Maghnieh receives 90-day pay suspension

by Tom Morrison

By a vote of 6-2, Windsor City Council and Mayor Eddie Francis have voted to suspend Coun. Al Maghnieh’s pay for 90 days and keep him off any city committees for the rest of his term.

The Oct. 15 decision comes almost six months after the public learned Maghnieh used his Windsor Public Library credit card for as much as $13,756 in personal expenses. Although some of those charges were professional expenses the Ward 10 councillor incurred as chair of the library board, he paid the total bill after the scandal broke in April. The exact amount of personal charges is not known, but according to a report from Integrity Commissioner Bruce P. Elman, it exceeds $8,400.

Francis and councillors Drew Dilkens, Ron Jones, Fulvio Valentinis, Jo-Anne Gignac and Percy Hatfield voted in favour of this punishment, while Hilary Payne and Bill Marra opposed it. Councillors Alan Halberstadt and Ed Sleiman were absent and Maghnieh declared a conflict of interest. It took more than two hours for council to declare their votes on the matter, which is the maximum punishment council can give.

Gignac said the punishment sends a clear message to Windsorites.

“It’s not acceptable to undertake behaviours that erode the confidence of the community in the elected body that is closest to them,” Gignac said. “It’s unfortunate what’s happened, but I think the decision of council will clearly display that we’ve taken it very seriously and the correct measures have been taken to address it.”

Payne said he was in favour of the 90-day pay suspension, but thought council should be able to reconsider whether Maghnieh should be let back on committees before the end of the term. The Striking Committee of Council removed Maghnieh from all agencies, boards and committees on April 30 but did not set a time limit.

Council’s decision is contrary to the integrity commissioner’s recommendation to give Maghnieh a 45-day pay suspension, plus a repayment of the $3,331 he received for his positions on boards and agencies for the first quarter of 2012 and allow him to be reappointed to committees in January 2013. The commissioner stated in the report that Maghnieh’s actions show he was negligent but he had no intent on defrauding the library.

The voted punishment means Maghnieh will lose about $29,000, including nearly $7,200 from the 90-day suspension and $22,000 from the money he would make by being on committees for the next two years. A councillor’s yearly salary is also approximately $29,000. Marra said he opposed this motion because ignoring the recommendations of the integrity commissioner might open up future challenges and prevent council from putting this matter behind them.

Before a decision was reached, council heard from five Windsor residents who called for Maghnieh to be punished. Ward 2 resident Les Chaif said the councillor’s actions are “an absolute shame” and asked for him to resign.

“Why was that man never charged? Who stopped him from being charged? If that was me or anybody else in council chambers that it happened to, we would be arrested,” Chaif said. “If you had done that, we wouldn’t be here tonight.”

Maghnieh was asked by Hatfield to sit at the delegation table to answer questions, but Francis interrupted the councillor early because he had already declared a conflict on the matter and for him to continue would be “self-regulating.” Before he was asked to stop, Maghnieh said his actions were not justifiable.

“Obviously this has been a nightmare for everyone in this room and I don’t think there’s any words that can describe the level of remorse that I have to my constituents and colleagues, particularly the people who put their faith in me on (election day) 2010,” Maghnieh said.

Dilkens and Hatfield referenced Maghnieh’s comments in a recent Windsor Star column, in which he said “screw them” to colleagues who want him to resign. Dilkens said Maghnieh is making his job harder for himself when he makes comments like these.

“I think the residents of Ward 10 are trying to get things done. Is this a representative that’s going to deliver when he’s trying to alienate his own colleagues instead of trying to engage them,” said Dilkens. “The only person that stood in the way of Al Maghnieh being successful in the past was Al Maghnieh and … I would say that the only person that’s going to stand in the way of Al Maghnieh being successful in the future is also Al Maghnieh.”