Maybe this is a case for the integrity commissioner?
Contact Information for Mr. Basse:
905 546-2424 x5434 or 519 578-6795
cell 519 501-3636
email: ebasse@rogers.com
It may be that entire process should be reviewed if we lose the $70-$100 million from upper levels of government. Of course, they would have had to violate something. I am not well versed in the council policy's.
Found this on the web concerning Tom Ferguson dated June of this year:
Complain of Misconduct Agains't Councillor Lloyd Ferguson
[url=http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/8F71C3E1-56DD-4B2D-B6AA-B0CF40F4D676/0/Aug12Item516100615FergusonRptEDB.pdf]http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/8F7 ... RptEDB.pdf[/url]And another dealing with Terry Whitehead:
[url=http://www.terrywhitehead.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/20100615-Report-TW-v2.pdf]http://www.terrywhitehead.ca/wp-content ... -TW-v2.pdf[/url]Sammy is a public servant so he's much more of a welfare case than anyone else.
The longer this saga goes on the more I hope the team moves to Burlington.
Welfare case eh?
Merullas IQ with six zeros on the end was invested by Caretaker into IWS on his watch.
And Bob Bratina called bob Young's EM deal "crap"
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npRDngfeQjU&feature=related]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npRDngfe ... re=related[/url]Call 911!
Call the RCMP!
Call Scotland Yard!
I don't understand why anyone would care what any member of Hamiltons city council has to say anymore? We played
circle-jerk long enough and it didn't get done, now were trying to focus on a new location but for some reason there's still more air time going to Hamiltons' council than Burlingtons.
Why the hell is Bratina meeting with Burlingtons mayor, and why the hell does Sam have to be in on an interview with Meed?
How are they involved in Burlingtons business? As long as we keep peeing every time one of them opens their yap and as long as the media (speaking of agendas) keeps stuffing mic's in their faces they'll think we care and they'll never shut up.
Dear Hamilton council. you said no, ok we're moving ahead with an alternative plan, it's not about you anymore.....go to the light.
Why not blame the idiots that keep voting him back onto council every term !!
They are the real problem !! <!-- s:roll: -->:roll:<!-- s:roll: -->
Nothing will ever change in Hamilton. <!-- s:oops: -->:oops:<!-- s:oops: -->During the last election, two others ran against him with the following results.
COUNCILLOR WARD 4
Total
Number of Polls 12
Polls Reporting 12 100.0 %
Times Counted 8420/23721 35.5 %
Total Votes 8236
Norm BULBROOK 743 9.02%
Giulio CICCONI 706 8.57%
Sam MERULLA 6787 82.41%
What do expect when you don’t have a serious candidate to rum against the incumbent
Very true about the people voting for him but in all fairness, most probably didn't know that he could be that disrespectful and ignorant to people who have little choice than to be on welfare. Probably most couldn't imagined he would say something like this in public as they would have expected, like the rest of us, an elected official to have more integrity than this.
We've all been fooled in our lifetime at one time or another by so-called upstanding individuals. I know I have. It will be interesting if he formally apologizes for this remark, not to the TigerCats as the team and us as know the man is below the surface, but to his constituents who have felt slighted by the connotation of being told they are a loser.
I have only missed 1 or 2 elections since I’ve been elegible to vote. You could go to a system like Australia where voting is mandatory but I don’t see having much luck getting something like that passed now, maybe move the elections to November 12th and remind people why we get to vote. With low turnouts you get some people just voting for a name they recognize, maybe they think things are going well so why change? Add in an established office and organization and the incumbent gets the edge every time unless something really messes up gong into the election. So credible canidates sit it out until someone moves up or retires. No matter what the outcome is on the stadium it’s unlikely it will be a major issue in 4 years, voters have too short memories, something else will come along, that’s why most governments raise taxes early in their term and give tid-bits back late in their terms.
As a practice I seldom vote for an incumbent who has been in more than 2 terms, which means being in Ward 8 my vote went to a loser.
