Nanaimo city council passed on a perfect opportunity to show taxpayers it truly is committed to transparent governance when it chose not to reveal its lawyer’s legal opinion regarding Coun. Bill Bestwick’s alleged conflict of interest case.
Though the city’s legal bill was only $2,800, it also voted to reimburse Bestwick $10,000 of his $14,300 legal bill, putting taxpayers on the hook for nearly $13,000 for something they are not allowed to see.
As well as smacking of poor optics, the decision also creates mistrust and an air of secrecy.
The majority of our current council ran on the notion of improved transparency, a touchy issue at the time of the last election. Councillors who voted against revealing the legal opinions (the vote cannot be revealed as it was done in camera) are not living up to their election promise.
But council can only be responsible for its own legal documents.
Bestwick still has every opportunity to provide the public with his documents, but has so far chosen not to.
For a councillor whose key platform last election was to improve transparency on council, as well as reduce taxpayers’ costs, inaction not only damages his credibility, but also widens the chasm between the public’s trust and their elected officials.
Throughout this affair,
has been unmoving in his belief that he did nothing wrong when he voted on a sign variance in October.
So what harm can be done by stepping up and making public the reasons his lawyer provided advising him his beliefs had merit, especially when the public paid for the majority of it?
Taxpayers have a lot of questions over this issue. It’s unacceptable our politicians have no interest in answering them.
