Petrowski headed to court
Andy Petrowski says he is not running for re-election, but it appears he isn’t going into his last year in office quietly.
Andy Petrowski says he is not running for re-election, but it appears the embattled St. Catharines regional councillor isn’t going into his last year in office quietly.
In an email obtained by The Standard, Petrowski told Toronto lawyer Sachin Persaud that he intends to continue his legal fight against Niagara Region.
In a Sunday morning email sent to Persaud and Region CAO Carmen D’Angelo, Petrowski said he intends to appeal a May decision by Justice David Edwards.
Edwards threw out the councillor’s attempt to block integrity commissioner reports about Petrowski’s conduct and awarded the Region $5,500 in legal costs.
“Please be advised that the decision is being appealed and the filing will occur next week,” Petrowski wrote in an email forwarded to The Standard by his co-litigant, Fort Erie resident Fred Bracken.
Typically, a person has 30 days to appeal a decision in an Ontario civil court. If the deadline has passed, a person can make a motion to a judge to have the deadline extended. It is not clear at this point how Petrowski is proceeding with his appeal.
In an email to The Standard Sunday afternoon, Petrowski said he is appealing both Edwards’ decision to throw out his challenge of the integrity commissioner reports and the costs awarded to the Region.
Petrowski — he took a leave of absence from council in December after the latest integrity commissioner report found he violated council’s code of conduct for the fifth time in 2017 — sent Persaud the email a few days after making a public plea for money on Twitter for his “free speech fight.”
On Jan. 3, claiming he was fined $6,000 for his tweets, Petrowski tweeted at U.S. President Donald Trump, Trump’s sons and Fox News host Tucker Carlson asking for $10,000 for a legal appeal. He also set up a PayPal account titled “Send Andy Petrowski Money” to collect donations.
When The Standard sent Petrowski questions about the plea for cash, he deleted the tweet, closed the PayPal account and said he was not seeking re-election. Petrowski would not answer questions about his tweet but said no money was collected.
The councillor was never fined for his tweets.
In May he and Bracken lost a legal challenge against the Region which resulted in the local government being awarded legal costs.
The pair tried to sue most, but not all, of regional council to block the release of integrity commissioner reports that found Petrowski violated regional council’s code of conduct on at least three occasions. Then integrity commissioner John Mascarin recommended Petrowski apologize to council, which he would do months later.
In an attempt to block the release of the reports, Petrowski and Bracken sued 24 of 31 regional councillors. Among councillors excluded from the suit was Regional Chair Alan Caslin.
Petrowski and Bracken asked the court to prevent the release of the reports on constitutional grounds. Petrowski argued the reports violated his right to free speech and said they would damage his reputation.
Edwards threw the case out, saying the motion did not satisfy any of the elements of a court injunction, and dismissed Petrowski’s claims about his reputation.
Edwards ordered Petrowski and Bracken to pay $5,500 in legal costs to the Region. Bracken told The Standard last week he doesn’t owe the Region any money.
The municipality has yet to collect the money but said last week it had started the process to get it.
In December, after having been found in violation of the code of conduct by council’s new integrity commissioner, Petrowski argued the May decision was fixed against him because the judge plays basketball with Caslin.
“In my mind the fix was in, the outcome appeared predetermined, possibly prearranged. Edwards should be severely disciplined for not disclosing his conflict before my trial started,” Petrowski wrote in a December email to The Standard.
In the email he sent to The Standard Sunday, which was copied to Persaud, Bracken said he is joining Petrowski’s appeal and repeated the claim that Edwards’ decision was “fixed.”