It’s the kind of response that only serves to inflame and distract. In an email Friday night, Sam Merulla asked Teresa DeFalco’s blog “The Hamiltonian” to provide media credentials such as the “national” credentials of The Hamilton Spectator.
The full exchange can be found here on DeFalco’s blog.
Ryan McGreal does a great job summarizing thoughts very similar to my own on Raise The Hammer here: Merulla Tells The Hamiltonian: Show Me Your Press Credentials
The questions about the Waterfront Trust have been swirling for a couple of years now. It’s a complicated story and one that news outlets have failed to cover. At the very least, there are serious questions about process and procedure that lead to the failed audit. A failed audit doesn’t mean that money is missing or misappropriated, it means the safeguards to prevent such misappropriation are lacking.
The City needs to be more transparent in its operations and those of its arms length agencies. Ornge is the poster boy of what happens when arms-length agencies operate without transparency or accountability.
The issue here is not credentials nor The Hamiltonian’s questions, it is transparency. The financial, Board, and audit records of the Waterfront Trust need to be released immediately. No citizen should require credentials to receive public information.