Hold onto your ballots, folks. This story is going to get smudgy and smeary in the best tradition of municipal politics.

It turns out Councillor Brad Clark's gotcha moment against mayoral rival Fred Eisenberger was really a gimme from Mayor Bob Bratina.

Instead of receiving some allegedly damning LRT memos through a freedom of information request as he led people to believe, Clark actually got them directly from the mayor.

According to Bratina, he found the memos dating back to Eisenberger's time as mayor while cleaning out his desk drawers in preparation for leaving office and passed them on to Clark.

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"He had FOI-ed them so I knew he was after documents in the mayor's office, which I had. So I gave them to him," Bratina said.

Clark is using the documents as campaign fodder, arguing they show Eisenberger misled council and the public by keeping LRT information secret.

Eisenberger says they're actually innocent briefing notes, that it's Clark who's trying to pull a fast one through false accusations.

"This whole thing is misleading," says Eisenberger.

Speaking of which, didn't Clark's news release clearly state that his FOI request "generated" the reports?

Yes it did. And earlier Ken Audziss, Clark's campaign manager, told me they got the information "through the FOI process and then ultimately that's how we received it."

Does that mean they're, er, lying? Not at all. This is election season, after all.

Audziss says they wouldn't have got the info from Bratina if not for the FOI request. "The mayor's office generated these documents and when they provided them to us it was specifically in reference to the request."

And please don't jump to any rash conclusions that this means Bratina is supporting Clark for mayor, even though they're both against LRT.

Bratina says he hasn't decided if he's endorsing anyone. This is just the way his office treats all FOI requests in order to prevent undue delays in releasing information not covered by privacy legislation.

"He would have done it for any of the candidates," said Peggy Chapman, Bratina's chief of staff.

Chapman notes they first cleared the decks with the legal department; Bratina notes the documents aren't marked secret or confidential.

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"I don't know what Fred's so upset about," Bratina said. "It's his document and he's 'open and transparent,' so there it is."

Eisenberger isn't upset about the release of the documents. He's happy for everyone to read them. He's ticked by what he sees to be a cheap political stunt.

"Found them in a drawer? I don't think so. I left files behind for (Bratina's) edification so he would understand where the issues are. This is not a matter of finding something in a drawer."

But Chapman says Bratina inherited no records from Eisenberger's time as mayor. "The computers were wiped clean; we had no files. So the mayor found this."

Eisenberger counters he left files on all major issues, including LRT. He doesn't allege Bratina and Clark are in cahoots, but he doubts the document just magically turned up

"It's taken four years to find it?" he asked skeptically.

Let's conclude with some housekeeping of our own.

Clark submitted his FOI request Sept. 4. The mayor's office says they provided the info to the city's FOI department Sept. 6.

Chapman emailed them to Clark Sept. 16. Audziss says they delayed releasing them out of sensitivity to the death of Eisenberger's mother that same week.

Clark showed the documents to me and a Hamilton Community News reporter Tuesday. He sent out a general release Wednesday.

Hard to know whether to blow a gut or shake your head? Don't worry. Mayoral candidate Brian McHattie is probably equally conflicted.