‘Move on’ from seizure of reporter’s computer: Gale
Niagara Falls Councillor calls Standard reporter “collerant damage” in incident
A week after Niagara Region unlawfully seized a journalist’s computer and notes, Niagara Falls regional councillor Bob Gale says everyone should turn the page on the incident.
In an interview with CKTB 610 AM radio host Tim Dennis Thursday morning, Gale referred to the seizure of Standard reporter Bill Sawchuk’s equipment as “collateral damage,” and said the press should let the issue go.
“(Regional chair) Alan Caslin apologized. Everybody apologized. Bill’s a great guy. He accepted the apology. Let’s move on people,” Gale said. “But no. It makes for great press, makes for great stories and councillors are wrecking it too.”
Gale did not respond to interview requests from the Standard Thursday.
Sawchuk’s laptop computer and notes were confiscated by regional clerk Frank Fabiano after council moved into closed session Dec. 7.
When council moves in-camera the public, including the press, have to leave the room. Sawchuk left his computer and his notes on the media table and waited in the lobby for the open session to resume.
Local blogger Preston Haskell left his digital recorder running on the table. Haskell left the room before council went into closed session. He says he was in the bathroom and didn’t intend to record the in-camera meeting.
Fort Erie councillor Sandy Annunziata, who has not responded to multiple interview requests this week, claims to have found Haskell’s recorder hidden under a hat after the room was cleared.
Haskell says the recorder was always in plain sight.
Sawchuk was not recording the meeting.
After Fabiano took the computer, regional general manager Chris Carter, with two Niagara Regional Police officers behind him, told Sawchuk to leave the building immediately. Sawchuk was not allowed to retrieve his notes, which were also confiscated by the Region.
After phone calls to regional staff by The Standard’s lawyer and a Standard reporter, the Region returned Sawchuk’s equipment at midnight Thursday. Fabiano and regional CAO Carmen D’Angelo both told The Standard the Region intended to hold the equipment until the morning and possibly turn it over to police.
The Region does not have legal powers of search and seizure and regional chair Alan Caslin told The Standard Monday the municipality had no authority to seize anyone’s equipment.
Caslin said what happened was “wrong” and both he and D’Angelo called Sawchuk to apologize.
Sawchuk said he accepted the apologies as personal expressions of remorse, but did not accept them as apologies from regional council or regional staff and wants to see what actions the municipality takes.
A formal response to the Region from The Standard is expected this week.
During his interview on CKTB, Gale said that “there may have been some mistakes made,” but that the Region “will be better for it. That is how this works.”
Dennis was asking Gale about Thursday night’s code-of-conduct debate when the councillor raised the issue of Sawchuk’s equipment being taken by staff.
“The politics of this is ridiculous. Even that incident with the press two weeks ago. That’s ridiculous,” said Gale of the incident which happened on Dec. 7. “It all started because someone was tapping. But my goodness, let’s move on.”
Gale said he sees “the press, politicians, people want to kill each other. So let’s move on. Bill (Sawchuk) was collateral damage, I’ll call it on it.”
Gale said that Fabiano “kept Bill’s computer a bit too long. I get it. Bill was asked to leave, presumably. Again I wasn’t outside, maybe.”
However, since the incident, Standard Editor-in-Chief Angus Scott said the Region has no legal authority to confiscate a reporter’s computer for any length of time.
It is also a fact that Sawchuk was ejected from regional headquarters without explanation from Carter or the police.
Gale’s comments came after local news media outlets refused to participate in a hastily arranged Wednesday roundtable by regional CAO D’Angelo to discuss new policies.
An email was sent to local media outlets asking them to attend a meeting Wednesday at 1 p.m. The Region did not contact any outlet beforehand to ask if they were interested or if that time was convenient.
The Standard’s Scott sent D’Angelo and Caslin an email thanking him for the invitation but noted that, “I have concerns regarding the way this process has developed. For this reason, nobody from The Standard will be attending.”
Scott said the lack of consultation on the meeting time and the agenda were problematic.
“The Standard and its staff were deeply affected by what occurred at last week’s regional council meeting and going forward we would appreciate being consulted about the timing of the Region’s consultation process,” Scott wrote. “We continue to consult with those in the newsroom who have been affected by last week’s incident and we will be providing you with a letter setting out our concerns in detail shortly.”
CKTBalsodidnotsendarepresentative. Given the late notice, CKTB’s host and assistant program director Tom McConnell said it wasn’t possible to send a representative.
More importantly, the Dec. 7 incident was not caused by the press. It was created by the Region, he said.
“The media didn’t do anything wrong. We didn’t create the issue. Bill Sawchuk was just doing his job like he always does,” said McConnell, who talked about the issue during his Thursday show. “Why is it up to us to fix the problem you created?”
Niagara This Week also did not send a representative, saying it was not appropriate to attend if Niagara’s other media outlets were not there.
Regional spokesman Jason Tamming speaking to CKTB Wednesday and to the Standard Thursday, said the roundtable meeting was cancelled due to scheduling issues.
D’Angelo told The Standard the Region could have consulted with media outlets before calling the meeting and remains committed to working to improve the municipality’s relationship with the press and have new policies in place in the new year. glafleche@postmedia.com
Twitter: @grantrants