Toronto Mayor Aubut: "Just Trust Me"

John Barber wrote a couple of weeks ago:

Suddenly there's a new mayor in town. You don't know him and you didn't vote for him. But if his threatened coup comes off, he will be the one giving orders in Toronto for the next decade.

And after handing this new civic potentate supreme power, no pipsqueak council or elected mayor will dare complain as he burdens local taxpayers with grandiose monuments of crippling expense and little use.

All hail Marcel Aubut, chairman of the Canadian Olympic Committee! Desperately seeking attention in a perpetual fit of adolescent insecurity, we salute you. Make us do something other people will notice! Lay on the magic hands.

Today, we hear from Mayor Aubut in in his own words.

“There are lots of people...who are there ready to commit to go one step further,” says Marcel Aubut. “But I won’t give you the list.”

Well, why the heck would he? He's not answerable to anybody.

It’s “difficult” for Olympic backers to be transparent at such an early stage, Aubut said, but he promised the public would learn more soon.

Pressed for details, Aubut would only say there will be "momentum" leading up to Sept. 15, the deadline for cities to tell the International Olympic Committee they’re interested in bidding for the 2024 Games.

Torontonians may not remember or care about Marcel Aubut, but the people of Quebec City sure do.

Aubut was President of the Nordiques when the team was sold to an American communications company and moved to Denver in 1995, becoming the Colorado Avalanche. Maclean's Magazine reported that Aubut personally made $15 million from the sale and that t-shirts reading "Marcel Aubut: Wanted Dead or Alive" were not an uncommon sight in Quebec City at the time.

To add insult to the proverbial injury, the team won the Stanley Cup the next year.

And now the "big man -- with the equally large personality" is president of the Canadian Olympic Committee and is pushing to have Toronto sign a blank cheque to host the 2024 Summer Games.

But is that his ultimate goal?

Who knows?

But it would irresponsible not to speculate in light of this (from January 2012).

But where his pro-hockey and Olympic interests happily intersect are in the efforts to finally build Quebec City a new arena. The vision is that the $400-million, 18,000-seat facility would also serve as the centrepiece of a Winter Games bid. But funding for the project—a pastiche of provincial, city, Quebecor and fan money—remains sketchy. And the “target” Olympics is now 2026, which won’t be awarded until 2019.

Aubut, who splits his time between Quebec, Montreal and Toronto, remains an enthusiastic proponent. Quebec, like Winnipeg, is a different city these days, with a more vibrant economy. And it has the capacity to host not just NHL hockey, but the world.

Would there be an element of personal redemption? “You appreciate what you don’t have,” he says.“I really want a team back.”

Got that? The man who profited by $15 million on the sale of the old Nordiques wants another team in Quebec City and he's prepared to plunge Toronto and Quebec City too, presumably, into MASSIVE debt to get it.

No matter that every media pundit in Toronto is against it, joined yesterday by noted urbanologist -- and Toronto resident -- Richard Florida.

Mr. Tory posed the issue correctly when he said: “The most important question I have is, ‘Do you think this would be to the benefit of the people of the city of Toronto?’” Based on every shred of evidence, the answer is No.

Pundits, urbanologists, academics -- all think it's a very bad deal.

Even City Councillors are getting twitchy.

BREAKING Anthony Perruzza calling on Mayor John Tory to have a special council meeting on an Olympic bid #TOpoli pic.twitter.com/iexJRWp5Ne

— Don Peat (@reporterdonpeat) September 9, 2015

And then there's us peons who have little recourse but a petition.

But what Big (Unelected) Mayor Aubut wants, he wants.

And we should just trust him?

Yeah, right.


ADDED: Freedom of Information requests to John Tory's office raise lots more questions.

Toronto Olympics and The Star: Do You Smell Something?

I'm sensing a pattern here.

Is The Toronto Star, the only media in Toronto to publish a totally pro-Olympics piece (by Royson James, below), systematically shutting down anti-Olympic comments?

Every story I could find on a possible Toronto bid has had it comments closed.

