Mayor Bob Bratina

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Lame and pathetic...it's no wonder so few people bother to vote.

[padthai]

Forget military consultants, where's this guy's PR advisor?

[SteelTown]

I've said that right from the getgo. Bratina needs a Communication consultant or a PR. Can't rely on Peggy for communication/media relations, and if he did than she failed miserably.

[markbarbera]

He definitely could benefit from a communications expert, given that the Spec is so intently focussed on casting Bratina in the worst light possible at every available opportunity, and they haven't had a chance to do so since Christmas. Finally they couldn't wait any longer and stooped to recycling old news, with Dreschel stooping to his usual lows to stir up the political pot, and with Emma Reilly consistently confusing the role of reporter with that of columnist.

Honestly, it is sensational tabloid journalism at its worst. Previous mayors' chiefs of staff have made the sunshine list without nary a blink from the reporters at Fort Frid, and a rather large cohort of senior staff at city hall will be there as well this time around. Honing in on Chapman was a smarmy attempt to get more leg out of an otherwise dead story. Unfortunately they got their wish and the mayor responded. Despite the temptation to right the wrong of yellow journalism, he shouldn't have responded because with these guys it doesn't matter how one responds, context is no longer a concern when it comes to splashing a sensational story in a paper at the Spec these days. You'd swear it was J. Jonah Jameson running that rag.

[mishap]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

You'd swear it was J. Jonah Jameson running that rag.

That is awesome!
"Bob Bratina: Threat or Menace?"

[CaptainKirk]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

...they couldn't wait any longer and stooped to recycling old news,...

The latest email exchange was just a few days ago and the mayor is back to throwing staff under the bus again!

This current problem does not lie with the Spec.

[markbarbera]

Nowhere in the exchange were staff thrown "under the bus".

What did happen is an email was sent to Paul Berton, editor in chief of the Hamilton Spectator in which Bratina complained about the obvious bias a couple of reporters have against him, along with an attempt to set the record straight on a few of the many inaccuracies his reporters have been making. The Spec, in the spirit of yellow journalism, responded by taking excerpts of this email out of context in another round of tabloid sensationalism designed to attempt to further discredit the mayor.

Bratina was unwise to send this email, although I can appreciate how he would feel compelled to challenge the latest volley of bottom-dweller journalistic techniques employed by Berton's somewhat less than intrepid reporting staff.

Bratina should have known that there is no point in challenging Fort Frid. The pro-Eisenberger shop has a blatently obvious bias against him and he could not possibly have expected this email to change that bias. In fact, it just gave them fodder to try to convey more bad ink at his expense. In the world of single-source print media, Fort Frid has developed such a culture of entitlement they feel it their duty to destroy the mayor to avenge the loss of their Man, and to pave the way for His triumphant return.

With such a swarthy gang of yellow journalists inhabiting Fort Frid (the finest the least amount of money can buy), Bratina needs a communications specialist to navigate the minefield they lay down. A media relations person can't quell their bias, but they can try to manage keep some of it in check.

[CaptainKirk]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

Nowhere in the exchange were staff thrown "under the bus".

Not in the exchange, no. But he does in his email where he again says:

Here's a falsehood published by Lee Prokaska…"wouldn't have come up had Mayor Bob Bratina not decided late last year to give Peggy Chapman, his chief of staff, a 33 per cent raise, ". This is blatantly not true. I made no such decision, but left the matter of compensation, as I have said over and over, to the outcome of a review by Human Resources.

http://media.mmgdailies.topscms.com/...4d782b5794.pdf

He's saying human resources gave her the raise. We've been down this road before.

But here's mayor Bratina's statement from December:

...I made comments regarding the salary adjustment given my Chief of Staff that left the impression that the initiative originated in the Human Resources Department. This was not the case

The issue of salary review for this office is, of course, my responsibility as mayor. While I did seek comparative historical information from Human Resources and while I acted on the basis of that information, it was not my intention to suggest that the final approval was anyone’s other than my own.

http://blog.joeycoleman.ca/2011/12/s...r-bob-bratina/

[realcity]

I liked "Fort Frid".

But really I totally agree. And council tries to bring up censure again. move on folks. He should use his office budget and hire a communication consultant, not that I think he would need it, only as a defense against Fort Frid.

