Mayor Gregor Robertson and Coun. Geoff Meggs say the B.C. Supreme Court petition aimed at removing them from office is intended to damage them “politically and professionally under the protective cloak of absolute privilege.”
Ex-Vision Vancouver member Randy Helten and four other citizens launched the conflict of interest case Dec. 12, relying on a leaked recording of Meggs promising the city’s outside workers’ union on Oct. 14 that a re-elected Vision majority would not contract out work. About 40 members of CUPE Local 1004 voted at the same meeting to give Vision $34,000, which was matched by CUPE’s B.C. and national offices for a $102,000 sum.
“The petition and supporting affidavits contain false and defamatory allegations and innuendo,” state Robertson and Meggs’s Jan. 20 court filing. “The gravamen of the petitioner’s complaint is that the respondents are corrupt. More particularly, the petitioners allege that the respondents, as representatives of Vision, engaged in a ‘pay to play’ scheme with the (Local 1004) executive.”
The recording also captured a union member saying support for Vision “is not unconditional” and the donation was made to “carry favour with Vision in the next round of negotiations.” The city’s contract with 1,600 Local 1004 members expires at the end of 2015.
The petition asks for a judge to replace Robertson and Meggs with the next-highest vote-getters, NPA’s Kirk LaPointe for mayor and Ian Robertson for councillor, or to ban Robertson and Meggs from negotiating or voting on Local 1004’s next contract.
But Vision lawyer Bryan Baynham wants a judge to declare the clips inadmissible as hearsay, or second-hand evidence, at a scheduled Feb. 2 hearing. “The audio recording is the only factual evidence offered by the petitioners that could conceivably suggest impropriety by the respondents,” said the Jan. 20 application, which incorrectly said the union meeting was Oct. 12.
Hearsay, however, can be allowed if a judge deems it necessary and reliable.
Lawyer Jon Festinger, who is also an instructor at the Centre for Digital Media, told the Courier a pure audio recording can be more reliable than a witness.
“So what would you prefer, audio which is verbatim or video that is 100 per cent accurate or an individual witness account?” Festinger said. “I think the digital age is definitely changing the meaning of what’s the best evidence.”
A confidential source gave the Courier three digital audio files of the meeting totaling 77 minutes and 48 seconds on Oct. 14. Neither Vision nor CUPE contested the authenticity of two clips that were posted with the Courier’s story published Oct. 16. CUPE official Justin Schmid asked Oct. 21 by email for the clips, totaling 9:33, to be removed from YouTube, claiming breach of privacy. The Courier declined, citing public interest. On Nov. 13, two days before the election, CUPE convinced YouTube to remove the clips from its Canadian site. The file containing Meggs’s speech was reinstated.
In a Nov. 20 Courier story, Meggs did not deny his words on the recording: “I went to a meeting at the request of the union, I told them our position and they made a later decision without my presence that wound up supporting us.”
Robertson, in an Oct. 27 story, said Meggs “was just stating the obvious and our track record to date and commitment to date to continue with that practice.”
LaPointe called it a corrupt deal and Vision responded with a defamation lawsuit filed Nov. 6, the same day an internal poll claimed LaPointe was only four per cent behind Robertson. LaPointe called the Vision lawsuit a ploy to restrict freedom of speech.
On Nov. 15, Robertson and Vision retained their city council majority, but their party lost its majorities on Park and School boards.
—with files from Mike Howell
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