Mayor Robertson who interfered in a requested criminal investigation into evidence of his own links to violence, now promises perpetrators of Stanley Cup violence will be held accountable

After Wednesday night's Stanley Cup game riot, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said the perpetrators of violence will be held accountable.  Interesting, when he was facing investigation for his own links to violence against a female critic at Carnegie Centre, there is evidence that he got busy witness-tampering and paying off police chief Jim Chu.   Following is a reprint of an April article about Mayor Robertson's record. 

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Mayor Robertson Accused of Pay Off to Police Chief Jim Chu who was supposed to be Criminally Investigating him

This is something you might expect in the Chicago political establishment. Mayor Gregor Robertson is accused of giving a payoff to Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu, while Chu was continuing to evade a request for a criminal investigation into evidence of criminal activity on the part of Robertson. At the very least, Robertson 'rewarded' Chu with a five year contract extension worth over one and a half million dollars for a job well done during the period in which he was stalling on investigating Robertson.

In May 2010 a request was made to VPD Chief Chu to arrange for an external police force to investigate evidence that Robertson, City manager Penny Ballem, and two security guards at Carnegie Centre were involved in the manufacture of a fraudulent security report and a pre-meditated plan to bar a Carnegie member under fraudulent pretenses, a barring which involved assault and extensive public humiliation. One of the guards involved, who the victim had never seen before but who had clearly been incited to target her, implicated Robertson and Ballem in comments he made at the time.

For some time, evidence has been reported on this blog of efforts by City staff to "bar" people from Carnegie who have complained of abuse, particularly those who have made their experiences public by talking to bloggers. We have reported that these barrings often involve public humiliation as well. When we reported this targeting of individuals who take their stories to the media, we could not have anticipated that evidence would eventually surface that Vision Vancouver has a "media hit list" along with a plan to ridicule people creating negative impressions of Vision in the media. Former 24 Hours columnist Alex Tsakumis broke the story. Mike Magee in the Mayor's office has denied the existence of any such hit list.

Despite the request being made in May that Chu arrange for an external police force to investigate Robertson -- Chu can't investigate because of conflict of interest due to Robertson's role as Chair of the Police Board -- Ballem, and two Carnegie security guards, the investigation has not yet been carried out. There is no doubt that Robertson knew that the investigation had been requested. Immediately after the request was made in May, Robertson reportedly held a secret meeting at Carnegie with witnesses and offenders. He interfered in a pending police investigation into himself.

By September, Chief Chu was continuing to stall in arranging for an investigation into his boss, Robertson. It was in the midst of this stalling that Robertson gave Chu a five year extension to his contract, at over $300,000. Now, seven months later, the case against Robertson and Ballem has still not been investigated. Are you surprised?

It is easy for Chu to treat Downtown Eastside women as though violence against them doesn't matter, because he knows they can't afford lawyers. Now a lawyer has offered to meet pro bono with the victim in this case to discuss how to proceed. He will review the evidence in the case, including a photo of the bruise the victim received. But that won't occur until the beginning of July when the lawyer returns to Vancouver from China.

Watching Chief Chu "on the take", benefiting from monetary and other rewards from a man into whom he is supposed to be arranging a criminal investigation, has led to distrust on the part of the victim. Even if Chief Chu was to suddenly meet his professional obligation to arrange for the investigation, she will be having no further contact with the VPD about this case without a lawyer present. Since not much happens over the summer, estimates are that there will be no progress on this case until September or October. A press conference will be held by the lawyer to update the public when a decision is made about how to proceed. (No further information will be released until that time.)

This case highlights the hypocrisy of Robertson and Chu on the issue of violence against Downtown Eastside women. Chu held a public meeting earlier this year at Carnegie to talk -- in front of media cameras of course -- about how committed he is to ensuring that violence against Downtown Eastside women is seriously investigated. To get into that meeting in the Carnegie theater, Chu had to walk by security guards at Carnegie that he was supposed to be investigating.

Chu would no doubt say he didn't take a pay off from Robertson, that he was due for a contract extension. But Robertson had an obligation to at least recuse himself from the decision. And Chu should have at least asked him to. An extension requires a performance review. How did Robertson manage to conclude that the Chief is doing a fine job when he knows the Chief is sitting on evidence of criminal activity against him.

Also at fault here are Police Board members. Why did Glenn Wong tell the media that he agreed with Robertson and other Police Board members that Chu was doing a fine job and deserved an extension of his contract. Did it ever occur to Wong, who told the media that Chu often calls him at home to talk, to ask Chu to avoid taking any form of reward from a government official he was supposed to be investigating. If Wong claims he didn't know about the investigation requested into Robertson, then he didn't do due diligence before approving Chu's contract extension, as the requested criminal investigation was a matter of public record.

