Is the Integrity Commissioner Leaking?

"Almost as soon as integrity commissioner Earl Basse informed council behind closed doors Monday night that he's looking into hundreds of phone calls allegedly made by a councillor to a union leader during the civic strike, the news was being reported".

This bit is quoted from the Star's Thursday edition. The story commanded the Windsor Star's front page with uncanny bravado under the headline: "LOOSE LIPS, MAYOR FLIPS". The article is about a second leak that happened this last Monday right in the midst of the original leak investigation wrap up. The original leak took place during strike negotiations last June. That incident caused a near riot and pushed the strike out to 101 days. As it turned out, and to no ones surprise, Mr. Basse reported to Council that his long and pricey investigation came up empty handed. Read it here:
http://www.windsorstar.com/business/month+investigation+fails+find+source+leak/2234451/story.html
During Monday evening's in-camera meeting Mr. Basse brought the report to councillors along with a knuckle rapping about leaking confidential information. He indicated then that he would release his report to the public via the city's web site on Friday (which, by the way, is today). There was no mention of suspicious telephone calls or of a second inquiry. The book was closed with a note recommending that persuing the matter further was not advised since it would be costly and time consuming.

Viewers of A-Channel news were then treated to the second leak. This means that someone from the in-camerra meeting above immediately leaked new information. Confidential information about Councillor Ron Jones who allegedly logged "hundreds of phone calls" during the course of the strike to union negotiator Jean Fox. It was also announced that a second investigation was under way. We can deduce a couple of things from this. That Ron Jones was not the perpetrator of the second leak and that someone had to authorize the second investigation. Who had knowledge of the leak and the authority to call for another investigation at that time? You can watch it here:
http://www.atv.ca/windsor/news_70687.aspx
The interesting part is that Daryl Newcombe was the same reporter who took leaked information from whoever during the first event and now he is the go to guy for the second. This raises a few questions. Does Daryl have his own private deep throat with regards to Windsor's 101 day municipal strike? If so, who on council could be ballsy and media saavy enough to leak a second time and right under the commiss' nose? Is Daryl just a patsy? Did a higher news authority give Mr. Newcombe the play as a diversion to a larger orchestration?
The cell phone information must have been a part of Mr. Basse's report to council that same evening but he made no mention of it in his press conference nor was it reported by the Star. He had officially handed in his report. Some time between then and the next A-Channel news cast the Ron Jones affair was leaked to Newcombe. The time window to do this was very small. It's as if someone; not satisfied that the reported findings had enough media oomph decided to throw something extra in for maximum adhesion. With all of the interviews and telephone records that Mr. Basse said he combed through for the first investigation one has to know that he already had that information. The decision to leak to the press certainly appears to have been calculated and executed on the fly.
All of this brings us back to the Windsor Star article under the yellowed headline LOOSE LIPS, MAYOR FLIPS. The Star reported the event as if they were the official third party delivering the news with total neutrality. As we all know, the Star cannot be objective when it comes to the affairs of this city council. They didn't stop at merely reporting the news leak; they reported it with enough embellishment and slant to severely smear and damage the reputation of councillor Jones. Even Graston got in on the action. They went out of their way to draw a connection between Jones, the union and Jean Fox. A little gas is good for any fire. This is how they did that:
"The Star has learned from a number of sources that the phone log in question lists calls made on Coun. Ron Jones's cellphone to CUPE Local 543 president Jean Fox.
Fox, who represented inside workers during the bitter 101-day strike, wouldn't identify the caller but admitted she received many calls during the labour dispute from a councillor who is a lifelong family friend.
She said the calls were always of a "personal, friendly nature" and never dealt with any of the bargaining issues regularly dealt with by council meeting in camera.
Jones won't admit he was the one on the line or that he's the target of the latest probe by the integrity commissioner.
"I'm not going to comment on things discussed in camera," he said Wednesday. Eventually, however, Basse's findings should become part of the public record.
"Everything will come out in the wash," said Jones.
Recently released minutes of council's in camera voting record during the strike showed Jones was one of only several councillors who regularly sided with the union bargaining team's positions. He was also at Fox's side last month in court when the Local 543 leader sought and obtained a restraining order against an anti-CUPE protester she testified had harassed and stalked her."
Lets go back to the in-camera meeting and the news leak. Were media invited to the meeting? No. Were representatives of the union present? No. Were politicians present? Yes. Were city administrators present? Yes. Was the Integrity Commissioner present? Yes. This could only mean a couple of things: That either a politician (a ballsy and media saavy one), a city administrator or the Integrity Commissioner himself leaked the information. Could one be an accomplice to the other? Is the whole investigation process compromised? Maybe a crack in the case will come out on Monday. That is, unless the Mayor has returned from his unannounced trip to Germany with more news trumping and press stopping global prospects.
Some background:
http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Loose+lips+mayor+flips/2239614/story.html

http://windsorcityon.blogspot.com/2009/11/wheres-basse-report.html
http://chrisschnurr.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/integrity-commissioner-should-resign/
http://windsorcityon.blogspot.com/
http://windsorcityon.blogspot.com/2009/11/integrity-comish-who-done-it.html