Meruella is a career politician who knows how to play the game, ie kiss the butts of his constituents while not giving a damn about the City as a whole.
Proof is that it works but it's also a perfect example of why there should be term limits.
But who is worse… fools like Meruella with his verbal diarrhoea or those foolish enough to vote him back in time after time?
So if he gets a stop sign or lights put in where a couple pedestrians were killed and their families vote for him they're fools?
Or if he steps in and guides a family through the maze of long term care for a terminally ill loved one and they vote for him they're fools also? I disagree with his take on the stadium and strongly disagree with the way he expresses himself but it's obvious if he gets voted back in repeatedly the people in his ward aren't unhappy with him, they just have different priorities than the people calling them fools. It's not a stretch to think those caling them fools and idiots think they're somehow better but I'm at a loss as to why, just because they'd vote in a person based 100% on their stance on the Ticats and stadium? There's a whole lot of people that would consider that idiotic and foolish.
When the 'Ticat Rallies' being held can't put together more than 100 people (20 is even difficult) and the potential loss of the pan-am games gets people here so worked up and angry they send an email (or two if their seriously PO'd) then maybe he's right, maybe there is no place in Hamlton for the Cats or the games.
Calling other Hamiltonions fools just because they feel the man is doing good by them does nothing except turn even more people against the team and their position.
Merulla has been a joke on council for years, but aside from his constituents, much blame goes to CHTV and the Spec. Most credible politicians are guarded in their public statements, hence not very provcative, and perhaps not newsworthy. Merulla on the other hand, has taken advantage of the media looking for dumb soundbites that are entertaining, so they go to him instead of wiser, more intelligent and effective politicians. That bit the other day with Merulla and the Burlington councillor was equivalent to a Satuday Night live skit. Don't give the dumb politicians a podium, and you might get more effective results.
Merulla learned his craft from a master, Domenic Agostino. Agostino was one of the most useless blowhard politicians this city has ever seen, but he knew how to manipulate the media and created a career by being in the trough and having citizens pay his salary. Merulla was his man, and got his nose in the trough early, and has had it firmly set in said public trough ever since. Merualla has no loyalty to his constituents, he was going to walk away from them in favour of an NDP nomination for provincial politics, except he lost, so he just hung on to the job. There is some speculation that he may do so again, either provincially or federally in the next election, and just walk away from his ward (that would be a good thing unless he tries to keep his job and the $82k per year while he tries to get the nominaion, in which case the taxpayor is paying him money while he looks for the nomination).
Finally, it would seem that Merulla has mastered the art of being in the oppostion with no chance of every being accountable, in that he can attack, snipe, insult etc knowing that he will never be held accountable. He is realistic enough to know that he is incapable of every being a mayor. Unfortunately for Merulla, he does not seem to realize that aside from his followers etc, that he is the object of many jokes and that Merulla's attempts at public speaking result in snickering to guffaws. He reminds me of the old comedian, Norm Crosby I believe, who would constantly mis-pronounce words that sounded similar to the actual intended word, except that Crosby did for comedic effect, Merulla is being serious. And who can forget his Fan590 horror show, when he was sliced to pieces by the announcer. The classic was Merulla trying to pronounce the word "debacle" and making sound like "tobacco". Check it out.
Unless he follows through with a successful nomination for the provincial or federal elections, we have got him in Hamilton for 4 years, so we should just view him like a comedy act he is, and not take him seriously. Might be an idea to help him win a seat in Toronto or Ottawa though, he would be a lightweight there that would be ignored, but his stonewalling of progress and discouragement of business in opening and thriving in Hamilton would be eliminated.
Hmmm, as I think about it, Sammy, when you read this ( I know you do), I will contribute to your provincial and federal election efforts. Call it the Getoutoftownnowsamfund.
