statement on gregor robertson’s response to hootsuite “petition to court”
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8/12/2019 Statement on Gregor Robertsons response to HOOTSUITE Petition to Court
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March 14, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement on Gregor Robertsonsresponse to
HOOTSUITE Petition to Court
We received Mayor Robertson's response to our petition in the past 48
hours, which is now being thoroughly reviewed. While we are dismayed
that Mr. Robertson is not taking responsibility for his actions, we are
nonetheless not surprised. His response essentially calls our petition
frivolous and vexatious. We wholeheartedly disagree. The evidence we
submitted to the court suggests at the very least an apprehension of bias
in Mr. Robertson's voting on the city property to HootSuite / Mr Holmes.As stated before, Robertson, HootSuite and it's CEO Ryan Holmes
clearly had a relationship, which extended to electioneering and
promotional assistance, which continued after the lease was approved.
Also suspicious are the circumstances surrounding the lease. The leasewas granted through a nontransparent process and behind closed doors.
The city only released the full details of the lease after approximately
1 1/2 years from the vote and only after repeated FOI requests from many
sources including myself, resulting in the British Columbia Office of the
Information and Privacy Commissioner scheduling an OIPC inquiry to
begin on the matter at my request and eventual pressure from the media.
Furthermore, we have at least one email that appears to indicate that the
decision to lease the property to HootSuite appears not to have been
decided by the city real estate services department but rather by Mr.
Robertson and City Manager, Penny Ballem. We are also in the
possession of redacted emails that clearly show the special assistance
of Gregor Robertson's chief of Staff, Mike Magee as well as
communication being sent to his private consultancy company by
Ryan Holmes.
For the foregoing reasons, we will continue with the petition process with
the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The Mayor's response sadly doesnot address our concerns.
Glen Chernen
Contact @glenchernen on twitter [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]