The Block once again rewarded one of their own by granting Councillor ‘Senator’ Jeffrey an unlimited expense account to wine, dine and party across Canada on the taxpayer’s dollar.
The Connection story is headlined, “Collingwood councillor seeks Federation of Canadian Municipalities seat. That – like so many other Connection headlines – is incorrect. She has held the seat for the last two-and-a-half years, paid for by you, the taxpayer. This is just to extend her entitlement, a blank cheque without the messiness of accountability.
The Block think that your tax dollars should be shovelled into that maw, with no restrictions, no reporting and no accountability to go along with an unlimited expense account. These people just hate the whole concept of accountability that much.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) holds its conferences and meetings all over the country. Jeffrey gets to fly to them, to stay in posh hotels, to eat and drink as she pleases, without once having to show that this in any way benefits Collingwood. Yet there is Councillor Doherty quoted in the paper defending her friend’s excesses:
Coun. Deb Doherty said the town gets great value and Jeffery’s position keeps Collingwood connected at the federal level.
Such great value that when Councillor Lloyd asked to defer the motion while staff prepare a cost-benefit analysis to show what value it had, The Block shut him down. They trembled at the very thought of exposing their friend. They don’t want the truth to come out – that taxpayers are funding Jeffrey’s personal political ambitions with absolutely no benefit to anyone else here.
Such great value that Doherty couldn’t name a single one in public, even though she has attended FCM conferences to support her buddy’s schmoozing for votes. The result of which was a stand-up-comedy-routine report to council, but no concrete evidence of benefit to the town.
But The Block keeps upping her expenses: first year they gave her an additional $10,000 a year on top of the $4,000 all councillors get, then it was ratcheted down to $7,500 by Counc. Lloyd, but The Block then made it unlimited.
Ah, the sweet smell of entitlement… or is that the sewage treatment plant?
Jeffrey has a bigger expense account than our mayor, but she thanks to her buddies at the table, she doesn’t have to justify a single penny of it. In the two-and-a-half years since she got the seat, she has not made a single report to the public on the benefit to our local municipality. But The Block keep letting her have her way – and in the process assure her support for their anti-Collingwood agenda.
That’s why we call Jeffrey the ‘Senator’ – after the Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth complained in 2015 about how awful it is to eat normal airplane food as an excuse why she billed more sumptuous meals to her taxpayer-funded expense account. Cold camembert and broken crackers, she whined, were not acceptable breakfast fare for the likes of a Senator.
Like Senator Ruth, excess isn’t ever enough for our Kathy. Just attending one conference in Ontario like the other councillors are restricted to, and not being allowed to jet-set around the country and party with friends without having to justify every penny is just too awful for our Kathy to contemplate.
Collingwood deserves better.
The art of hypocrisy:
Councillor Jeffrey sat at the table, participated in the discussions about her own expenses, and and voted THREE times to increase them. Obviously she doesn’t think her own entitlement represents a conflict of interest. Oink, oink!
In April she voted AGAINST a motion to have staff provide a cost-benefit analysis to show what (if any) benefit her party time escapades around the nation have done for the community. Another conflict… by now you realize ethics don’t matter to The Block. L’etat c’est moi and all that.
But this week she “volunteered” to provide that very same report – of course written by her so she can justify having an unlimited pork barrel expense account. It doesn’t get much greasier than this, does it?