By Robert Frank
www.thesuburban.com
Just as city politics seemed to have turned mundane, fresh controversy broke out on several fronts last week.
First, Laval Police Sgt. Frédéric Jean confirmed that Laval’s new probity and ethics bureau has turned over its findings about a political hiring at city hall to Quebec’s special anti-corruption police squad, (known by its French acronym UPAC).
The case arose after Laval’s official opposition party, Action Laval, hired seasoned political advisor Josée Lacourcière to work at city hall from June 5-July 5, 2014, at a cost to the city of about $6,000.
The Suburban has obtained a copy of the employment contract authorized by Action Laval councilor Aglaïa Revelakis July 16—after Lacouricière’s mandate ended.
The retroactive contract first raised eyebrows because Councilor Paolo Galati—not Revelakis—was the legally appointed signing authority at the time that Lacourcière was allegedly hired.
“I never hired her, so I don’t know what they did,” Galati told The Suburban in a telephone interview.
After the alleged hiring date, Action Laval relieved Galati of his signing authority. While Galati subsequently vacationed in Italy, Action Laval expelled him from the political party, driving him to defect to Mayor Marc Demers’ ruling Mouvement lavallois party.
According to another ousted political attaché, Emilio Migliozzi, Action Laval had declined to sign Lacourière’s employment contract because she wanted a higher salary than the political party was willing to pay.
He told The Suburban that she initially spent three days at party’s offices at city hall but that he never saw her there afterward.
“I was there for a month and I never saw the woman, so I don’t know where she was working,” he recalled in an interview. Action Laval also gave Migliozzi the heave-ho subsequent to Galati’s expulsion.
“I’m really shocked,” Lacourcière told The Suburban in a telephone interview.
“I did work for the money that I received,” she insisted. “I worked for a month and then I returned to the provincial legislature because I was hired by the chief whip.”
Action Laval leader Jean-Claude Gobé did not respond to The Suburban’s interview request before this week’s edition of the newspaper went to press.
Jacques Foucher’s lawyers are slated to appear before the Quebec Court of Appeal, May 29, to contest a Nov. 17 court ruling that declared that Mayor Marc Demers was eligible to run for municipal office in Laval’s 2013 municipal election.
Foucher, who ran unsuccessfully against Demers, had alleged that the mayor wasn’t eligible to run because he hadn’t lived continuously in Laval for 12 months beforehand.
Demers’ lawyers argued successfully before Judge Danielle Turcotte that the law didn’t apply to brief, temporary absences. They asserted that the nearly 30 years that he had previously resided in Laval ought to be taken into consideration.
The municipal elections act currently requires Elections Quebec to take candidates on their word. Eligibility only comes under scrutiny after they’re elected. Foucher told The Suburban that he filed his lawsuit in the hope that it would help to clarify eligibility requirements.
Instead, he concluded, “the [Demers] judgment further blurred the rules.”
Spouse hired
He acknowledged that Mouvement lavallois has hired Isabelle Piché to join its political staff. The position is paid by the city as part of the research and support budget for the mayor’s political party. Piché is the spouse of Laval executive committee vice-chair David de Cotis.
De Cotis pointed out that he didn’t hire Piché and that she will not be working for him.
“It’s not a civil service job, it’s really a job working for the Mouvement lavallois party,” Migliozzi told The Suburban. If ever there was a person who is deserving of it, it’s Isabelle Piché. She worked many long volunteer hours and can be trusted.”
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