ROTHENBURGER: Dear Coun. Sarai, just a few questions from a private blogger

 “I am not interested in engaging with you on any topic.”

                                                                                              – Bill Sarai to Mel Rothenburger

ON A WINTER’S DAY in 2023, Coun. Bill Sarai and Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson met in his office. It wasn’t a pleasant conversation.

Voices were raised, harsh words were spoken. Part of it had to do with the duties of deputy mayors. One of those duties is to attend public events when the mayor isn’t available. Coun. Sarai felt Mayor RHJ wasn’t giving enough notice when he needed a deputy to fill in.

“You know your problem, Bill? You don’t fucking listen,” the mayor interjected.

An audio tape of the encounter makes it plain the remark didn’t help calm the situation. Staff could hear there was an argument going on. After Coun. Sarai left, the mayor emerged and apologized to them for Coun. Sarai’s behaviour. One staff member later noted to an investigator that it had taken two people to argue, not one.

The incident preceded what became known as the Honcharuk report, produced by a Vancouver firm called the Integrity Group. It’s never officially been made public, though it’s been leaked, and there followed a number of restrictions on the mayor’s interactions with staff.

A few weeks ago, Coun. Sarai and Mayor Hamer-Jackson were still at odds over whose fault the incident was. Sarai sent Hamer-Jackson a clip from the aforementioned audio recording taken during the argument that he said proved his side of the story. I’ve now heard it. At least one other news outlet has been given access to it as well. I’ve also seen a text thread on the subject.

“I’m so glad this was forwarded to me,” Coun. Sarai wrote of the clip in a text to the mayor. “Who started the swearing and telling (sic?). You did. Have a good day.”

He continued, “3 current WCB bulling (sic) & harassment investigations against you. You are involved in 3 lawsuits that we are aware of. And you still think I started the investigation. Give your head a shake.”

“Why did you cut the audio?” the mayor fired back, an apparent reference to being given only a short clip of it. “I believe the part when I ask you to leave is missing also you screaming outside my office. Are you saying my office is bugged?” He asked repeatedly, “Is my office bugged?”

“Have a good day,” Coun. Sarai wrote again.

There follows quite a lengthy back-and-forth with the mayor wanting to know who forwarded the audio tape, asking for a full copy, and suggesting Coun. Sarai resign. It gets somewhat repetitive, with exchanges about who said what in the 2023 meeting.

“I only raised my voice after YOU swore at me,” Coun. Sarai wrote. “Listen to the clip again to refresh your memory. That was your team building. Nasty texts, taking away Deputy mayor duties and yelling and swearing. Great leadership.” And, “Who should resign? YOU!!”

Mayor RHJ raised the existence of the tape publicly, pursuing the notion that his office must be bugged. He even asked the RCMP to investigate but they apparently found no evidence of it.

My access to the tape and text thread came after I unsuccessfully reached out to Coun. Sarai with some questions on how the audio tape came about.

After an October regular council meeting during which he emphasized councillors’ willingness to respond to the public’s questions, I figured he might shed some light on it. He was speaking at that Oct. 22 meeting about his proposal that public enquiries be eliminated from council meetings, saying there are other ways for the public to converse with councillors.

So I emailed him about the “forwarded” tape, asking if he had it, if he knew how it was made, if he had made it, and if he’d provide the full copy to the mayor as the mayor asked. Straight-forward questions, no judgment implied.

I received a prompt reply from the councillor: “Before I consider replying to this email, Can you please verify what local media outlet you are employed by?”

“Sure, Bill,” I wrote back, “I publish the ArmchairMayor.ca blog.”

A week later, not having heard from him, I sent a reminder: “Hello, Bill, I’m still hoping to receive a response from you with respect to my questions about the recording. Will you be replying?”

Very shortly, he got back to me with, “Hi, Mel, Unless it is during campaign for elections, I do not make it a habit for engaging with private blogs. Thanks, Bill.”

I tried again.

“Hi again, Bill, this is starting to remind me of SILGA. Your response (or, more accurately, non-response) raises some new questions.

“You stated during the Oct. 22, 2024 council meeting, ‘If you have any concerns please email us, please phone us if you don’t want to email us.’

“You didn’t say there were exceptions, so I emailed you.

“When you say you won’t engage with ‘private blogs’ except during election campaigns, are you saying you’ll answer questions only when you’re actively soliciting votes? And do I understand correctly that you will answer questions from media owned by large corporations but not from what you refer to as ‘private blogs’?

“If you’re seriously committed to answering questions from the public as you said Oct. 22, then please take my questions as being from a private citizen rather than a ‘private blogger.’

“Now will you answer them?

“Cheers. Mel.”

Well, no; he replied on Nov. 4 he wasn’t going to answer them.

“Hi Mel,

“You nailed it perfectly, you bring up SILGA, not sure what that’s about.

“But yes, you are a private citizen that has a biased opinion that you have demonstrated on multiple occasions.

“So I am not interested in engaging with you on any topic, as you have never ever reached out prior. You ran and still run stories about me without getting my side of it. That is not a journalist that I’m interested in talking to. Especially the tone of these most recent questions. These are not questions. These are allegations made by you or a group of you.

“Kind of surprised you are bashing the mainstream media that you collected a pay cheque from for years, and now have a pension from, I presume.

“So only bite the hand when it stops feeding you.

“Have a good day Mel,

“-b”

At that point I gave up the quest.

“Thanks Bill, I’ll take that as a no. Mel.”

There are certain things in Coun. Sarai’s comments I disagree with, such as the “never ever” and “allegations” bits. Most of what I write about the councillor has to do with things he says and does in public, primarily council meetings, where he’s absolutely clear about his opinions. His short-lived proposal to ban local non-profits from receiving grant money if they criticize council, for example.

The audio tape is of public interest because the City has had a policy since a year ago in September against people recording conversations about municipal matters without all parties knowing, although there’s no federal law against it. The City Hall rule came about after Mayor Hamer-Jackson revealed he’d taped a conversation with CAO David Trawin without Trawin’s knowledge. The “forwarded” tape was made before the policy was adopted but its existence wasn’t public knowledge at the time.

I agree with Coun. Sarai, though, that I am sometimes critical of the mainstream media and that my opinions are biased. Opinions tend to be that way.

I think I’m now clear on the parameters for “just email or call us.” He used similar words at a committee meeting on Thursday of this week during another debate on the public inquiries issue. So the deal is, feel free to ask Coun. Sarai questions as long as you aren’t biased citizen-private blogger me — the Armchair Mayor.

It would have been nice to get Coun. Sarai’s side of the audio-tape question, but I hope he has a good day.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.