Rhino's Ramblings - The Mayor Is Gone But What Legacy Does It Leave Behind
By Robert Thomas Opinion/Commentary
Later this evening Mayor or should we say former Mayor Fraser Tolmie ends his tenure - barring a return after a future federal election defeat - at City Hall.
The soon to be former Mayor’s tenure has been one - despite the public perception - not the most affable especially when it comes to the media.
In fact in many ways it has been a rocky one, albeit out of the public eye. It has been in this scribe’s opinion rocky and downright nasty - at least behind the scenes.
Now anyone who reads this column and the MJ Independent also know we often use a tool called a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to get a better angle and hold the powers to be - “friendly” or not - accountable.
But here is something a lot of people do not know and that is I also use the free portion to pull records about myself and what the powers to be might be saying about me.
It is not paranoia but rather it is a curiosity if - despite the denials from the elected movers and shakers - my work is being read by those in what I will describe as the upper ivory towers.
As the result of the latest FOI I pulled about myself I managed to get a better insight into our departing mayor and his “war” with the media.
In a December 2, 2020 email to Rob Richie, publisher of the Moose Jaw Express, a freshly re-elected Mayor Fraser Tolmie speaks about what he sees as the biased and one-sided reporting by the Moose Jaw Express and coincidentally my “conspiracy theories” that the newspaper has become part of.
But more about that later.
The soon to be former mayor goes so far as suggesting or inferring that my reporting be curtailed immensely. In my opinion this is not what democracy is suppose to be about.
In his email the Mr Tolmie says the following:
“Further the number of comments I received regarding the shameful back page ad you printed the week before the election (which would require your approval) reflects poorly on you, your organization and Glacier Media. I know that you met with former City Councillor Swanson because I have friends who saw you at Brown’s together having lunch prior to the election and everything that was on the back page were words he used in past Council meetings and fed to Mr. Robert Thomas.”
Now here is where I am going to draw the line and that is I might be on friendly terms with former Councillor Brian Swanson and despite what some might want you to believe MJ Independent has taken a critical line on the former Councillor on more than one occasion.
I think the MJ Independent breaking the Mosaic Place alleged sexual harassment story is a good sign of that.
When our soon to be former Mayor makes the comment in my opinion it leaves me thinking and that is are people being watched when they go out for a meal, so much watched, you have to meet let’s say in another city?
Has Moose Jaw’s politics become that paranoid, dirty and creepy?
And here is what I always responded - and the tapes will back it up - to all of the critics.
How do you write a news story detailing about what was said at a Council meeting when the other six members of Council were for the most part saying nothing?
You had former Councillor Chris Warren who did his best to orchestrate the other side of the equation and you have to give him top honours in that category as well as bending over backwards - often figuratively getting kicked it the teeth for it - for allowing residents to respectfully have their say.
But the letter goes further with Mr Tolmie going even further in what in my opinion is an often hazy memory of meetings in the past - in my opinion especially with newspaper publishers - and his remembering a chance meeting he and I had at Superstore.
In that meeting in my opinion Mr Tolmie tries to use his own foggy memory to belittle me for just choosing to run for Mayor in 2016. Something our democracy and the rules allow and whether some in the community like it or not encourage.
“When Mr. Thomas was also running for Mayor in 2016, he bumped into me at the Superstore. He mentioned that he would be running in the mayoral election because he “just wanted the public attention.”” Mayor Tolmie wrote which is sorry not telling the full story.
What I did in fact tell Mr Tolmie that day was I “was running for Mayor to bring public attention and stop the (cast iron replacement) LIP.” A fact that I have never publicly denied and after that I also added “if elected I would do my best to represent the people of Moose Jaw.”
But this is where Mr Tolmie really in my opinion alters and changes what the media’s role in Moose Jaw should be.
“The Moose Jaw Express has as since that time partnered with him (Robert Thomas) and fed into the conspiracy theories he spins. I personally feel sorry for the man but that doesn’t mean City resources should be used to feed into these conspiracy stories he spews out when City employees should be focusing on serving the citizens they work for,” Mayor Tolmie wrote.
So what the Mayor has done - according to a lawyer I spoke to - has libeled myself. And further in my opinion expressed an opinion for the recipients of the letter not to assist me a resident of Moose Jaw in my reporting.
This is where the Mayor I believe gets into a very rough area and I am quite truthfully wondering which conspiracy he is speaking about?
Here is a list of things that some might seen as conspiracies proven by FOIs:
the $60 - $100 million pea protein plant proposal and the meeting the City had which shut down the Moose Jaw Times-Herald’s probe into it
or the birthday cake where the Mayor’s staff used his credit card
Maybe we can go elsewhere to at least one meeting held of the books and The Petition.
or how about the largest number of issues discussed in-camera in the City’s history
or how about the seeming inaction or delay on the Meth Crisis
As far as soon to be ex-Mayor Tolmie feeling sorry for me meh I don’t need it.
Whether he wants to admit to it or not I actually spent a lot of time and was trained abroad.
Working at the newspaper in Moose Jaw was in no way the highlight of my career.
I am also considered by more than a few a bit of an expert in the art of Columbo journalism (Columbo technique) - I learnt the art in Russia at an institution called Novosibirsk State University. I can take tons of punishment as it rolls off of me and I get to the bottom of the real story.
It is an art that I used in the Caucasus (where I shot photographs and took one in the vest) and later in southeastern Ukraine in literal war zones. And yes my family were really Don Cossacks.
People might ask why do I contribute to the Moose Jaw Express? It is simple because it gets my stories larger coverage and helps the newspaper get a wider coverage and I charge them the same as I get paid for this - nothing.
Ask people in bigger newspapers where if they phone why do I always help them?
Because I cut my teeth in newspapers. I know their value and I know Moose Jaw needs one as well which asks the tough questions and does not necessarily make friends.
It is just part of the trade, the craft and something in my opinion the soon to be ex-Mayor in the letter does not seem to understand.
Now here is the kicker in the letter the Mayor wrote in December. I believe not only does it libel me but in fact it also broke Section 4.3 Respect and Section 4.4 Transparency and Accountability of Bylaw No. 5530 Elected Members Code of Ethics.
The letter, in my opinion, by virtue of who the recipients were showed a lack of Respect as dictated in the Bylaw and it may have very well affected the coverage that accountability the media is suppose to add to Democracy.
It all leaves me wondering how far this all goes?
But how can I say that?
All you have to do is to look at the internal recipients of the email and their seeming inaction to know that nothing seemingly changes at the corner of Fairford and Main.
And that is what is so sad about it all.
Not one member of Council or Administration, that I can determine, said anything against it and seemingly agreed with the attack on the media with their silence.
In my experience I have only seen this once before and I saw it in Russia where independent media is under threat. Now think about that.
Mayor Fraser Tolmie may be gone but really I personally wonder what legacy has he left behind?