The strange thing about Mayor Fred Eisenberger is he usually doesn't seem to be bothered by political defeats or reverses.It's almost as if he just shrugs mentally and then carries on to the next issue.
That wasn't the case last week.
Sitting in the mayor's chair during the final Lister debate, he looked like a beaten man who was hanging on by sheer will.
Earlier that day, Eisenberger had called a news conference to admit he may have broken city council's code of conduct in an off-the-record conversation with me, a tape recording of which had apparently been swiped from his office and given to a news outlet.
Taking it on the chin, Eisenberger called for a police probe of the missing tape and a city investigation of his own behaviour.
At his news conference, Eisenberger noted his conversation with me had not been published and that he had never leaked or released a confidential document.
But he was surely aware that, as the driving force behind hiring an integrity commissioner, his pedestal had lurched sickeningly.
Now, hours later, he was watching the Lister project and the $7-million provincial grant slip through his fingers despite his best efforts to seal a deal.
If ever he needed a win, this was the time.
Then came what may have been the cruellest cut of all.
At one point, Eisenberger stepped out of the room and into what must have been a stomach-dropping hallway conversation.
Councillor Sam Merulla buttonholed him to say that it was Councillor Brad Clark who had sold him down the river by circulating a digital file and transcript of the missing tape to Hamilton Community News, formerly known as Brabant.
http://canwest.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/canwest-chchnews-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=chchmain&maven_referralObject=1803820
Eisenberger knew, of course, that the files had been passed on to the paper.
That's what precipitated his confessional news conference earlier that day.
But until that moment, he had no idea that the person responsible was in the same room debating Lister with him.
You have to wonder what went through Eisenberger's distracted mind when he returned to the meeting and looked at the man who had plunged a political knife into his back.
His shoulders seemed to sag. He seemed to visibly shrink in the mayor's chair.
Clark would later admit that, yes, he was responsible for distributing the files.
Clark said he did it in the name of public interest, arguing that because the mayor had wagged his finger at city hall leakers, the public deserves to know he was also guilty.
Context is everything, of course, both when it comes to disclosing confidential information and claiming the moral high ground.
Clark's whistleblowing argument would hold more water if he had given the files to the city's lawyer rather than trying to orchestrate a media outing of the mayor.
But for reasons of his own, that's not the way Clark wanted the story to unfold.
To make matters worse for Eisenberger, the same man who rocked his reputation for integrity also arguably marshalled the most persuasive arguments of the night against the Lister deal.
In one horrible day, Eisenberger lost the Lister vote and became the subject of a code of conduct investigation.
He's not likely to shrug off either any time soon. On the other hand, he has been a politician long enough to know how rough and dirty things can get in this town.
In fact, it was Eisenberger who once memorably observed that in Hamilton, politics are played with live bullets.
After last week, he may want to suggest printing that warning on the cover of the candidates' handbook they give out to people thinking of running for city council.
Andrew Dreschel's commentary appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
adreschel@thespec.com 905-526-3495
---------------------------------------------
In association with The World According to: MAW
No comments:
Post a Comment