[SteelTown]

This evening we will know if Bratina will be censured. Should be an entertaining show on Cable 14.

[markbarbera]

Hamilton Council censuring Mayor Bratina is akin to the Hell's Angels censuring Vito Rizzuto.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

Hamilton Council censuring Mayor Bratina is akin to the Hell's Angels censuring Vito Rizzuto.

That's what makes this all so completely and utterly embarrassing for Bratina. Hell, I'm embarrassed as a Hamiltonian.

[SteelTown]

The Mayor has been censured. Only Bratina opposed.

[mattgrande]

Wow. I expected him to be censured, but I didn't think it would be (essentially) unanimous.

[matt602]

I also didn't expect that. I think that speaks almost as loudly as the censure itself.

[CaptainKirk]

Beneath all the open talk of censuring, councillors have secretly asked staff for a report on the propriety of the $8,000 vacation payout that elevated Bratina’s chief of staff, Peggy Chapman, on to the 2011 sunshine list.

That, of course, is the pebble which set the rippling events in motion leading to the unparalleled censuring of a Hamilton mayor for unbecoming conduct.

The direction to staff was apparently given during an in-camera session following Tuesday’s budget deliberations.

It seems councillors want an explanation of the $8,000 payout, how the figure was arrived at and whether the conditions and circumstances breached or accorded with city policies.

According to city policy, nonunionized employees can receive payouts for unused vacation time if it’s approved by a manager and only in certain “extenuating circumstances” such as long-term illness and absence.

Bratina, citing privacy rights, initially refused to explain how the extenuating circumstances applied in Chapman’s case.

But in a subsequent email to senior Spectator managers, the mayor suggested the payout stems from Chapman cancelling booked time off because of the December news coverage of her $30,000 raise.

Councillors are looking for clarity on whether that meets the policy bar and how many vacation days Chapman had owing. In other words, do the numbers add up and what exactly was she entitled to?

Some of that information is contained in Chapman’s employment contract with Bratina. Presumably that’s what senior staff will investigate and report on in camera next week.

http://thespec.com/2012/03/censure-s...yet-.html#more

[markbarbera]

Dreschel's bloodlust was left unsatisfied by quite possibly the most polite and cordial censure in the history of mankind, so in his desperation he returns to flog a dead horse.

Meanwhile, Councillor Terry Whitehead is on the record as saying after the meeting that Bratina "has the making of being best mayor". Somehow that didn't make it into his column. Maybe Dreschel missed it because he was busy draining the blood of a dead rat into a sherry glass at the time.

[CaptainKirk]

Council directed staff to explain the $8,000 vacation payout, not Dreschel.

This payout is not a dead horse. Bratina, only recently revealed the reason himself, in his recent email to the Spec, which raised concerns.

[CaptainKirk]

Hamilton council’s 15-1 vote on Wednesday to censure Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina was important and the right thing to do, but it was not a moment in which most Hamiltonians will take pride. Bratina is the first Hamilton mayor to be censured by the council on which he sits, and it is difficult to see that as anything but sad.

It was important because of what it was about.

http://www.thespec.com/opinion/edito...-but-necessary

[markbarbera]

Originally Posted by CaptainKirk

Council directed staff to explain the $8,000 vacation payout, not Dreschel.

This payout is not a dead horse. Bratina, only recently revealed the reason himself, in his recent email to the Spec, which raised concerns.

I am not disputing whether or not council asked in camera for the review. I am saying that Dreschel's article is exploiting the rumblings he hears through anonymous sources to try to get more legs to what is essentially a non-story.

Last November, Council asked for an explanation on the legality of Chapman's $30,000 raise, and they were told it was legal. In March they have directed staff for an explanation of the pay in lieu of vacation time (allegedly - if the request is made in camera it is not supposed to be discussed publicly), and there is absolutely no reason to believe the outcome will be any different. In the unlikely event that staff come back next week saying the payment in lieu of vacation was improper, then there may be a story.

Personally, I would be more comfortable if council was directing staff in a manner that would be more productive than simply conducting pointless political witch hunts. I for one would love to know how a receptionist ended up on the $100,000 sunshine list, and how it came to be that over 700 employees of the City came to be on this list.