Sudbury city councillor reprimanded for social media activity

Sudbury city councillor Robert Kirwan has been reprimanded by his colleagues, following a report from the city's integrity commissioner.

In a report presented to council Tuesday evening, integrity commissioner Robert Swayze said Kirwan contravened the city's code of conduct related to social media use. 

The issue at hand is a fake account operated by Kirwan's wife, Valerie Kirwan, which she would sometimes use to post comments in the Valley East Facebook group, which the couple operates. The posts made with the fake account — under the name "Jessie Timmons" — included political posts in favour of councillor Kirwan.

While the integrity commissioner has no jurisdiction over the spouse of a city councillor, Swayze determined that by allowing the posts in the group and engaging with them as though they were from a community member, Kirwan "colluded with his wife to contravene" the code of conduct. 

'No attempt' to collude, says Kirwan

The presentation and discussion of the commissioner's report lasted about an hour and 45 minutes Tuesday night, with Kirwan presenting a lengthy defence of his and his wife's online activity.

"There has been no attempt by my wife or I to collude, to have her plant comments on my post," Kirwan said.

I stand to my recommendation.— Robert Swayze, City of Greater Sudbury integrity commissioner

Kirwan noted that out of thousands of comments in the group during a recent 90 day period, there were only 44 comments from the Jessie Timmons account. He said he "very seldom" reads through comments, so would not be aware of all of the comments from his wife. 

"It's irrational to think that I would be aware of all of the posts on an 18,000 member group," Kirwan said. 

Swayze, however, read a comment from the fake account, along with a response posted by Kirwan. 

"When he has a dialogue, when he responds to Jessie Timmons, he knows about the post of Jessie Timmons," Swayze said.  

"That's not honest, that's not transparent. I stand to my recommendation."

Councillors support recommendation 

Following the release of report last week, Kirwan publicly called on Swayze to resign. During the meeting, he again turned his attention to criticizing Swayze.

"I don't have any more confidence in the process or in the integrity commissioner, because of the way he's written up his report. It's biased, it's prejudiced and it should not happen," Kirwan said. 

Some other councillors did express concerns about Swayze referencing information from prior to the 60 day window he was permitted to consider when investigating the complaint, as well as the fact that another allegation, from the same anonymous complainant, was mentioned in Swayze's report, even though he went on to dismiss it. 

In the end, however, most councillors supported Swayze's recommendation. Eight councillors, as well as Mayor Brian Bigger, voted to reprimand Kirwan. Bill Leduc and Joscelyne Landry-Altmann voted against the motion. Michael Vagnini abstained, as he had missed part of the meeting. 

Kirwan was also reprimanded by his fellow city councillors in 2019 for being too "aggressive" in his own Facebook comments.