Richard Peck, don't worry about the costs!

A sentence every lawyer would love to hear! After all, its only taxpayer money. If the City Council can agree in secret to spend $100 Million and then get miffed that taxpayers find out about it, then whats a few hundred thousand dollars more. Times are tough, lawyers need to make money too, and it would be unseemly of City Council to place a budget limit on this fine lawyer doing this job for all of us. Look its well planned out with two, count 'em two phases!

Phase one. Review the processes for keeping secrets from taxpayers to make sure City Hall and Council can keep doing it. Make sure to write lengthy reports with lots of copies, gotta make those billable hours.

Phase two. Walk behind the policeman who are also investigating (who by the way work for the City) to discover that nefarious individual who leaked the notes from the secret "give our money away" meeting.

There is actually a Phase three though it has not been discussed. That is, based on your findings in Phase 2, go back and re-write the report for Phase one. What a bonanza.

The best part is that all this activity will help obscure why they kept this deal secret in the first place. Oh, I forgot, as Peter Ladner and Judy Rogers said, it was for our own good!

Update: This is the news release by the City of Vancouver on the hiring of Richard Peck. Notice that they refer to sections of the Vancouver Charter to justify this hiring but ignore the fact that the charter seems to have been violated in their dealings with Estelle Lo


December 3, 2008
City appoints barrister to investigate information leak
The City of Vancouver today appointed Richard Peck, Q.C. to conduct an independent investigation regarding the leak of confidential information relating to the Olympic Village in Southeast False Creek.

Council passed a motion calling for the appointment of a barrister pursuant to sections 176 and 177 of the Vancouver Charter at its final council meeting November 25, 2008.

In accepting the appointment, Mr. Peck has indicated he will complete his inquiry in two phases. Phase one will focus on: the adequacy of City policies and procedures relating to in- camera meetings; the treatment of sensitive documents, and the use of the confidential information. The second phase of the inquiry will, if necessary, be a fact-finding process to determine to a reasonable degree of certainty how and by whom confidential information was disclosed. The necessity of the second phase will be decided pending the outcome of the current Vancouver Police Department investigation.

Mr. Peck is scheduled to present written findings relating to the first phase of his inquiry to Council by mid-February 2009. At that time, a decision on whether to proceed with phase two will be made.