hypocritical politicians

It’s no secret that we have the WORST councillor on Ottawa City Council, but some of his buddies are almost as bad. Take, for example, Rick’s soulmate from Kanata, Allan Hubley.

The right-wing warrior hasn’t been publicly outed in the Ottawa Sun for fibbing like the Vox Fox, but some of his statements are just as outrageous. When an alliance of 32 community associations called for some common sense reform to clean up some of the corruption at City Hall Hubley said he was “embarrassed” and “appalled” that anyone would suggest that politicians not be allowed to fill their pockets with cash from developers, consultants and lawyers who do business with the city.

The Rob Ford lookalike said that he has trouble with community associations speaking out against the cozy relationship between politicians and developers since “the only person elected to represent a community is the ward councillor.” Presumably he thought that his own Glen Cairn community association was legitimate when he was shamelessly using it as stepping stone to the gravy train.

I agree with Hubley that some Mickey Mouse community associations are totally illegitimate, but that is NOT the case for the community associations who are trying to clean up corruption in Ottawa.

The reforms called for by the community groups include:

* Banning the city from hiring private consultants to process development applications.

* Preventing city planners from making rezoning promises during pre-consultation meetings.

* Banning campaign contributions and gifts from the development industry to councillors.

* Updating the city’s comprehensive zoning bylaw so that it’s in line with the Official Plan.

Hubley, like Rick, has no problem taking the cash, and gets all indignant if anyone suggests that there’s anything wrong with it, since “campaign contributions have to come from somewhere.” How about paying for your own signs, Allan and Rick? You’re the ones who get the six-figure salary and the many generous fringe benefits, like a car allowance and the chance to treat yourself and your friends to lavish taxpayer-funded “hospitality.”

Hubley thunders that “he can’t be bought,” echoing the words of Rick and Jan Harder, even though he accepted over $13,000 from corporations and another $13K from wealthy individuals, many of them connected to the development industry and Stephen Harper:

Rick made a big deal out of posing as a friend of Centrepointe residents and supposedly gaining concessions from Richcraft Homes Inc. for their plan to throw up a bunch of ugly highrises that go well beyond what the zoning allows – he neglected to mention that Richcraft is one of the many developers who finance the world’s longest-serving career politician!