Ottawa mayor upbeat about trial

Larry O'Brien, the embattled Ottawa mayor, was out walking his dog several days ago and enjoying a rare lovely summer evening when he ran into a group of political women, including former Liberal deputy prime minister Sheila Copps.

They wished him good luck. He may well need it.

On Wednesday, Mr. O'Brien will appear in an Ottawa courtroom where Ontario Superior Court Judge Douglas Cunningham will deliver his verdict on whether the politician is guilty of influence peddling.

Mr. O'Brien is accused of offering Terry Kilrea, a rival candidate in the 2006 mayoralty campaign, money and an appointment to the National Parole Board in exchange for stepping out of the race to prevent a conservative vote split.

Mr. O'Brien, who has stepped aside as mayor and is on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the trial, has denied the accusations. He chose not to testify.

Mr. Kilrea has said he withdrew from the race for financial reasons. He also said he rejected Mr. O'Brien's offer.

The trial, which began in early May, has captivated political Ottawa for the implications that a conviction could have for the way business is done here.

It has not just been a municipal affair involving city politicians. Rather, Mr. O'Brien's connections have reached into the senior ranks of the Harper Conservative government.

Even the Parliament Hill hang-out, Hy's Steakhouse, featured prominently in the trial.

Transport Minister John Baird, who is the political minister for Ottawa, testified that he had lunch in 2006 at Hy's with Mr. O'Brien but never discussed an appointment for Mr. Kilrea.

Ms. Copps said that Mr. O'Brien was “upbeat and positive” about the potential outcome of the trial when she and her friends ran into him the other night.

One of the other women in the group said Mr. O'Brien spoke of the “anguish” he has been going through as a result of the charges and trial.

She said he talked about a “sword being over his head,” how difficult it has been for him, but that “strength and perseverance” will make him a better person.

After he left, the group of women talked about how a conviction could affect Canadian politics and change the way things work, wondering whether politicians should ever meet alone with anyone.

In an e-mail exchange, Ms. Copps said that she believes that Mr. O'Brien is “innocent of wrongdoing.”

She said she thinks his troubles stem from “naiveté.” Mr. O'Brien came from the business and high-tech world before running for mayor in 2006.

Ms. Copps has argued that “the notion that a request for a political appointment can end up turning you into a criminal is scary.

“… the notion that someone may be committing a crime simply by recommending an appointment is chilling indeed,” she wrote in a recent column in The Hill Times.

Ms. Copps also said that when she was heritage minister, it was “impossible to cross the room at any social gathering without being lobbied on behalf of some candidate or other.”

If Mr. O'Brien is found guilty, he will have to leave office, which is fuelling rumours and speculation about his replacement.

Heading the list of the possible successors is Ottawa MPP and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Jim Watson. He is a former Ottawa mayor and city councillor.

Bob Chiarelli, another former Ottawa mayor and a former MPP, is also being mentioned.

If it becomes necessary, city councillors could call a by-election or pick someone to serve out Mr. O'Brien's term.

The next election is in 2010.

Firstly, Sheila Copps knows that officially, she can't give instructions to "Justice" Cunningham, so, very conveniently, while "justice Cunningham" is "deliberating, or writing his "decision", Sheila Copps decides to "run into" Mr. Obrien while he was "walking his dog" and the whole little conversation gets published in the press.

Sheila Copps is well known to have influenced at least one judicial appointment of a judge who ended up leaving a trail of man hating decisions, Cunningham, still has his name on law firm in Kingston, with a long history of names involved in politics so, in a trial of a politician, by a politician, the outcome was predictable, and Justice Cunningham's decision reads like the classic example of "the process of justification"..

In plain language, that's how a judge puts political spin doctoring to a decision that is supposed to be legal but really is more political than legal.

Its judges like Cunningham who encourage criminal offences and remove criminal offences from consideration if they just happen to be political in nature.

Now politicians will be legally able to offer all sorts of positions as rewards for election fraud.

Sheila Copps knows that officially, she can't give instructions to "Justice" Cunningham, so, very conveniently, while "justice Cunningham" is "deliberating, or writing his "decision", Sheila Copps decides to "run into" Mr. Obrien while he was "walking his dog" and the whole little conversation gets published in the press.

