Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 17, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba A16 Winnipeg free press saturday july 17, 2004 Freedom of Trade comment editor Terence Moore 697-7044 Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editorials serving two masters s am Katz should resign his position As presi Dent of the Gold eyes baseball club so that he May fulfil the obvious Promise that his Char Acter ideas and business acumen bring to the mayoralty. He should resign As president of the baseball club so that his role As mayor is about carrying out the platform he produced during his Campaign for the Job and not about which Job he is doing. He should resign As president of the baseball club so that his capacity to Lead the Council is not impaired by doubt whether his duties As the key executive of an important business conflict with his duties As mayor. Or. Katz has a Chance to be a great mayor for Winnipeg. His experience As the Man who brought a Northern league baseball team to the City who then against considerable Odds built possibly the most attractive modern baseball Park in North America who has brought great shows and entertainers to Winnipeg and has supported and invested in Good City restaurants is a great asset. Businessmen with the vision and sales skills of or. Katz rarely run for mayor. Or. Katz a own claim that he was running for the mayoralty on behalf of the City a Young people was amply supported As Many of those Young people came out to vote for him. Sam As everyone knows him is he dresses Well and generally has an Aura of the excitement of entertainment and sport. These Are great assets in a mayor. His inexperience in politics and the ways of coun cil requires learning but he is remedying that weakness every Day. Or. Katz offers to be the image setting Winnipeg boosting slightly to the right of Centre mayor who picks up where the image setting Slighly left of Centre Glen Murray left off. In Many ways or. Katz a pro business popularity is the Ideal follow to the policy wonk enthusiasm of his predecessor. Or. Katz though cannot fulfil his potential if he spends his time Between two jobs. Nor can he main Tain that it is Fine for him to collect a salary As pres ident from the Gold eyes without fulfilling the functions. A president is a key officer of a company responsible for the conduct of that company. The Gold eyes baseball club is not just any company. It is a company supported by $8.8 million of Money from three Levels of government that is the outstanding Symbol of the regeneration of the City of Winnipeg in recent years. It is part of the fabric of the new Winnipeg. Or. Katz deserves the order of Manitoba he received this week and More because of the Success of that Ball club and that Ball Park. But he cannot act As the head of that Ball Park and As mayor at the same time. Too Many decisions involve a potential conflict either because of the Ball Parks position As an entertainment venue with concessions a restaurant and concerts or because one of the Ball clubs minority investors the property agent and Developer Sandy Shindelman is involved in deals with the City. Or. Katz is a neophyte in politics. He believes that if he acts honourably that reality is All that is Neces sary. He will learn that in politics perception is As important. He must end the perception that he serves two masters. Bad judgment new democratic Federal Leader Jack Layton showed Good judgment in april when he supported the decision of former Vancouver my Svend Robin son to step aside As the party a candidate in Burna by Douglas. Or. Robinson announced then that he had pocketed a ring while visiting a jewelry store because he was battling severe mental stress. The nip nominated or. Robinsons assistant who held the District for the party at the june election. Or. Layton a judgment was less sound when he sent or. Robinson As the nip member of a Canad an parliamentary delegation to Edinburgh for the july 5 to 9 meeting of the parliamentary Assembly of the organization for Security and co operation in Europe. Or. Robinson was by his own admission not presentable As a candidate for election to Parlia ment. By the same Token he was not suitable As a Canadian representative to the Osce parliamentary meeting and he should not have been sent. The Canadian delegation was led by Liberal Clif Ford Lincoln who also did not seek re election in june. Several maps brought their spouses on the Edinburgh trip and or. Robinson brought his part Ner Max Riv Ron to whom he intended to give the ring he pinched in april. Or. Robinson has been charged with theft and has said he will plead guilty. Overseas trips Are requisites of office eagerly sought by maps. But the maps who Are sent also rep resent Canada. At the Osce the parliamentarians Are supposed to be helping Public officials from the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe learn the ropes of Western democratic practice. It is quite understandable that or. Robinson wanted to take his partner on a trip to Edinburgh at Public expense even after the election in which he did not run. But or. Robinson quit in april because of his mental instability. Or. Layton should have shown More respect for the Canadian Public and chosen a More fitting representative. Or. Layton defends his Choice on the grounds that the government did not object to or. Robinsons attendance. That is beside the Point. Or. Robinson was not representing the government he was representing Canada. Katz tries out another fishbowl Sam Katz the Man who created the fishbowl stadium for his Gold eyes is now living in a fish bowl of another kind. His position As mayor and his decision to continue to be paid As president of his baseball club was front Page news yesterday in the free press. In making the decision to run this and other stories we at the free press run the risk of giving the impression that we Are hounding the new mayor when he has hardly placed his feet under his desk. It is not our intent. As an editorial on this Page says this news paper believes that or. Katz has a Chance of being a great mayor. He is however getting a very fast course indeed in political realities. He is learning that there is Little he says or does that is not grist for stories. Or. Katz is now finding As other successful business people who have transferred to poli tics have found that while their skills As businessmen Are wanted their successes bring conflicts. The presence of these conflicts is a problem of the modern age. Years ago in the Days when the ethical Standard could be expressed by what a Good for general motors is Good for America there was Little political concern about Public officials who held political office and pursued business at the same time. On the contrary the idea of holding a political office As a primary source of income was alien to the practice particularly at the municipal level. In recent times electors have wanted politicians to be far More Independent of outside influences As politics has been seen As a full time Job. Prime minister Paul Martin had to divest himself of his interest in Canada steamship lines . President George w. Bush and vice president Dick Cheney of their interests in Oil. For successful business peo ple entering Public office involves monetary sacrifice. We do not pay politicians what successful chief executives Are paid and yet elec