Gordie Moonie

by Darrin DeRoches July 7 - 13, 2011

All remaining charges have been dropped against Gord Moonie. Who cares? We all should. I have had the pleasure of working with Gord in the past and he did great things, in a very short time, for the City of Hamilton.  He got things done and he single handedly brought some of the biggest developers to our city.  He came from a business background and installed it into a political arena.  This business ‘get it done’ background was the demise of a not only a great man doing great things for our city, but in typical fashion of the city – they hung him out to dry.     Gord Moodie was the head of the city’s downtown residential loan program. He was charged by the OPP with municipal corruption and breach of trust. They said he took $5,000 from a developer to obtain city loans for downtown development. Of course it is a complete and utter lie. The mayor, Bob Bratina, has been quoted as saying “There was never any question in my mind that Gord Moodie did his job honestly and with integrity.”     Too late now or is it? I applaud the mayor in making such an honest and forthright comment on a man who the city itself threw to the wolves. The city used a DUI conviction as the veil to remove Gord from his position, but is that to say all city employees shall be fired for a DUI conviction? I doubt it.      Gord Moodie brought over 100 million dollars in development to the city in his short tenure of four years. What have we lost in investment over the last three years since he was ousted? Probably another 100 million of investments, at least. We need people to work outside of the political games inside our city.  Gord not only did this he also produced!  So now we talk about his legacy and the mayor went as far to say “...the name Gordie Moodie will have to be on the plaque,” on how other projects Gord stared are now coming to fruition.     A plaque does not help the city.  A plaque does not help Gord’s family. The mayor always  supported Gord – so give him his job back!  That’s right, you are the mayor, and you know he did his job with honesty and integrity.  He brought in 100 million dollars of investments.  The city is doing better since Bob became mayor, we will do even better if we had Gord Moonie back running our development.  Hell, offer him a raise – five grand is a good start!   V                    Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at mail@uniquerealty.ca.