Well Said
Its every councilor's right to speak his mind no matter how moronic it makes him look. Sam just exercises his rights more often than most
When the 'Ticat Rallies' being held can't put together more than 100 people (20 is even difficult) and the potential loss of the pan-am games gets people here so worked up and angry they send an email (or two if their seriously PO'd) then maybe he's right, maybe there is no place in Hamlton for the Cats or the games.
Rallies mean diddly squat IMHO, as a true reflection of support for a team. I don't go to them, well went to the EM rally but that was different and there were a lot more that 20 people there, that's for sure, and I'm a huge TigerCat fan and season ticket holder. Just like Fred's rally for WH at Hess St. I think. There weren't huge numbers there but I'm sure a lot more that did support his agenda.
And you can hold all the rallies you want but the Jets, Nordiques and Expos, and Grizzlies still left this country. The best "rally" I would say would be to start buying tickets and going to games.
True AKT, his right to speak the way he wishes. It's up to the people to call him on it if they wish, as with any politician.
Yes, well said boyd, I will second Kerrigan on that. :thup:
Can't edit that post any more. I was going to say:
There is an insidiousness about Hamilton that I can't put my finger on. It's like the CFL isn't "big enough" and Grey Cup and people will get on their knees for the right to be "big" and have an NHL team and lick the boots of whomever does this. It's just very weird and I don't quite like it as the CFL is so underappreciated around here, it gives me a bad feeling. :? A spill over of Toronto's arrogance why some reporter every year asks at the Super Bowl "what about Toronto". Glad to see Goodell last year say Toronto has stadium issues. That was nice. It'll be interesting if some reporter from Toronto asks this year but it wouldn't surprise me. And I want to hear what Goodell will say this time. 
Honestly, I think there are people who think Hamilton deserves, if you will, the right to hold the Super Bowl, the people here think they are living in some other place or something. It's just very weird.
Again, a reason I love going to Ticat games, we "get it". And TiCat fans and CFL fans who can't go to games of course.
People need to realize no league needs Hamilton, even the OHL. London packs 9000 in every game and no team in Hamilton is needed to do this.
longtimetcfan, it’s hard not to infer from your words that I am a fool.
I live in Sam Merulla’s riding and he got re-elected.
In my defense, every person in his riding only has one vote.
The only thing that person can do is vote against him themselves.
If the majority of the rest of the voter vote for Sam, he wins.
When a politician plays the game as well as Sam does nobody
with any credentials wants to challenges him for his ward seat
The one candidate who opposed him didn’t even have a website
If I remember correctly, he wasn’t at the all candidates meeting.
P.S.
It would take a good candidate to beat Sam out
and even then, he or she should really
have been volunteering for many years
on committees on matters of significant concern
to the citizens in that east end neighbourhood
so he/she gets known by the voters in the ward
like Judi Partrige and Brenda Johnson did in their wards
and probably many other people did who didn’t get elected.
An incumbent has experience and name recognition
going for them, it’s usually tough to beat them out
unless there is one big issue that ALL the voters
are upset about not just ones who are Ticat fans.
If the issue was really important to all voters
the voter turn out would have been much larger.
This election, there was only one riding
in which the incumbent did not win.
You are right AKT, but not to the detriment of the city. Making derogatory remarks about a business that has been a driving force in this city for more than a 100 years is not to the benefit of the city. No politician has the right to make derogatory remarks against ANY business in this city. It is incumbent on them to ensure that they make their point in a professional manner that will not make the business feel unwanted and leave. This city is in enough trouble as it is without the babelings of a self centred moron. I sent an email to all the councillors and Mayor asking them to censure Sam the Sham. This has gone too far and needs to be nipped in the bud. Censure does not sound like much but ask Dave Mitchell what was one of the causes of his defeat.
Councillors are suppose to entice new business and help ensure none leave and sam Merulla has done neither. He is a chronic complainer who does not know when to shut up. We do not need any more politicians to help us in that way.
There is no law against it. Normally that type of behavior hurts you at election time but its obvious Sam's behavior is what his constituents want or they really don't care one way or the other as he keeps getting elected. I feel bad for the small minority that oppose him there