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Gossip experts embarrassingly off base on Mulkewich issue
By Susan Clairmont, The Hamilton SpectatorYou'd think cops and politicians would know enough to get their facts straight before they start trash-talking someone.
But, alas, city hall and police headquarters are meccas of speculation and gossip. And in the past few days these two self-righteous rumour mills have been working overtime to cast aspersions upon the newest member of the Hamilton Police Services Board.
Seems Jane Mulkewich, who was made a board member barely a month ago, was spotted last week as unruly protesters occupied the city council chambers to protest everything from poverty to the construction of the Red Hill expressway to the possible privatization of the city's water system.
Her presence at the event has cops and politicians alike clamouring for everything from an explanation to Mulkewich's resignation. They have been whispering among themselves, complaining to columnists and generally trashing the police board member for participating in a rowdy protest that led to the police being called and could still result in criminal charges being laid against some demonstrators.
The critics have dissed Mulkewich's presence in the council chambers last Wednesday, saying it is, at worst, inappropriate and, at best, stupid, for a member of the police services board to take part in such a disruption.
The trash-talk has been swirling around for days and is even being peddled to the media, but always on the sly. Nobody wants to say anything on the record.
And apparently nobody wants to get to the truth either. When I talked to Mulkewich yesterday, not one single person -- politician or police officer -- had called to ask her why she was at the City Hall protest.
If they'd bothered to ask, they would have found out the same thing I did.
Jane Mulkewich wasn't part of the protest.
Nope. She was there in the council chambers to track down somebody she needed to speak to for other business.
Mulkewich spoke to the person and was just leaving the chambers when, she says, protesters rose from their seats, began singing and chanting and carrying on.
"I was just about to leave and go home,then I caught sight of someone mooning and I stayed around a while to see what was going on. I was very clearly standing apart."
And that's it. She didn't smuggle rocks in and hide them under a chair (as some protesters are accused of doing), she didn't bare her tush or drink the councillors' water or refuse to leave when asked. She simply did what you or I would have done in the same bizarre situation: gawked.
And that is all anyone saw Mulkewich doing at the meeting. Numerous council members and police officers -- some of whom questioned the board member's appearance at the meeting -- all say Mulkewich was just standing around watching. Yet they still were peeved.
Which makes me think the complainers are on a bit of a witch hunt. Mulkewich, you see, has a bit of a reputation. She likes to ruffle feathers. Afflict the comfortable. Get under the skin of, well, cops and politicians in some cases.
The daughter of former Burlington mayor Walter Mulkewich, Jane has a long history of political and social activism. She was once an assistant to Wentworth North MPP Don Abel and has worked as an NDP strategist. She has sat on committees ranging from The Working Group on Racial Equity to the Guatemala Community Network. She is currently a human rights educator in McMaster University's Sexual Harassment and Anti-Discrimination Office. But she is probably best known for the eight years she spent as the community relations co-ordinator for the Hamilton police, where she built bridges with diverse communities, such as the gay and lesbian community, ethnic minority groups and various religious communities.
In the process, she moved the police service forward in its thinking and ticked off a lot of police officers and politicians who found her pushy, too politically correct and impossible to please. Perhaps. But that still doesn't make her a protester.
Really, people. Do a little homework before you start dishing the dirt.