Babinsky censured for third time

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This article was published 18/11/2014 (4359 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It may be a record for the fastest censure of a member by a newly elected public body: Winnipeg School Division trustees have already publicly scorned trustee Mike Babinsky for making an internal email public.

But Babinsky said Tuesday the internal email from trustee Lisa Naylor, which he gave to the Free Press, was not labelled confidential, and that both Naylor and board chairman Mark Wasyliw are the ones breaching school board confidentiality by discussing the censure debate held behind closed doors Monday night.

Trustees Monday night imposed censure on the maverick Babinsky for the third time in his school board career.

The new board, including six rookies, only took office Nov. 3.

Trustees imposed the censure behind closed doors Monday night, said Wasyliw, “for release of a confidential internal email to the public without the knowledge or consent of the author.

“Trustee Babinsky has had two opportunities to acknowledge wrongdoing on his part and he has not. There has been no apology to either Ms. Naylor or the board to my knowledge and no commitment on his part to change his behaviour in the future,” Wasyliw said.

Babinsky said he acknowledged giving Naylor’s email to the Free Press, but argued she had not labelled it confidential and she had been replying to the entire board about an email Babinsky had earlier sent.

“This all occurred on the night of transparency,” said Babinsky, referring to the plan trustees laid out in public session Monday night to live stream and record their meetings, including committees, and explore ways to make their business and documents publicly accessible.

He said Wasyliw and Naylor, by talking about what went on at a censure debate behind closed doors Monday night, had broken the rules of board confidentiality.

Naylor said Tuesday she would have been satisfied with an apology.

“Mike did not take any action to correct his behaviour or take responsibility for it. I was clear with my fellow trustees that I would not motion for censure if he did so. I was also clear that I would withdraw the motion if he spoke to the behaviour when given the chance,” Naylor said.

It is the third censure for Babinsky, who was first elected in 1995, but has never been board chairman or chairman of a significant committee. Trouble had flared within a week of trustees taking office.

Babinsky complained newly named Education Minister Peter Bjornson had come to the board Nov. 6 for what turned out to be a meet-and-greet — it was a long-planned session at which former minister James Allum had planned to discuss the board’s lack of openness.

Wasyliw had then accused Babinsky in an interview of trying to hijack the meeting and eating up the board’s valuable time with the minister.

Naylor, meanwhile, had sent an internal email in which she appealed for the board to work together to balance openness with the need for some privacy.

Naylor also cautioned trustees that what they read in the paper may not be factual, balanced or objective. Naylor said Tuesday she wanted Babinsky to talk to the board directly, not through the media.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca