Sudbury integrity commissioner says Kirwan violated code of conduct

Greater Sudbury's integrity commissioner has found that Ward 5 Councillor Robert Kirwan broke the city's code of conduct because of a fake Facebook account managed by his wife that engaged in political posts online.

The integrity commissioner, Robert Swayze, reviewed a complaint about posts and comments made by "Jessie Timmons," an account that belongs to the councillor's wife, Valerie Kirwan, according to Swayze's report.

Swayze said the fake profile made critical comments about councillors who held opposing views to Kirwan. He said some of the posts he saw were attacking Kirwan's opposing candidates in the last municipal election, but Swayze noted that those are beyond the 60-day window that he could review in this report.

"He was fully aware of all of his wife's many posts since he is an administrator of his Facebook page. He should have realized that they lack transparency and give the impression that they come from the community," the report said.

On July 28, Swayze received a complaint from a citizen who said Kirwan or his wife were making fake posts on the councillor's Valley East Facebook page under the name Jessie Timmons.

The complaint also alleged that Kirwan's support for the controversial Kingsway Entertainment District was tied to the councillor receiving benefits from developer Dario Zulich, but Swayze stated he could find no such evidence.

Swayze sent Kirwan an affidavit to sign, swearing that he was not receiving any benefits from Zulich and that neither he nor his wife had ever posted under the Jessie Timmons profile. 

The councillor signed a modified version, which agreed to the Zulich statement, but instead stated that he had never posted from the Jessie Timmons account. He said his wife used it "to post items and make comments to keep things operational with Facebook."

Account was a 'backup'

Jessie Timmons is listed as one of the five administrators of the Valley East Facebook page. The other four administrators are the Kirwans' two personal profiles, as well as the councillor's political page and a business page run by the couple.

Kirwan said it was important to have the Jessie Timmons account as a backup in case something should happen to his wife's main profile, but he did not justify its use of a false name.

The reports states that after Swayze sent the official complaint to Kirwan, the councillor offered to have his wife stop posting under the Jessie Timmons profile in exchange for the integrity commissioner withdrawing his report.

Swayze cited sections 4 and 17 of the code of conduct, which state that councillors must be transparent in the ways they execute their public office, including on social media.

Councillor responds to report

A member of the Valley East Facebook page posted the integrity commissioner's report and asked the councillor for his comments on the matter.

Kirwan strongly denounced the findings of collusion between him and his wife in a comment on the Valley East page.

"As you all know, I don't need to have anyone else speak for me and I am not afraid of holding myself out for everyone to hear," he said.

Kirwan told CBC he will speak to the report at the upcoming council meeting, and said his main concern is with "the lack of recognition of the right to privacy of individual citizens, including family members of elected representatives."

In a later post, Kirwan said the description of his page says he and his wife are the only two administrators. Because of that, people should have concluded that the profile belonged to his wife, since he couldn't create a profile under a false name as a councillor.

"This was not being hidden, but if you didn't want to take the time to review everything about our group, we were not going to bring it up. It isn't important," Kirwan said.

He said they decided to create the account in late 2017 amid tense discussions over the Kingsway Entertainment District, when people allegedly tried to get access to the couple's personal accounts.

Swayze noted in the report that while he has no authority to censure the partner of a municipal official, the councillor must have known about his wife's posts. By not stopping them amounted to collusion.

The integrity commissioner recommended that council reprimand Kirwan for his actions. The next council meeting is scheduled for Sept. 14, when council will discuss the report and decide how to respond.

Swayze recommended reprimanding Kirwan in September 2019 over complaints that he "abuses and harasses members of the community if they disagree with him," through comments on the Valley East page.