The Black Rod

We're so dizzy we're bumping into walls. Who wouldn't be after a day of scandal after scandal like we saw Wednesday. Where should we start?  Should we start with the latest land development scandal? Oh, you're bored with land development scandals.  All developers are crooks; all politicians are corrupt; nobody ever gets charged or fired or held accountable; and it's going to cost taxpayers millions, as usual.  Hey, were you peeking at our notes? But this one is different, kinda. Listen: The Winnipeg Convention Centre was looking pretty dowdy. It needed a makeover. And while they were at it, they could make it bigger, because conventions these days are really, really big and if you want to attract the best ones, you have to be big enough to host them. So they had a contest to see who could do the job at the best price and picked a company called Stuart Olson. But there was one teeny catch. Isn't there always? Convention goer...

Once upon a time... Isn't that how all fairy tales start?   Last week construction company Shindico dispatched their talking head Bob Downs to spin a fairy tale for Christmas in which Sandy Shindleman and his brother Robert got to play the pretty princesses who need to be saved from the evil dragon, a role assigned to city auditor Brian Whiteside. It turns out that people thinking of doing business with Shindico are asking some embarrassing questions in the wake of the audit into the fishy construction of four firehalls by Shindico. To dispel suspicions, Shindico went on the offensive, declaring their innocence, condemning the auditors for getting it wrong, and hinting broadly that they know who is behind the heat and why. Was that a threat? It started with with CJOB's Richard Cloutier who gushed on air at getting an exclusive two-hour interview with Downs which included a "document dump" of, allegedly, the paper trail suppo...

Snap! Did unrepentant provocateur Gordon Warren just spring a trap on Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz and his pal Sandy Shindleman? Damned if he didn't. And did he bait the trap with unsuspecting reporters and bloggers (yes, like us)? It seems (sob) like he did. The Mayor and his supporters must have been chortling at the news Wednesday that Shindleman and his brother Robert have launched a lawsuit against Warren for defamation. But the suit is just a smokescreen to disguise Shindleman's true goal---to crush blogger and pamphleteer Gordon Warren into the dust for the Jewish community of Winnipeg. Warren first earned their ire six months ago by circulating posters attacking alleged corruption at City Hall manifested by "untendered contracts and shady land deals" which benefited or involved 13 of Mayor Katz's associates, whom he listed. That had them running in circles like a yapping pack of chihuahuas howling about anti-semitism. But there was o...

The blowback came quickly. Only two days after grilling Winnipeg's most powerful civil servant, who is also the mayor's best friend, about the botched construction of a new firehall, protection committee chair Paula Havixbeck found herself out on her ear. Mayor Sam Katz replaced her as committee chairman by somebody he hopes is more compliant, Coun. Scott Fielding, in whose ward the new fire station is being built. Katz didn't even try to disguise his shuffle as anything less than retribution for embarassing his friend and Winnipeg CAO, Phil Sheegl. "...(He) would not respond to questions about whether her criticism of the fire-paramedic station replacement program played a role in that decision," was the way the Winnipeg Free Press told it. "Katz denied Havixbeck is being demoted, but did not answer questions on whether her criticism of a fire-paramedic station replacement program has played a role in the decision....

Sam Katz, Mayor of Winnipeg, made the worst mistake of his political life last week. Instead of stifling suspicions over the odd circumstances of his purchase of a house in Phoenix, Arizona, Katz managed, with a disingenuous answer to a simple question, to stoke the mystery to new heights. Ooooh, so not good. Confronted by aggressive reporters, Katz was peppered with questions about how he came to be buying a house at a discount from the sister of the Chief Finance Officer of Shindico Realty, the company at the heart of not one, but two, audits of how the city conducts its real estate business and whether Shindico gets preferential treatment. Visibly nervous, he dismissed any suggestions of impropriety, often with a prepackaged answer: "I purchased a home in Arizona. I paid fair market value." The scrum running out of steam, one reporter threw out a softball question. When did the mayor buy the house? "I purchased a home in Arizona. ...

  Six months ago it was a piece of gossip posted on a message board for architects and urban design enthusiasts. Today, it's another notch in the noose tightening around Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz. Winnipeg Jets [Archive] - Page 38 - SkyscraperPage Forum forum.skyscraperpage.com/archive/index.php/t-160936-p-38.htmlCached Posted: Mar 1, 2012, 4:59 PM BKB Registered User 3712 Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 48 42 posts - 20 authors - Feb 8BKB. Mar 1, 2012, 4:59 PM. Seen at a recent Jets game: Phil Sheegl sitting in Shindico's corporate seats. Hmm.. So the mayor's best friend, and the most powerful administrator in the city, is enjoying the hospitality of the mayor's lon...