Oddly, the overwhelming majority of comments are unreservedly NEGATIVE.

August 13, 37 comments, closed.

August 12 6 comments, closed.

August 12, 57 comments, closed.

August 12, 12 comments, closed.

August 12, Royson James, 16 comments, closed. The most recent comment is dated "10 days ago," which would be before the dateline, but whatever.

August 6, a poll showing Torontonians want Olympics but ONLY IF they don't have to pay for them, 133 comments, closed.

August 1, 104 comments, closed.

And, perhaps not co-incidentally, comments on stories about what many see as an alternative to 2024 Olympics, Expo 2025, are also being slammed shut when they go negative.

Expo stories
July 25, 37 comments, mostly negative about Olympics, closed.

July 28, 45 comments, mostly negative about Expo, closed.

I ask again: Does The Star have an agenda? A financial interest? A friendly relationship to maintain?

The #NoTO2024 campaign is gaining steam. Website and petition.

Here's Canadian Olympics expert Janice Forsyth on costs to Toronto of a bid.

And here's the think-tank report on the spectacular failure of the Boston 2024 bid, ordered by the state of Massachusetts (pdf).

The report details the many exaggerations and downright lies of the Boston boosters. Mainly, that despite the many assurances of the millionaire hucksters, the financial burdens would fall squarely and uniquely on taxpayers.

On Twitter, some city councillors seem to be paying attention, in particular to The Guarantee that Boston Mayor Walsh ultimately REFUSED to sign.

ADDED: The Star's endorsement of Tory for mayor. Lest we forget.

Had It With the Fords?

Do something.

Jude MacDonald (twitter) has been doing heroic work in trying to stop the fucking Fords' abuse of City Hall property and resources for political campaigning.

Such activity is verboten.

And it's pretty clear.

VII. ELECTION CAMPAIGN WORK

Members are required to follow the provisions of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996. No member shall use the facilities, equipment, supplies, services or other resources of the City (including Councillor newsletters and websites linked through the City’s website) for any election campaign or campaign-related activities. No member shall undertake campaign-related activities on City property during regular working hours unless permitted by City policy (e.g., all candidates meetings). No member shall use the services of persons for election-related purposes during hours in which those persons receive any compensation from the City.

According to Jude, the person responsible for maintaining proper conduct is the City Manager. Email: talktocitymanager@toronto.ca

I wrote to both my councillor and the City Manager.

You can too.

Find your councillor's contact information.

Here's what I wrote.

Dear City Manager/Councillor:

Mainly from Twitter -- the mainstream media does not seem to think this is worth reporting -- I have been watching for months the Fords misuse City Hall property and resources for political campaigning.

I realize that there is some leeway possible in interpreting what is campaigning and what is communicating but yesterday I believe there was an unequivocal case of blatantly illegal use of City resources.

Jeff Silverstein, former campaign staffer for Rob Ford and now apparently in the employ of Doug Ford, was seen entering the Mayor's office yesterday and spending some considerable time there with Doug and others. CP24 confirmed the sighting, along with many ordinary individuals.

The Mayor is in hospital and has withdrawn his candidacy for mayor.

Mr. Silverstein is not an employee of the City. There is zero possible justification for this action.

Doug Ford is continuing to abuse his position as brother of the mayor. Now that he is a candidate himself, it is time -- finally -- to take him to task and force him to stop.

City Hall staff must be instructed to follow protocol and inform the necessary officials when there are similar breaches of security.

I don't know what other measures can be taken, but they should bloody well be taken.

Thank you for your time.

And here's how a concerned citizen responded to my report on Twitter that I had done it.

.@TerryTowel1 At least I sent in a pissed-off dust-catcher. Not much we can do but I'm fucking well going to do it. #topoli

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) September 16, 2014

The fucking Fords will continue to get away with egregious behaviour unless they're stopped.

And apparently, nobody but us citizens is willing to at least try.


UPDATE (Sept. 17/14): Action!

Toronto’s rules are clear: incumbents can’t use their city-funded offices for election purposes. After complaints from residents, some of them affiliated with the Rob Ford Must Go/Doug Ford Must Go sit-in outside the mayor’s office, city manager Joe Pennachetti is planning to send a “reminder regarding the policy to all members of council” this week, city spokeswoman Wynna Brown said.

Brown would not say whether the reminder was prompted by complaints about the mayor’s office in particular.

Oh, rilly?

Toronto the Good

Well, this is some shitty mayoral campaign we've got going here in Toronto.

Rob Fucking Ford is all lies all the time. David Sockacki has ideas and position papers but is dull as dishwater. And the other supposedly front-runners are depressingly namby-pamby.

For a great and recent example, read Matt Elliott on what the candidates have to say about finances and inflation.

Even worse, all (except Soknacki and Ari Goldkind) are running on the current understanding and practice of populism.

The biggest disappointment is Olivia Chow. I endorsed her back on March 13.

I still like her and think she'd be a good mayor, but her campaign is driving me -- and all the progressives I know -- nuts.

Yesterday, a tweeter named Karen Geier grabbed my attention and that of a bunch of others with her criticisms of Chow's campaign.

Here's the first tweet that arrested me.

.@oliviachow consider that you're being beaten in the polls by a corporate shill who was a fundraiser for the mayor. It's inconceivable.

— Karen Geier (@karengeier) August 15, 2014

She continued to point out the many deficiencies in the campaign, including this one.

.@oliviachow the fact remains that Kinsella was LEGITIMATELY SURPRISED when Horwath lost. You can't afford a delusional campaign

— Karen Geier (@karengeier) August 15, 2014

She, like many of us, really doesn't want to vote for another middle-/upper-classs white male, but Olivia is not making it easy for us.

Geier put her tweets together in a Storify titled Dear Olivia Chow. It's had more than 6500 views since yesterday, and going by Geier's (do follow her by the way) tweets today, she's taking some crap for it.

Toronto under the Fucking Fords has lost a ton of ground. Toronto used to be a leader in things like transit, inclusiveness, and the environment.

So many of us are longing not just to get rid of the bloated, lying, criminal fool we have as mayor but to return to Toronto the Good.

Toronto the Good
• on transit and transportation in general
• on affordable and innovative housing
• on parks and public spaces
• on libraries and community centres and programmes
• on the environment
• on the arts and creativity.

And on prudence and planning and the acceptance of the really rather simple idea that THINGS COST MONEY.

Olivia could be a leader if she'd set her own narrative, be her own person, and boot all the delusional advisors who are telling her to play the Populist Game.

Olivia would have my vote if she could pull it off.

There's still time for her to do it.

But not much.

My vote, like Geier's, is up for grabs.

UPDATE (August 20/14): Today's Kinsella idiocy. Note non-apology and Chow camp's attempt to distance themselves. Kinsella is "just" a volunteer. Yeah, right. A volunteer whose company has been hired to do media work.

Forget the Gong Show, Let's Concentrate on City Council

Well, Matt Galloway on MetroMorning did the best job (so far) of any interviewer's attempt to hold Rob Fucking Ford to account.

Given this, at least:

No interviewer can possibly keep up with the volume velocity of Rob Ford's lies.

— Ryan Day (@lizzhatesme) March 28, 2014

But there are still seven months to go for interviewers and opponents to learn how better to deal with RFF's bullshit. We live in hope.

If RFF's tenure has taught us anything, it's that while a mayor can embarrass the hell out of us, under a weak mayor system, she or he needs collaborators on council to get things done.

I propose turning our attention away from the giant gong show that is the mayoral race to wannabe city councillors.

We need to rid Council of the morons, the toadies, and the mindlessly ambitious, which of course puts Mammo at the top of the heap, overlapping all categories as he does so effectively.

OK, then. Here is an immensely useful graphic (more about its provenance below*). I'm sorry it's kind of hard to read.

It's arranged in rings by year, innermost being 2011, when RFF had max influence. Note how much support he had then.