Sheila Copps is well known to have influenced at least one judicial appointment of at least one judge who ended up leaving a trail of man hating decisions. Cunningham, still has his name on law firm in Kingston, with a long history of names involved in politics and who have as one of their partners a lawyer who has no hesitation in fabricating evidence personally.

So, in a trial of a politician, by a politician, the outcome was predictable, and Justice Cunningham's decision reads like the classic example of "the process of justification"..

In plain language, that's how a judge puts political spin doctoring to a decision that is supposed to be legal but really is more political than legal.
Its judges like Cunningham who encourage criminal offences and remove criminal offences from consideration if they just happen to be political in nature.
Now politicians will be legally able to offer all sorts of positions as rewards for election fraud.

So what is Cunningham going to do for an encore?

For that you will have to wait till the next political trial held in an Ottawa court room.

www.OttawaMensCentre.com

DaveSnider wrote: "The judge found that there was not enough evidence to prove the fact as alleged by the Crown."

When "a judge" says, " he found there was or was not enough evidence" , that often is nothing more than the exact opposite of what happened in the courtroom.

DavSnider sounds like and talks like an Ottawa Local and he knows or ought to know that very well known, underbelly of the judiciary exist, that their names are very well know, and its this underbelly of the corrupt Ottawa Judiciary that can and do re-write the facts, they re-write the evidence to suit them, and they do it habitually without any compassion or empathy for the trail of destruction that results.

This case begs the Question as to why Justice Cunningham was chosen?
His name still runs a law firm, who apparently rely on his good name in bold print on the their letterhead. WHY, does a serving judge keep his name on his old law firm?

That sends a very corrupt message and its the audacity of Justice Cunningham to allow his name to remain there and, hold a trial where political questions are at centre stage..

Cunningham's old firm was full of powerful politicians and this trial should never have been heard by Justice Cunningham.

It sends some very obvious and offensive messages.

www.OttawaMensCentre.com

Larry O'Brian was lucky in that he actually got a trial.
Many Ottawa Father's do NOT get a trial and Ottawa Judges
like the Justice Allan Sheffield and Denis Power habitually make orders "striking pleadings" generally against self represented male litigants in family court to get rid of a case, "orders for security for costs" dito, to make sure a father never gets to litigate , and the worst of all, a "vexatious litigant order".

These draconian orders generally incorporate, a child support order, often topped up by a "retroactive order" that could go back over 10 years, and based on NO evidence of income, that's right, the underbelly of the Ottawa Judiciary, simply "make an order" it could be and often is simply and unproven allegation, these orders, put fathers in jail, indefinitely repeatedly, "for life" without any possibility of variation.

Even murderers, Kala and Bernado, got to have a trial, Kala after years got out, her "conditions lifted".. Not so for Ottawa Fathers, their "conditions" can never be varied, and last a lifetime, and all those orders are issued without any real evidence.

The "evidence" used by Sheffield and Power is often quadruple hearsay unsworn "documents" that never get to be cross examined, that would show another story.

Sheffield and Power countermand, that is, illegally act as appellate court judges by tearing up decisions by other judges and making their own decisions appeal proof.

And whats the connection to the Obrian trial?

Justice Cunningham has a law firm, in Kingston, riddled in political patronage, and employs a partner who personally fabricated evidence and knowing that evidence is fabricated and false, Ottawa Judges like Power and Sheffield, use it, knowingly, to obstruct justice.

www.OttawaMensCentre.com

Justice Cunningham is the former partner of Cunningham xxx xxx in Kingston who have a long history of partners who became politicians and judges.

Only in Ottawa if you have money can you "shop for a judge". Its very well known in the legal profession , that incredible absolutely amazing coincidences occur in which judge gets to hear a certain case.

Justice Cunningham was the least suitable judge to be hearing this matter, as he has failed to take his name of HIS law firm, he should not even be sitting as a judge.

Ottawa has a a large number of "politically appointed judges" and they are not going to "rock the boat" and make any decision that is not politically correct.

Now lets see if this post gets past the cbc c/ensor.\

www.OttawaMensCentre.com

No one has bothered to mention that contrary to expected practice, Justice Cunningham still has his name hanging on his old law firm.
Its well accepted that a judge's name remaining on the name of a law firm is improper and its that firm's refusal to change the name after a partner becomes a judge that raises a reg flag with any decision by that judge or action or representation by that law firm.

So much for legal ethics in Ontario

www.OttawaMensCentre.com

Ottawa mayor upbeat about trial outcome