Clark says city misled on LRT, but did Clark mislead over documents?

Mayoral candidate Brad Clark says documents he has obtained through a freedom of information request show opponent Fred Eisenberger misled the public on light rail transit (LRT) during his time as mayor. But Eisenberger dismisses it as "another negative campaign stunt" and an attempt to deliberately spread misinformation.

And it appears Clark's campaign was also not entirely clear in its media release about where it got the documents.

Clark made a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request earlier this month asking for any documents on LRT from Eisenberger's office in 2010. The documents cited in his release that "result" from that request actually came from current mayor Bob Bratina, who said he found the documents in his desk drawer and turned them over to Clark.

The FOI request, Clark said in a statement, "yielded" two briefing documents that summarize staff conversations with provincial officials. Clark calls them "secret reports" staff wrote to Eisenberger that suggest Eisenberger created a "secret culture" and "private reporting relationships" with staff who were pro LRT. Clark's release did not say Bratina had given him the documents.

Clark says that noteworthy in the documents is a report that says a benefits case analysis shows bus rapid transit (BRT) is, as stated in the document, the "top performing system for Hamilton, but the LRT numbers are very close."

The report also says that the LRT case for Hamilton can easily be made based on the benefit case analysis and the city-building elements associated with it.

Clark also cites as significant in the documents a reference to a Metrolinx report that wasn't recommending a phased-in LRT system, but rather the city and Metrolinx working together on a $3-million work plan to decide between BRT and LRT.

Clark, a BRT fan, says Eisenberger didn't convey this to the public or council.

"By manipulating the facts on the LRT/BRT to both the province and council, Fred tied the hands of both the previous and present city council," Clark said in a statement.

Eisenberger claims Clark's campaign is "intentionally spreading misleading information."

"These documents contained internal background information, and the information demonstrates that, as mayor, I was fighting to get full funding for rapid transit in Hamilton…with the full understanding that the ultimate decision (LRT versus BRT) would be made by Council as a whole, based on information and recommendations contained in staff reports," he said.

"This is another obvious attempt on the part of Mr. Clark to breathe life into a lacklustre election campaign."

Mayoral candidate Brian McHattie, who served on council with Clark then, said there's nothing new in the documents Clark released. Clark is "trying to divide and confuse people on the issue," he said.

"He's trying to win the mayor's job. He's just grasping at straws."

The city received plenty of information on rapid transit options, McHattie said, and "extensive information" from consultants. The documents add nothing to the debate.

"It's pure small town politics."

Bratina came across the documents in an unmarked folder in his desk, said Peggy Chapman, Bratina's chief of staff. His office was informed of the FOI request, and remembering the documents, Bratina handed them over to Clark "like we would for anybody," she said. "It wasn't because Brad Clark was a candidate."

City hall watchdog Matt Jelly released a statement of his own Wednesday, saying it all looks fishy.

"Brad Clark made an FOI request on LRT documents 21 days ago...This morning, Mayor Bob Bratina claimed...he just happened to find those same documents in his file drawer in the mayor's office, and then gave them to Brad Clark, who released them as a part of his campaign for mayor," he said.

The documents weren't released as part of the FOI request at all, Jelly said, "but rather from (Bratina's) office drawers."

Clark said his FOI request is still ongoing because he suspects there's more relevant information about LRT and Eisenberger. "We don't have all the files."

On Twitter, Clark's release drew links to a 2009 incident known as Tapegate, when Clark came under criticism after he released a tape of a private conversation between Eisenberger and a local reporter, alleging that Eisenberger was spreading information to the media.

The incident sparked an integrity commissioner investigation. The commissioner officially reprimanded Clark for violating council's code of conduct and said Eisenberger was only trying correct misinformation about an issue.

Paul Mason, McHattie's campaign manager, tweeted an article about the incident, which Eisenberger retweeted.

Sept2014 Eisenberger FOI Documents 1 (PDF)
Sept2014 Eisenberger FOI Documents 1 (Text)