O'Brien won't comment on police document

Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien said he is not commenting on the release of a police document from an investigation intoaccusations against him.

"I have nothing further to stay on that," he said Thursday. "If you wish to have any comment, I would prefer if you go and talk to the lawyer I have a busy job to do, I have an important job to do and Im not going to be distracted by allegations, unfounded allegations. So thank you."

O'Brien, who was at an event with Trina Morissette, the Ontario Progressive Conservative candidate for Ottawa Centre,walked away from reporters and did not respond when asked whether he would resign if he was charged.

Thepolicedocumentin question was released Thursday when an Ottawa judge lifted a publication ban at the request of lawyers.

The police document is an application for a search warrantthat waspart of an investigation intoaccusations that O'Brien tried to bribe his former political rival Terry Kilrea into dropping out of the 2006 mayoral race.

It does not represent a final conclusion by police on whether laws were broken.

Police said the investigation is complete, but as of Thursday, no charges had been laid against O'Brien.

The search warrant application filed by OPP Sgt. Brian Mason in May stated that he "has reasonable grounds to believe" that two separate offences have been committed under Section 125 of the Criminal Code: "Influencing or negotiating appointments or dealing in offices."

It summarized eight separate interviews with Kilrea, O'Brien, federal cabinet minister John Baird, O'Brien's niece Heather Tessier and others.

Kilrea's wife helped launch probe

Within the summaries, itreveals that Kilrea's wife triggered an investigation by the anti-rackets squad when she handed her husband'sstatement, containingaccusations against O'Brien, to a group that complained to police.

Sean McKenny,president of theOttawa and District Labour Council, told police he believed Kilrea's wife gave the groupher husband's sworn affidavit because she was troubled by rumours that Kilrea had been bribed to withdraw from the mayoral race.

Kilreahad earlier told the Ottawa Citizen that hedid not givethelabour councilhis affidavit and the group has never revealed where it got the document.

Kilrea's affidavit said that O'Brien offered in July to help Kilrea secure a job on the National Parole Board and to give him $30,000 to cover his campaign expenses if he dropped out of the 2006 mayoral race.

Both Kilrea and O'Brien were competing for votes on right-of-centre platforms in the civic election.

Kilrea did drop out of the race, but said he did not receive anything for doing so.

According to the document, Kilrea claimed that at a meeting in July, O'Brien offered to cover his campaign expenses and asked what Kilrea would like to do other than be mayor.

Kilrea mentioned the National Parole Board.

He claimed O'Brien asked, "What if I could make that happen?" and later told Kilrea to contact then treasury board president John Baird about the job.

O'Brientold policehe'screwed up'

The document states that O'Brien told police that it was Kilrea who brought up the parole board position and that Kilrea wanted O'Brien to buy a website from him.

He also said he didn't remember making any kind of an offer regarding an appointment, but admitted to calling Kilrea after their first meeting to say he'd "screwed up."

CBC reporter Alistair Steele, who examined the police document, said: "Screwed up what or screwed up how isn't clear from the interview [summarized in the document], but O'Brien did tell investigators that he 'didn't have a fundamental understanding of the rules involved at the time.'

"The interview is revealing in another way," Steele told host Kathleen Petty on CBC's Ottawa Morning. "You get a sense here of just what O'Brien may have thought of Kilrea on a personal level. In the document he calls him a buffoon, and he says that he felt of all the candidates, Kilrea was the weakest in terms of intellectual capacity."

The search warrant application was used by police to gain access to the computer hard drive at the home of Tim Tierney, who was Kilrea's webmaster and communications director.

Most of about 45 pages of the search warrant applicationwere released, except for sections that lawyers argued were hearsay and could jeopardize O'Brien's right to a fair trial should charges ever be laid.

Judge Lynn D. Ratushny of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice is to rule next week on the possible release of theremaining sections.