Cabal lives by sword, dies by sword
I don’t imagine the irony of the latest Niagara Region recording controversy escapes many people.
As most of you know, certain regional officials and staff went bonkers in December when they believed a couple of media members were surreptitiously recording a closed session of council.
The alleged recording devices were seized — illegally — and the identified culprits were bounced from the meeting.
The self-appointed Keystone Kops got it wrong, though. The laptop of Standard reporter Bill Sawchuk had no recording capabilities; blogger Preston Haskell claimed his recorder was unintentionally left on during the closed session.
Still, some councillors saw reason for the Region’s heavy-handed response.
Grimsby Coun. Tony Quirk said in today’s climate “when everyone’s recording everyone,” councillors “were not happy to think someone was trying to deliberately record our meeting.”
Well, it turns out councillors were right to be worried. Problem is, they had the wrong target.
Rather than suspect unethical behaviour by journalists, councillors should have been looking inwards.
That’s because St. Catharines Coun. Andy Petrowski secretly recorded Regional Chair Al Caslin last fall talking about the judge Petrowski claims “fixed” a ruling against him.
The recording ended up being posted as a YouTube video earlier this month by Petrowski’s co-litigant, Fred Bracken.
There are little, if any, revelatory comments on the recording. Some mention was made that Caslin plays with the same basketball group as Justice David Edwards, the judge in an unsuccessful case Petrowski and Bracken brought against regional council over the release of integrity commissioner reports.
During the chat, Petrowski noted that I also play basketball with this group, which is true.
And, certainly, I am appreciative that Caslin did not take the opportunity to lash out at my faults, notably my increasingly unreliable jump shot.
Anyway, while Petrowski is, presumably, the object of much derision and contempt among his peers for this latest action, one’s sympathy for these enablers is extremely limited.
As has been previously noted, Petrowski was a person of considerable influence with the conservative clan on the 2010-14 council. He revelled in his bull-in-a-chinashop reputation, but what his fellow travellers really liked was his attack-dog approach against the Gary Burroughs (Niagara-on-theLake) regime.
Internal opposition to the Burroughs regime was framed as new forces fighting for change against an entrenched establishment, although one could be excused for believing it was more a case of conservative-minded councillors battling liberal-leaning ones.
When additional conservative types were voted to council in the 2014 election, a cabal of these like-minded councillors was determined to get one of their own appointed as chair. Petrowski played a role in marshalling the required votes and the relatively inexperienced Caslin got the Region’s top political post.
As a reward for his efforts, votes were assembled behind the scenes to ensure Petrowski’s appointment to the Niagara Regional Police Services board, considered an important and prestigious position among councillors. He was also elected co-chair of the corporate services committee, the Region’s financial body.
Petrowski self-imploded on the police board rather quickly.
His regional colleagues on the board, Bob Gale (Niagara Falls) and David Barrick (Port Colborne), who had helped elect him as vicechair, treated him with kid gloves during various controversies. Indeed, when Petrowski, became involved in an integrity commission dispute with then-police chief Jeff McGuire, Gale took no position other than to assert both McGuire and Petrowski were “mature individuals.”
Petrowski ended up resigning from the board in early 2016, but conduct issues continued to haunt him, culminating in a decision last year to take a leave of absence after a pornographic image was emailed from his government account.
Niagara Falls councillor and conservative cabal member Selena Volpatti expressed sympathy at the time.
“I’m really concerned about Andy. He is a great addition to our council when he is operating efficiently.”
Grimsby’s Quirk, another cabal member in good standing, said it was important to remember “the people of St. Catharines elected him twice — the second time knowing the sort of representation he would bring to this council chamber.”
Yep. And so did the cabal who paid him heed, enabled his behaviour and appointed him to the police board.
Who knows, maybe there’s a secret recording explaining it all.