By now, many of you will have read, or otherwise been informed of “The Lawsuit”.

I am referring to the $6,000,000 defamation law suit that has been filed against three residents by the Town on behalf of outgoing Mayor Morris, in her capacity as Mayor, under authority of Town Council.

This is being covered by the Aurora Citizen, (auroracitizen.ca/2010/10/15/maybe-you-heard-about-the-lawsuit/), the Banner (www.yorkregion.com/news/article/889498--aurora-mayor-launches-legal-action-over-blog-comments) and the Auroran (www.theauroran.com/online).

I will not go in to details here, except to say that the taxpayers of Aurora are paying for Phyllis Morris to sue three residents, and should this lawsuit actually be successful, all the benefit will accrue to Phyllis Morris.

There is absolutely no downside for Phyllis Morris – she bears no cost and stands to personally benefit.

This is an obscene abuse of Council authority as well as your (and my) tax dollars.

My Perspective: First, if you stand for election, you do so by choice. With that role comes the understanding that people will disagree and be critical of your decisions. If you are not prepared to accept that as part of your role -- then you should not run for elected office. Criticism is part of a healthy democracy.

Second, if Phyllis feels that she has truly been defamed, then by all means, she should pursue this through the courts -- in her own name and using her own funds. But, she is using our tax dollars to do it. Once again, Aurora taxpayers are funding legal expenses that provide no value to Aurora taxpayers.

The mind boggles!

If elected Mayor: I will do everything in my power to right this outrageous wrong and commit to re-establishing a community environment where all opinions are welcome and no one is afraid to speak out against the decisions of their government due to the threat of legal action by the very people that were elected to serve!