06.01.2015 02:47 PM

The media on Andre Marin: “the watchdog needs a babysitter”

The Post:

Such teenagerish behaviour is not particularly unusual for the veteran watchdog. Indeed, Marin has gotten in a number of public spats on Twitter, which occasionally end with him “blocking” his critics. He once wrongly identified a police officer he believed to be the source of of antagonistic social media comments towards him; more recently, he took to Twitter to criticize Justin Trudeau’s decision to back the Liberal candidacy of former Toronto police chief Bill Blair. Needless to say, this is not the behaviour we expect from the office of Ontario’s ombudsman.

The Globe:

Using his public office as he did was wrong for an officer of parliament. He showed extremely poor judgment when he endorsed snarky comments that compared the Wynne government to a “banana republic” and asked “Who’s more corrupt and needs oversight #FIFA or @Kathleen_Wynne?”…That’s not the kind of sober oversight an ombudsman is supposed to provide. That he is willing to portray himself as “a shining light in a sea of corruption” – another Twitter comment he endorsed – raises valid questions about his impartiality. The job has gone to his head…

Again, if any beleaguered OOO staff want to talk to a reporter they can trust, email ombudsman7777@gmail.com. No names. 

16 Comments

  1. Jerome says:

    This is a beautiful thing. He is not even a week into his extension!

    Hey Andre! No matter what happens now, even if you get reappointed, this is your legacy!

  2. Houland Wolfe says:

    Maybe his erratic behaviour is due to a brain tumour. He should get his head examined.

  3. Jerome says:

    A brand new hit show starring Andre Marin, Barb Finlay, Gareth Jones and Judge David Paciocco:

    https://twitter.com/HenryYeats/status/60534370526080614A

    http://youtu.be/Ry7PcYtKPhA

  4. Jerome says:

    (Can you delete the one above, the first link isn’t working)

  5. Jerome says:

    A brand new hit show starring Andre Marin, Barb Finlay, Gareth Jones and Judge David Paciocco:

    https://twitter.com/HenryYeats/status/605343705260806144

    http://youtu.be/Ry7PcYtKPhA#sthash.7CSwKt1V.dpuf

  6. Telegram Sam says:

    Here’s a priceless comment on the National Post’s article:

    GaryMWilson • 8 hours ago
    The first few juvenile tweeted tantrums I saw of his, I didn’t actually believe. I sincerely thought it was a satire account. I thought all those taking umbrage looked foolish as it clearly couldn’t be the true account of a such a position.

    And then it continued. And continued.

    And then I learned it was indeed the true account of the Ontario Ombudsperson. Good lord, Ontario! Between Rob Ford, the power plant scandal and now this lunatic, what on earth happened to your province? It’s looking like a bloody asylum. The glaring lack of professionalism and outright lunacy is striking.
    3 • Reply•Share ›

  7. Student501 says:

    New song by Thomas Rhett describes this situation quite well….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoH9klMK1rg

  8. Telegram Sam says:

    Ho smart is Marin? How smart are his communications people? Not very. I’ve been watching the traffic flow to Andre Marin and Ontario Ombudsman wiki pages over the last few months. The hits on these pages have jumped whenever something has been released in the media or on Kinsella’s website–none of which is surprising. What IS surprising is that the Facebook public figure profile for Andre Marin:

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Andr%C3%A9-Marin/143090392373588?fref=ts

    is still a direct link to his Wikipedia entry:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Marin

    which was fine for him when his cronies were controlling that page. But seriously? You haven’t figured out that your Facebook presence is pushing viewers to the Wikipedia page that is not flattering at all! Hilarious!

    I’ll take bets now: how long before the Faacebook “public page” page is deleted or de-linked the Wiki page?! I would normally say 1 day, but clearly his communications people are completely incompetent, so I say 3.

    • Wookieballs says:

      Well it only took 1 day. They stubbed and locked the FB version of the link to the Wiki page. Nice call!

  9. Tantric Sax says:

    Marin’s Paint-by-Numbers Game. Fun for the whole family!

    Here are a few interesting numbers to consider when writing Marin’s legacy as the Ontario Ombudsman. All of these are publicly available and it is beyond me why the media has not connected these dots. All those Sun readers loyal to him because they think he “stands up for the Little Guy” should take a look at these amazing numbers. The “Sunshine List” discloses all salaries over $100,000. “Double Gold” means salaries of $200,000 or more.

    *Note: Marin and his executive team set their salaries for themselves.