Allan Garr, a columnist with the Courier newspaper, said in a column earlier this year that the Vancouver Police Board tends not to provide effective oversight of Chief Chu and his officers. Garr said the Police Board are more "lapdogs" than watchdogs.

Unfair NHL Referees throughout Series Contributed to Riot in Vancouver

A native guy in his sixties came into McDonald's restaurant at Main & Terminal at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, where people were sitting on the stools in front of the big screen televisions waiting for Stanley Cup Game 7 to begin.  As he grabbed the last available stool, he told us, "The word is that if the officiating is unfair again tonight, people are going to riot.  That's the word."  He said it twice.  The Downtown Eastside is different than other neighbourhoods: people have more time than in other neighbourhoods and talk to one another on the street, they stand on street corners and talk.
  
I've been enjoying watching the games with this guy at Mcdonalds, because he knows hockey like nobody else I know.  He grew up in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan -- 100 miles north of Saskatoon -- where people are immersed in hockey.  He told me it's common for kids there to play on two hockey teams, one at school and one outside school.

I knew what he meant about the officiating being unfair in the Boston vs. Vancouver playoffs.  I've noticed a bias.  Even a sports reporter from Boston noted that the officiating "has favored Boston" in the finals, when he was interviewed on Tuesday by a Vancouver radio station.  I won't repeat all the examples that have been discussed on Canuck-obsessed talk radio, but when you see a penalty given for a shove at one end of the rink and five punches to Sedin's head going unnoticed at the other end of the rink, something is not right.

At the end of the first period, when the score was 1-0, the native guy turned to me and said he thought the Canucks could come back.  Early in the period, the players knew where one another was, "but by the end they seemed to be looking for each other."  He thought they would come out in the second period and function more as a team again.

When the Canucks lost, he said, "I'm gonna feel bad now for two or three days."  Then tears welled up in his eyes.

The Canucks may have let their Stanley Cup chance slip away even if the refs hadn't been handicapping them throughout the series.  Luongo after all should have stopped at least a couple of tonight's goals.  Tim Thomas was a stellar performer.  The Bruins were the better team tonight.

I've talked to several devoted hockey fans now about Brian Tuohy's book, "The Fix is In", about fixing in the NHL and other sports, and they have all said they believe it's going on.  On Tuohy's website, he publishes a quote Patrick Hruby on ESPN.com about his book,  "Tuohy makes a compelling, fact-based argument that not everything in the sports world is as it seems."  Rick, a homeless tennis player and avid recycler who is mad about hockey, told me after Monday night's game that he has no doubt there is fixing going on in hockey.

The native guy had the same response when I asked him tonight.  He pointed out that allegations of betting on hockey against Wayne Gretzky's wife and assistant coach, although no charges were laid, did nothing to inspire confidence in the integrity of the NHL.  "Do you notice they don't have him on [tv] talking about the game anymore?  They don't want nothin' to do with him.  He's tainted."

The mainstream media generally avoids discussion of suspicions of fixing.  A couple of weeks ago, CKNW's Bruce Allen, who has crafted an image as a straight talker, was guest-hosting a talk show and instantly hung up on a caller who said of the playoffs: "It's fixed."

Canucks' GM, Mike Gillis, did hint at it in a press conference in April as the Canucks battled the Chicago Blackhawks.  He pointed out that in the previous four games, Chicago had 69% more power plays than Vancouver. In the previous four games when the score had been tight, a one or two goal difference, Chicago had 100% more power plays than Vancouver.  As Gillis read a list of statistics to support his claim that there has been nowhere near "a level playing field", I suspected, "The Fix Is In".  


Gillis suggested this week that he has been muzzled.  At a press conference, when asked about the fact that there had been no penalty for Boston for the hit that broke the back of Canuck Mason Raymond, he said, 'I can't talk about.  I'll get in trouble.'

Tonight, after the Canuck's final 4-0 loss to Boston, when the first car in downtown Vancouver was turned over and burned, many of the people rocking that car until it turned over were wearing Canucks jerseys.  Although some of the rioting and looting was started by a small group of people wearing black balaclavas, fans in Canucks jerseys were quick to join them and were clearly enjoying the emotional release.  They were not all youths either.

Everybody involved "will be held accountable", the Mayor said.  But the NHL which have pumped these fans up throughout the series and then allowed refs to cheat them?  Don't expect any accountability there.