misconduct if, in exchange, we avoided conviction and saved our careers?
That isn’t a badge of courage, that’s the result of negotiation.
Tierney, the city councillor for Beacon Hill-Cyrville, apologized in court Wednesday for the way he handled news of a last-minute candidate in his ward in the 2018 election.
The charge, in plain language, is that he offered what amounts to a bribe for the candidate to drop out and let him be acclaimed. “Corrupt practice,” the Ontario Municipal Elections Act calls it.
“I wish as well to acknowledge that July 27, 2018, was a difficult day,” his written statement reads.
“It had always been my firm intention to make a personal donation to the Gloucester Food Cupboard had I been acclaimed. In the hectic last minutes before the close of nominations, I raised the subject of a charitable donation in connection with the election.”
One does wonder if he was going to donate barrels of baloney because there seems to be a lot of it in the air.
“In the hectic last minutes?” What was so hectic about them? People like him in his ward, he was taking on an unknown candidate, and he had almost zero chance of losing.
You know, if you’re that stressed by elections, perhaps you should consider another line of work. To hold public office is to be handed an unspoken trust, surely, and putting your name forward, defending the track record every four years, should be viewed as a privilege, not a major annoyance.
Are elections, with a lively exchange of ideas and a palette of choices, not the lifeblood of a democracy? Don’t you want to meet as many voters as possible?
Tierney apologized for his mistake without really spelling out what it was. He said he raised the idea of a charitable donation “in connection” with the election.
C’mon, councillor. There’s nothing wrong, frankly, with talking about a charitable donation and an election in the same breath. The “wrong” part is talking about a charitable donation in exchange for someone dropping out of said election for your personal benefit. That, surely, was the mistake.
And why making a donation to the Gloucester Food Cupboard was suddenly an urgent matter on nomination deadline day makes no sense, absent another motive.
It looks, however, as though voters view this as a minor slip and not a mortal sin. (He was easily re-elected, with 81 per cent of the popular vote with the case hanging over his head.) Perhaps we’ve set the bar so low for political behaviour that anything short of homicide or bank robbery is viewed as forgivable behaviour.
Or they just love him that much in the byways of Beacon Hill, in the flung corners of Cyrville. Or we’re just terrible at prosecuting politicians for, you know, engaging in messy politics. (See Mike Duffy epic, see Larry O’Brien saga, filed under C for “colossal waste of time.”)
Oddly, the Crown also seemed swayed by the idea that a prosecution would be long and costly, as would a byelection. Weird. So let’s just proceed with the short, cheap ones?
Why is the bill for a possible byelection even the Crown’s business? And, if there was no reasonable prospect of conviction, if this was just a harmless slip of the tongue, why charge him at all?
Tierney has paid a price, no doubt. There was the loss of $10,000 in pay, the ding on his reputation, the giant slice of humble pie, the perp walk into court. It just doesn’t feel like he faced his accusers (us, ultimately) and made a full confession. And he gets to go to work tomorrow like nothing ever happened.