    $177, 493.80 (2004) = Salary of the previous Ombudsman Claire Lewis in his last year in office, 2004.
    $135,692.38 (2005) = Marin’s starting salary as Ombudsman in 2005. He and his team did not have full control over the Ombudsman’s budget until the following year. And watch what happens…
    $192,565.14 (2006) = Marin’s salary 2006, the first year he had full control over setting his own salary.
    $56, 872.76 (2006) = The amount Marin gave himself as his first raise as Ombudsman. The first of many.

    $227,207.69 (2014) = Marin’s salary last year, not including his extensive expenses.
    $208,974.00 (2014) = Premier Kathleen Wynne’s salary last year.

    $88,515.31 (2005-2014) = The amount Marin gave himself in raises over 9 of the years in his decade-long tenure as Ombudsman. It does not include 2015.

    $8,132.03 (2009-2010) = The amount in salary reduction Marin gave himself when his first term was coming to end and he was seeking reappointment.
    $28,077.52 (2008) = The raise Marin gave himself just before he reduces his salary in 2009.
    $35,412.35 (2011-2012) = The amount in raises Marin gave himself just after being reappointed to a second term.

    5 (2004) = Number of Ombudsman staff on the 2004 Sunshine List during Clare Lewis’s last year as ombudsman.
    17 (2014) = Number of Ontario Ombudsman staff on last year’s Sunshine List under Andre Marin.

    0 (2004) = Number of Double Gold Ontario Ombudsman staff on the Sunshine list during Clare Lewis’s last year as ombudsman.
    2 (2014) = Number of Double Gold Ontario Ombudsman staff on the Sunshine List under Marin in 2014.
    3 (2014) = Number of Ontario Ombudsman staff within $10,000 of Double Gold under Marin in 2014.

    $723,376.03(2004) = Amount of Ombudsman Ontario salaries on the Sunshine List during Clare Lewis’s last year as ombudsman in 2004.
    $2,320,372.94 (2014) = (Yes! That’s 2 MILLION) Total amount of Ombudsman Ontario salaries on last year’s Sunshine List under Marin.
    $1,596,996.91 (2005-2014) = (Yes! That’s 1 MILLION) Total increase in Ontario Ombudsman salaries on the Sunshine List during Marin’s decade-long tenure as ombudsman.

    Looking at these numbers and the patronage trend under Marin, his reappoint battle would seem to be moot because it is hard to imagine that the Legislature could even afford an Ombudsman’s office led by Marin for another 5 years. It also makes it clear why the NDP support him so staunchly; he is their kind of lifelong public spending machine!

    All numbers taken from the Ontario Ministry of Finance’s Public Sector Salary Disclosure webpage: http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/publications/salarydisclosure/2006/

  10. Tululah says:

    So, let me get this straight…Evan Solomon loses his job over an ethical breach that involves selling art…but Andre Marin still has a job. As an ethical watchdog. And could get the job again. WTF!? Keep Solomon, ditch Marin!

  11. Corbin says:

    LMAO!

    So I found this thread by accident but I think it’s hilarious there are threads on websites just on what a douchebag this guy is. I didn’t know who he was until he came to speak at my law school. I’d say %75 of us had no idea who he was. The only thing everyone spoke about after was what a douche this guy is and who the hell would want to work with this guy! First, he’s a bad speaker. But when you actually pay attention to what he’s saying, you realize he mainly about himself, not his job, not his office, not the law. WTF!? Bad enough, but the whole time he’s talking to like we all already knew who he is; AND like he is famous–complete with little inside jokes about himself that no on got–dude, only funny (and remotely interesting) if people know who you are AND care! After the talk he was just creepy, totally socially awkward, spoke to some of the girls about his workouts like he was trying to pick them up. People were like you are a fucking civil servant?!

    Happily surprised to find other people out there see this guy for a clown like we all did! Fuckinghilarious!

    • Derek Pearce says:

      This story is awesome. Especially the part at the end where he’s talking about his workouts, you know exactly what kind of douche bro he is lol.

  12. Jerome says:

    It is absolutely disgusting that a man accused by so many people of being misogynist and a homophobe is Tweeting about Pride being about inclusion and love! How dare you!? You are as welcome at Pride as Rob Ford! He is using Pride as a publicity stunt for reappointment. And he is on an ONDP float?! (Yes, OPSEU is directly affiliated with the ONDP) How is that neutral? I smell a rat and he better not get any brownie points for trying to use Pride.

  13. Judy Birch says:

    Andre Marin was an absolute joke to people with real issues like when an MPP refuses to look into issues when Immigraton 1989 went against orders of the Supreme Court of Ontario! back in 1989 Roberba Jamieson was the ombudsmen not much has changed since then eh! MPP’s are part of the ombudsmens role to investigate when they refuse to act on behalf of constituents, and if this is not their role then they must inform as to who’s role it is!

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