How to Ruin Frank Klees' Reputation in 10 Days

Fans of Rom-Coms will recall the famous Bullshit scene in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.  Matthew McConaughey's character takes his new girlfriend, played by Kate Hudson home to meet his parents and are surprised by calls of "Bullshit" emanating from the backyard.

It turns out the family is playing a card game called "Bullshit," a strategy game where players are required to bluff and lie in order to win.  If an opposing player suspects a lie, he yells out "Bullshit" and the accused player must then prove to all that he was being truthful.

And just like the card game, I've been calling "Bullshit" on the Stephen Somerville/ Darryl Wolk threat allegations and I eagerly await the moment when they will finally show their cards.    

In a bizarre twist, these two accusers are now seen to be punching well above their weight class, with new information published on line by the Era implicating MPP Frank Klees in this sordid tale. 

 

But are any of us willing to make the giant leap of incredulity required to buy their story?  

For instance:

1) Councillor Di Muccio is said to have threatened Stephen Somerville's family on February 5th but we are supposed to believe the threat was so terrifying to him, that Somerville then threw himself headlong into his campaign including throwing himself a launch party, speaking to media,  organising a campaign team, putting up a web site, and then, after all of that, determined, because of the threat, he had to drop out on February 19th.  He was so concerned about his family's safety that it took him two whole weeks to bow out of the race because that is how afraid he was about this so-called threat. 

 

2) Wolk is intentionally vague about what was actually said in the threat.   All we know is that the "threat" was based on exposing some plotting that Wolk and Somerville were engaged in to knock Frank Klees from his perch.  In order for the public to believe this, we need to imagine that Klees who is an 18 year veteran in this job, was either such a thin-skinned ego maniac that he cares about this sort of thing, or he was vulnerable to a coup d'etat at the hands of two bumbling fools like Wolk and Somerville.  Personally I don't buy for a second that Klees would waste a moment of time on some two-bit wannabes who were running their mouths.   

3) Wolk wants us to believe that Klees disclosed private details of a meeting between the MPP and Di Muccio on February 14th.  Again, I refer you to the length of time that Klees has been in office.  Would Klees risk his reputation and legacy by divulging this meeting to the likes of Darryl Wolk?  We would have to believe that Klees, who spearheaded the attacks on Ornge, would make such a blunder.  In an earlier blog, I once challenged Klees to reveal the name of a casino lobbyist he met with and Klees was outraged at my suggestion that he should breach the confidentiality of his meeting.  Based on my personal experience, I have no doubt that Frank Klees knows the privacy rules of MPP meetings and he isn't going to breach them.  

   

If Wolk's allegations about Frank Klees are true, then let's rename this episode, "How to Ruin a MPP's Reputation in 10 Days."  I am not willing to believe that Klees would take such a wild departure from his usual professionalism and aplomb to slum around with gutter snipes like Wolk and Somerville.  Why would he risk everything he has worked 18 years for to tarnish his legacy with the follies of Wolk and Somerville?    

This is why I continue to believe that this matter is a hoax.

And I think the Era has crossed a line by printing a story that the paper knows is very likely false.  

It is clear that by publishing this story with an extremely low probability of the allegations being true, that the Era has displayed its real agenda.  Just like its flagship newspaper, the Toronto Star which has waged an unrelenting war against Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, the Era has been engaged in a similar war of words against Ward 6 Councillor Maddie Di Muccio.  But where Rob Ford has given plenty of ammunition to his critics, by smoking crack, drinking and driving, and other bad behaviour, the same can't be said about Councillor Di Muccio.  She wants a smaller government and lower taxes and that is against the political agenda of the publisher and editor at the Era.  

This agenda has manifested itself in this article in a number of ways:

1) The newspaper "journalist" soft-shoes over the fact that there is no actual evidence of a threat.  No one has ever explicitly outlined the words that Di Muccio is alleged to have said to Somerville which is the most important part of this allegation; the words "I will kill/ maim/ injure your kids" must be proved to show that there was a threat to Somerville's family.  On this note, the police have not confirmed any threat nor does it seem that they intend to lay any charges.  The "journalist" gives all but a half sentence worth of ink to what the York Region Police determined.   So why speak of a threat if you can't tell us what that threat was?  

2) The Era story comes on the heels of news that Newmarket has fallen from 10th to 31st in the Money Sense Magazine Places to Live survey.  Mayor Van Bynen has hung his re-election bid on "Top Ten" and now he looks foolish.  So the timing of all of this by the Era is definitely suspicious.  This "news" story is a deflection of what is a major pie in the face of Mayor Van Bynen delivered by Money Sense Magazine.  

I use "journalist" and "news" in quotations because I think that is what the Era has devolved into -namely the propaganda arm of the Van Bynen administration.  Earlier, I issued a challenge to Era via Twitter to show me a single example where the paper ever printed a story that was even mildly critical of Tony Van Bynen.  To this point, there has been no reply.  Believe me, I've looked extensively and I can't find any examples.  

You have to believe that either Tony Van Bynen is infallible, never making mistakes, or he runs this town like a tin-pot dictator who boasts of polls that show his oppressed people are 100% behind him.

 

These exclusively positive news stories about Mayor Tony Van Bynen puts him in the among the ranks of such beloved leaders like Kim Jung Un and Fidel Castro.