Court documents filed by the Ontario Provincial Police outline the case they hope to present against Ottawa Councillor Tim Tierney. Tierney has been charged with breach of trust for allegedly trying to bribe an opponent to withdraw from the municipal election campaign.
On the surface, the documents are pretty damning, based on interviews and some text messages from the various parties involved, all so far unproven. They were filed in court in order to obtain search warrants to cell phones.
In his campaign pitch, Tim Tierney outlined what he had done for this city and hoped for another go at it. But weeks after his successful bid for re-election, he was charged with corrupt practices under the municipal elections act.
Court proceedings started last week and the OPP have filed documents outlining its case and requesting search warrants of cell phones. None of the allegations or statements in the documents has been proven in court.
Those documents, based on interviews and text messages, describe Tim Tierney's alleged reaction to learning he will not be acclaimed in the election.
"I would love to fix this,” he's alleged to say, “Damnit. Damnit."
Tierney won the last municipal election by a landslide, garnering about 82% of the vote. Still according to the documents, he was worried about a last minute opponent. With about an hour to go before nominations closed, that's exactly what happened.
That opponent, Michael Schurter, is at the centre of this investigation. The documents allege that Tierney offered to make a donation to the food bank if Schurter would withdraw his name.
That conversation is alleged to have taken place on nomination day in the elections office with several people present.
Schurter is said to have told Tierney: "Tim, you're on the speaker phone with an elections officer, me and my campaign manager."
Tierney allegedly replies: "Get me off the f****** speaker phone.”
The OPP documents then suggest that Tierney asked Schurter, "How much would I have to give for you not to run?"
And that Schurter says he would consider $15,000 but not commit to anything, then allegedly adding,
"Why don't we agree to spend $5,000 on a campaign. Just a gentleman's agreement,” with Schurter suggesting that Tierney was crying on the phone.
CTV Ottawa tried to contact both Tim Tierney and Michael Schurter but neither returned our calls. The case is back in court early next year.