By 2012, less support, more opposition. Even more so by 2013.

For an overview, this is very handy. For my money, no one with a preponderance of blue and green should be returned to office.

Here is the list of current councillors. Find yours.

Next step, follow @GraphicMatt who has been doing heroic work in tracking how each councillor voted, presented in colour-coded tables.

Some examples here and here. You can also find his work at
MetroNews.

Decide whether your incumbent deserves your support. If so, get your butt out for him or her.

If not, check out who else is running. Here is the current list of contenders. The list will no doubt grow. Some incumbents have not yet registered. And some contenders are probabaly still testing the waters.

Check them out. Find someone with ideas, integrity, and a lively sense of civic responsibility.

For example, Dan Fox is contesting Ward 24, now held by blue/green Ford-supporter David Shiner. Dan could use some volunteers.

Remember that the mayor, while potentially possessed of great persuasive power, has only one vote.

There are 44 others that -- collectively -- matter more.

*Provenance of graphic: It was tweeted by cinemaven. I asked and looked but couldn't find an original, even though it says "thegridto.com" in the corner. I tweeted a couple of times asking for help and got no joy. In particular, I complained about how hard it was to read, how it needed embiggening.

Well. In my email last night was a message from Ace Blogger and Photoshopper Extraordinaire Alison @ Creekside, with an improved and slightly embiggened version of the chart. Yes, that Alison, who to the dismay of the masses does NOT have a Twitter account. So, how did she get my bat signal Alison signal?

She's not saying, is she? Me, I think she has an alter ego on Twitter. Maybe @80sDougFord. Feel free to speculate in the comments.


ADDED: Of course there are municipal elections across Ontario this year. All of us need to do our duty and vote good people in.

A Few Facts (ahem) about John Tory

Most people who've been around for a while know this one.



Watch for young sprog Tory starting about 2:19. Ending with Kim Campbell and we know how her campaign went.

Here's Wiki:

The decision to launch the ads was taken mainly by PC campaign director John Tory along with Allan Gregg. . .

Arguably, the modern age of vicious attack ads was launched with that beaut.

Now, courtesy of a John Tory parody account, two stories you may not know (I didn't).

The Missing Years in John Tory's Resume, aka The Cable Guy.

From 2001 until 2009 John Tory was a director of Charter Communications, at the time it was America's 3rd largest cable and internet company. He was also a member of Charter's audit committee. It looked as though he was going to do the right thing and resign when he became PC leader and an MPP.
. . .
Long story short, Charter Communications filed for Chapter 11  bankruptcy protection on April 1, 2009. Under John's watchful eye as a director and member of the audit committee, Charter which was then America's 4th largest Cable TV company had amassed $20 billion of debt that it couldn't repay.
. . .
Charter had collapsed under a huge debt, but it also never made a penny of profit in all of the years John was there. 
. . .
John Tory's run with Charter Communications came to sad ending in 2009.  John takes credit for successfully leading, managing and obtaining results from large, complex organizations.
. . .
He may have stabilized the CFL, and he still is intimately involved in the Oligopoly that is Rogers, but in the real world of business he presided over one of the largest bankruptcies in America, #14 on Forbes list link

So why is this significant?

It is omitted from his resume (and only mentioned in arcane references buried deep inside corporate filings) even though Charter Communications was 3 times the size of Rogers' cable and internet businesses.
. . .
Pretty much all of John's business life he has been in companies his dad either owned or had great influence over.  Charter Communications was different. It was an American company and it was big. When John closed the door behind him at Charter, the company was unable to pay its debt and its shareholders were wiped out.

No wonder he excluded Charter from his resume.

Some business man, eh?

And now for some very recent prevarications. Watch Tory make shit up.



And now for my fave photo (so far). Anyone for cricket?

ADDED: More extensive fact-checking of the bogus humble beginnings fable.
Just a regular guy. Much like Rob Ford, in fact, with a bit of gloss.

Fern Hill Endorses Olivia Chow (WWWKD?)