tors should encourage business people to run for office. Put another Way we want the Sam katzes of this world to run for mayor because what has been Good for the Gold eyes has been very Good for Winnipeg. Now that or. Katz is mayor though he has different and broader responsibilities. Cities provinces and countries cannot have systems that prevent those with Money making skills from becoming successful politicians and that creates difficulties because what is Good for the Gold eyes while often Good for Winnipeg is not necessarily so. Potential conflicts exer Cise electorates in a Way they never used to. We expect politicians to be As conflict free As pos sible and that is mighty hard to achieve. Conflicts can be Subtle. It is often impossible to assess How we Are influenced and what influences us. Conflicts exist in journalism con stantly because we write about matters that affect our daily lives and we live and work in the Community about which we write. How do we write about matters involving our friends our acquaintances Neighbours friends Busi Nesses we must avoid obvious conflicts and yet realize they exist because they Are Perva Sive. With or. Katz the interest of this newspaper is to encourage him and to advise our read ers of How we believe he May Best accomplish his Job As mayor and bring to his and our read ers attention what we believe is a critical mat Ter. Or. Katz has every right to enjoy investment income from any and All the risks he has taken including the Gold eyes. It would be Best if he took that As a passive investor without trying to influence the conduct of businesses in which he has a major stake. The Issue is not whether he can receive investment income from his risk capital and his past work. It is whether he can be presi Dent of the Gold eyes the key officer of a com Pany that has dealings with the City while being mayor and it is about whether he can receive a salary for holding that company office. Giving up that salary May be a huge sacrifice for or. Katz and his arrangement with his other investors May make it impossible for him to receive passive investment income. What we May be asking or. Katz to do May be very hard but it was a consideration he must have made when he decided to run for mayor. He himself at one Point said he would put his holdings into a Blind Trust. What this newspaper is concerned about is that if he does to do that the potential conflicts he has will dog his mayoralty and reduce his ability to act As mayor. We raise this matter because of its importance to Public life to Busi Ness and to politics not to hound or. Katz. Arroyo gives terrorists a Victory there was an epidemic of hijackings from the 1960s and the1970s and on into the 1980s ? air piracy in the ., Europe and the Middle East murder on the cruise ship Achille Lauro heroism in the raid on Entebbe. The world was reminded of one Clear lesson from it All As Kipling put it As Long As you pay the Dan Geld you never get rid of the Dane. Terrorist extortion will continue As Long As governments surrender to it. The hijackings in fact subsided Only when governments refused any longer to pay the blackmail. Today in Iraq and other parts of the Arab world there is a new Kink to terrorist blackmail. Foreign nationals Are kidnapped and threat ened with death ? Usu ally by having their Heads Cut off in As brutal a fashion As possible ? unless their govern ments withdraw from the american led coalition working to rebuild that country. This week for the first time one of those governments gave in and paid. In practical terms the government of the Philippines did not pay a particularly High Price to buy Back the life of Angelo de la Cruz. The iraqi terrorists who held the philippine truck Driver captive had threatened to kill him unless president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo agreed to end her country a participation in the coalition of the willing and withdraw its troops from Iraq by the end of july. The country a contribution to the coalition is Small ? Only 51 troops ? and not military in nature ? it is involved in police training. It was due to leave Iraq next month anyway. Even so is Arroyo was at first inclined to refuse. This was almost certainly due to pressure from the americans to stay As Well As a desire not to be the first member of the coalition to Cave in to hostage takers demands. The steadfastness of Bulgaria which has a larger contingent in Iraq in refusing to give in to similar demands even As two of its citizens were being held ? both have apparently been beheaded by their captors ? added to the pressure to stay. In the end however is Arroyo gave in to Strong Public sentiment in her country and the Domestic political realities her government faces and agreed to the terms. She paid the Ransom. The hostage is set to be released by the end of july if All philippine troops Are gone by then and if the terrorists stay True to their word. If they do not if they see an Opportunity to use or. De la Cruz to attempt for example to wrest concessions for Muslim rebels in the Philippines from a government that has already shown that it can be intimidated then is Arroyo would have the worst of two worlds. That seems a slim possibility however a tac tical Blunder that would negate the effect of the Victory Over the filipinos ? although hostage taking itself May already seem of doubtful value. It has not worked very effectively so far As Well As the bulgarians the japanese the italians and South koreans have All refused to be blackmailed into quitting the coalition. This weeks events May have Given it a new Appeal however. If or. De la Cruz does arrive safely Home the Philippines government will have saved his life and averted a potential crisis at Home without directly affecting in any great Way the conflict in Iraq. In the larger context however the decision is More serious and could have far reaching effects. Forms Arroyo the immediate question is How her action will affect her country a relationship with the United states. Although american reaction has been restrained the Bush administration is clearly angry with the Manila government. The philippine contribution to Iraq May have been Small but is arroyos support for the War on terror was Strong and valuable and greatly enhanced her position with Washington. She will need considerable political skill to regain that advantage. More seriously is to what extent the Philip Pine precedent will encourage the practice of hostage taking. Although it has Only worked once it could work again. The question is will other governments faced with death threats to their citizens now be moved to buy their safety by surrendering to terrorist demands and if they do not How Many More Heads will have to Roll because or. De la Cruz was Able to keep his. He at least emerges from this tragedy both Lucky and blameless. The same cannot be said forms Arroyo. She eased her own immediate problems by paying the Dan Geld. Before this Story is Over those prob lems could look pretty Small indeed compared to what she May have created. ? 2004 Winnipeg free press a division of up Canadian Rudy Redekop newspapers limited partnership president up Canadian newspapers limited partnership published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Murdoch Davis / publisher Winnipeg free press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 Nicholas Hirst / editor ;