"And it’s very, very bad politics”

Here is a copy of the email that was sent by Councillor Marra to the Mayor and Council about his absence from Council from time to time. I thought it was important for you to read it for yourself. [Note parts were deleted by me for obvious reasons].

Note to whom it was addressed in the body of the email and its date.

And no, I did NOT get it from Councillor Marra so do not dump on him. In fact, I received it from one of my inside sources.

• "Coun. Bill Marra is upset that the mayor’s office released attendance records without providing context.
  
  “The part that most offended me was that when the information was released, there was every opportunity for the mayor and the mayor’s office to say, ‘We should tell you that in November of ‘08, Coun. Marra told us what was going on,’” Marra said Wednesday, a day after attendance was made public, while Mayor Eddie Francis was on vacation.
  
  “To sit on a beach in Mexico and lob grenades my way, and drag my family into this, is offensive. And it’s very, very bad politics.”

What is sad also is the meanness of some people on the Star Forum who are calling for Marra to resign because his wife is ill and think he ought NOT to run for Mayor. Is this part of the dirty tricks campaign too?

Be fair, has anyone really felt that the City has suffered because the Councillor has been away for on average 6 Council meetings per year. I doubt it but for the Star story.

Yes, Bill ought NOT to run for Mayor if he was a micromanger and had to travel the world for no good reason and had to be the Chair of most Boards, a lot of which pay nice fees and who had to have his nose into everything including being the Voice of Council whenever it suited him.

He ought NOT to run if he cannot delegate either and does not trust his staff on many matters and has to go to outside consultants.

Fortunately, Bill runs a large organization already and knows how to work with others to accomplish the organization's objectives. He does NOT have to do everything himself. Isn't that how successful business executives operate?

Let's be fair as well. Edgar (aka Eddie) generates work. It is HIS decision to work so many hours per day not anyone else's. I doubt if that is really necessary.

There is no need for all of this drama in a smallish City of 200,000 plus. As I Blogged before, to go from A to B in Windsor under Edgar, we have travel through all of the letters of the alphabet.

Oh and what do you think of the Mayor's Office now and their speed in giving out information to the media:

• "Francis said by phone Wedesday that his office was merely responding to requests from the media and other councillors, after a sparsely attended Monday meeting where a number of items were deferred because the mayor and four councillors were absent.
  
  “I wasn’t even there Monday night when this became an issue,” said Francis, who noted that it’s up to voters to decide whether their elected officials are performing their duties well. “After the discussion that took place Monday night at council, we received a number of inquiries Tuesday morning. They wanted to know whether we could give them a sense of what the numbers may be.”

Here is an email I sent. Note the time and date:

• "----- Original Message -----
  
  From: Ed Arditti
  To: Mayor Francis
  Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 8:00 AM
  Subject: Media Inquiry
  
  As an accredited Blogger who writes on politics in Windsor, please provide me immediately with the following information from the start of the Mayor's second term until today.:
  
  --number of Committee meetings that the Mayor did not attend
  --number of Committee meetings in which the Mayor was NOT there for the entire meeting eg he arrived late or left early
  --number of airplane trips that the Mayor has taken on Windsor business whether as Mayor or a member of a Board or committee and out of which airport he has flown for each trip (note I do not care what the destination is or whom he was meeting or for what reason)
  
  Considering the speed in which the Mayor's Office answered the media requests re absences, I expect this information today so I may Blog it tomorrow.
  
  After all as the Mayor said:
  
  ""It's about accountability. We knock on doors saying we want to represent you at the table.... I think the public has a right to know,"

Darn, no reply yet. What a dirty shame!

UPDATE

Sarah Butler is NOT Preston Cedar but a real person who worked in Edgar's office at one time.