So. It's official and launched this morning. Olivia Chow, my former city councillor and just-resigned MP, is running for mayor of Toronto.

Good.

I am not a partisan any more, but I did join the NDP years ago, principally to work to get Chow elected as MP over useless Liberal douchebag Tony "Trust Fund" Ianno*, which I did.

Before that I was an activist and as such consulted with her and her city councillor's office several times on behalf of my little gang and we always got a warm reception and helpful advice.

I like her and admire her. I think she'll be good for the city. And I will do my part as a wee blogger and tweeter to help get her elected.

But there's another fun angle.

From the link above:

Chow's campaign will be headed by veteran Conservative strategist John Laschinger, while her war room will be run by Warren Kinsella, a well-known Liberal.

Regular, long-term readers of DJ! may remember -- and others bored to tears by -- the history between Kinsella and me.

In the 2011 Ontario election, I came up with the tidbit that CONservative leader, Tim Hudak, had vowed to fetus fetishists that he would defund abortion.

Kinsella happily snaffled that meme, eventually crediting me with the discovery, and we worked a pretty good tag-team on the hapless Hudork on the topic over the election.

But then, something bizarre happened.

Kinsella had deemed me an idiot. Three times.

OK, then.

At first, I was confused that a wee blogger like me would attract such wrath. But soon I was mostly amused, especially when the kerfuffle occasioned absolutely magnificent blogging from Dred Tory, Dr. Dawg, and DJ's own Námo Mandos.

In ensuing Twitter exchanges, WK blocked me. (He is apparently quite quick to do so, something of a handicap, one would think, in trying to run a "war room" intended to attract perhaps obstreperous progressives.)

Over the upcoming loooooong mayoral campaign, which I plan to cover in my half-assed way, I expect that I will offer both kudos and razzberries to Ms Chow and her campaign.

I wonder how each will go over with the Lib-turned-municipal-nonpartisan attack dog.

I wonder if I'm still on his radar.

I guess we'll find out.

Stay tuned.

*In more recent news today, it seems that Christine Innes, wife of Tony Trust Fund, wants to run again in the Trinity-Spadina by-election caused by Chow's resignation. Chow beat her twice, but hey, these Liberals are pretty bouncy.

Well, bouncy until the bullying tactics of their classless husbands get their candidacies blocked by head office.

Fun times ahead!

Holy Trademark Infringement!

So, today our Crack Mayor signed bobbleheads for idiots people who waited in line for hours. He signed and schmoozed for four hours.

It's all good. It's for charity.

But then the bobbleheads ran out, but the line-up didn't, so he started signing t-shirts.

Ruh-roh. Wonder what the Ford Motor Company thinks of being connected to a crack-smoking, criminal-associating moron.

Not to mention trademark infringement.

Stay tuned. And if you're on the Twitter, retweet this.

Hey @FordCanada! Have a look at this. pic.twitter.com/2iqgaaQXs7 You good with it? #topoli

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) November 12, 2013

Photo via Don Peat

UPDATE: Ah. It is revealed.

A woman in the crowd is apparently selling the Ford Nation t-shirts with the car company's logo

— Ben Spurr (@BenSpurr) November 12, 2013

She was ejected from City Hall. Selling stuff not allowed.

MORE UPDATE:

Ford Motor Company did not grant permission for the use of its logo and thank you for bringing this to our attention.

— Ford Canada (@FordCanada) November 12, 2013

What's Missing from The Star's Latest on Ford's Felonious Friends?

The first sentence from The Star's latest story on Rob Fucking Ford and his criminal associates:

Toronto police are investigating attempts by associates of Mayor Rob Ford to retrieve the crack cocaine video.

Notice anything missing there?

No?

Compare to this poll being run by NewsTalk 1010 at the moment, which, by the way is running 84% 'yes'.

The Toronto Star reports that police are looking into Rob Ford's buddies' attempts to get their hands on an alleged video of the mayor smoking from a crack pipe. Do you believe the footage exists?

The Star has abandoned the use of the word 'alleged'.

