'How much would it take?' OPP documents lay out details of case against councillor

Coun. Tim Tierney asked how big a charitable donation he'dhave to make for his sole competitor to drop out of Ottawa's recent municipal election campaign, according to OPP documents filed in court.

"How much? How much would it take?" the councillor for Beacon Hill-Cyrvilleallegedly asked Michael Schurter, who entered the ward race at the last moment. "How much would I have to give for you not to run?"

• TimTierneycharged over alleged offer to opponent
• Mayor won't ask Tierney to step down to face bribery charge

Tierney was charged last month by the Ontario Provincial Police with trying to bribe an opponent to withdraw from the campaign, an offence under the Municipal Elections Act. If found guilty, Tierney could lose his seat on council, be barred from running again until 2030and be fined up to $25,000.

The court proceedings officially began last week, but in preparing its case against Tierney, the OPP's anti-rackets branch filed documents at provincial court in October to apply for search warrants of cell phones. Those documents, which are public, lay out the OPP's understanding of the case and include details of interviews with a number of witnesses.

None of the statements in the document has been proven in court.

Through his lawyer, Tierney said last month that he takes the issue very seriously and is "committedto participating in the process and looks forward to clearing his name."

The councillor said he would "vigorously defend" himself, and would not have any further comment on the matter.

Opponent's entry riled councillor

Until the final hourbefore registration for candidate nominations closed on July 27, Tierneylooked as if he'd sail into his third term of office unopposed.

Even though he'd won the 2014 election by a landslide, Tierney appeared worried about a last-minute opponent. The councillor told former deputy city clerk Leslie Donnellythat"he had not slept in days due to stress in the days leading up to 'Nomination Day,'" according to the documents.

Around 1 p.m., Schurter walked into the Elections Ottawa office with his friend and campaign manager, Justin McAuley, to register to run in Beacon Hill-Cyrville.

A real estate agent and staffer for Conservative MP Peter Kent, Schurterunderstood he had little chance of beating the popular incumbent,but decided to run at the last moment because he didn't believe in acclamations.

'I would love to fix this'

When Schurterentered the Elections Office, former Ottawa Sun columnist and city affairs blogger Sue Sherringphoned Tierney to get his reaction, "knowing that this information would be devastating to him."

According to the OPP documents, "Sherring believed Tierney had been celebrating being acclaimed when she contacted him, and that he was really upset to receive this news from her."

Tierney had also received a text from Donnelly informing him he now had "company" in his ward race. "Shit," Tierney responded, then texted: "I would love to fix this. Damnit. Damnit."

In the meantime,Schurter was in a small room in the elections office with McAuley and city employee Lydia Gabelmann, who was helping him fill out the nomination forms.

With less that 15 minutes to go to the 2 p.m. registration deadline, Schurterreceived a call from his longtime friend, Jeremy Wittet, who was a staffer in former councillor Jody Mitic's office.

Wittettold Schurter he had Tierney on the other line. The three talked briefly on conference call mode,then Schurterput his cell phone on speakersohis friend and the elections worker could hear the conversation.

Gabelmann recognized Tierney's voice from working at City Hall.

Donation to food bank

Tierneytold Schurterhe was going to make a $3,000 donation to a food bank and said, "if you withdraw your name, I'll make that donation," according to the documents.

Gabelmann"began to freak out internally after hearing the comment," though it appears from the documents she heard Tierney offer todonate $30,000, not$3,000. McAuley also told OPP he heard Tierneytry to convince Schurter not to run by making a "substantial donation to a charity."

Schurtersuggested$3,000 wasn't that much money. While on speaker phone, Tierney asked him how much money would be enough. Schurterthen asked what, exactly,Tierney was proposing would they make the donation together?

According to the documents, Tierney responded:"No that would be an inducement."

"Sounds like an inducement to me,"Schurterreplied.Tierneyreplied "no" multiple times.

At that point, Schurter told Tierneyhe was on speaker phone with an elections official and his campaign manager.

"Get me the f--koff speaker phone!" Tierney demanded.

Councillor crying: Schurter

After Schurter took Tierney off speaker mode, the councillor allegedly said: "How much? How much would it take? How much would I have to give for you not to run?"

Schurter, who believedTierney was crying on the phone, said he might consider $15,000, but was making no commitments. Tierneyreplied that it was "not a problem," but that "it would take a couple of days to get the money to you, but we can make it happen."

After hanging up, Schurter went ahead with the registration. After he left the office, Gabelmann who latertoldOPP she knew what she had heard "was not right, and that it was an inducement, even before Schurter uttered the words" reported the conversation to her boss.

Complainant reacts to charges against Tim Tierney

6 years ago

Duration 0:18

Michael Schurter alleged Beacon Hill-Cyrville incumbent Tim Tierney tried to bribe him to drop out of the municipal election race. Today, the OPP charged Tierney under the Municipal Elections Act.

City had started own investigation

On July 30, the Monday after the nomination deadline, Tierneywas chatting with city employee AndrewLomas, who happened to be filling in on the reception desk outside councillors' offices.

Tierney told Lomas he was disappointed someone was running against him, and that he was going to make a $5,000 charitable donation.Lomaslater told OPP his impression was that "Tierney'sdonation to the food bank was conditional upon the other candidate not running in the election."

On Aug. 3, city clerk Rick O'Connor who had engaged the city's outside lawyer on the afternoon of July 27 to begin documenting what had happened told McAuleythe city was conducting an investigation into the matter.

That same day, Schurterfiled a complaint with police. Because Tierneysat on the Ottawa police services board, the case was referred to OPP to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. The city then dropped its own investigation, and elections workers have become witnesses in the OPP case.

Tierney was charged on Nov. 23. His case is back before provincial court on Jan. 31.