The crack cocaine video.

No one, not The Star, not the cops, not a significant majority of NewsTalk's audience doubts.

Most significantly, The Star's lawyers do not doubt its existence.

I might blog on the story itself, with its plethora of sketchy characters, most of whom live in their parents' basements while driving pricey cars, later.

But for now, I just wanted to point this omission out.

Ford Follies: Monday Morning Round-up

Your Monday morning round-up on the bizarreness that is the Chief Magistrate of Toronto.

First from the Globe and Mail, Rob Fucking Ford goes to jail.

An after-hours appearance by Toronto Mayor Rob Ford at a west-end jail in March was deemed unusual by correctional officials and prompted an e-mail describing the incident for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, multiple sources have told The Globe and Mail.

Mr. Ford went to the jail that night to speak with a then-inmate named Bruno Bellissimo, The Globe has learned. Mr. Bellissimo, 43, is not named in the e-mail, but two sources, including Mr. Bellissimo’s mother, identified him as the person Mr. Ford was trying to contact.

At around 7 p.m. on March 25, about three hours after official visiting hours, Mr. Ford arrived unannounced at the Toronto West Detention Centre and asked if he could have a tour of the jail, four sources with knowledge of aspects of the incident said. After the tour request was declined, the mayor indicated he wanted to meet with Mr. Bellissimo, a source in the correctional system, as well as Mr. Bellissimo’s mother, Maria Bellissimo, said in interviews.

Bruno Bellissimo is described as having 'a history of drug-related activity'. He and Ford have known each other since they were kids.

Note also Ford lied initially, saying he wanted a tour of the jail then revealing he wanted to see Bellissimo.

Back to Taste of the Danforth. On his radio show yesterday, Ford admitted he had 'a couple of beers'. To many people this is the troubling bit.

The mayor said he drove himself to the festival area, and “I was not drinking.” But after having a few beers, Ford said he did not drive home because he was met by members of his staff.

Rob Ford missed official function 8 pm Friday, was in altered state beside car at 9. @siczar @shelleycarroll @michaeljohn1963 @TOMayorFord

— Jude MacDonald (@judemacdonald) August 12, 2013

For me, the tell is that he dodged the official function *and* his staff to go to the festival unleashed. Staff found out through 'social media', presumably Twitter, and came running. Along with about ten cops (?), they caught up with him.

Also. Again from The Star link.

His brother Doug, who is an Etobicoke councillor, added that he also joined the mayor at Taste of the Danforth.

“We go down to a festival. We have a couple beers and you have everyone on you,” Doug Ford said, noting they are just “average guys.”

The Star points out that 'those comments run counter' to what Dougie said in March.

Radio host Jerry Agar questioned Doug Ford about whether his brother has an alcohol problem. Doug Ford went as far as saying he has never seen Rob drink.

“When I’m out at an event, and you can ask any councillor, or anyone, I’ve never seen Rob drink. At family functions, I’ve never seen Rob drink,” he said in March.

All lies. All the time.



Image source and links to videos from Taste of the Danforth.

Is that a politician in your pocket?

So, Jabba the Mayor got wasted last night and wandered around Taste of the Danforth, where he was caught on video. NOW has the story with links to videos here. I may blog on this later, but for now I want to focus on another story about Ford that broke yesterday.

First, though, consider this photo that Edward Keenan wrote about last week under the title, 'The photo that gets more incriminating all the time'.

Anyhow, forget the video for at least a moment. Think about the photograph. In the picture above, there are four men. One is dead, two are under arrest, and one is the mayor of Toronto.

Keenan details all the links the photo has to 'brutal violence and the gun and drug trades, or both', and winds up with:

One murder, two shootings, one stabbing, one home invasion and beating with a pipe, four arrests, many search warrants, and the mayor of Canada’s largest city.

Forget the video. The photo provides enough troubling questions on its own.

Indeed. Many, many troubling questions.

And now there are more.

Late yesterday, the Toronto Sun (the Toronto Sun!) ran this exclusive.

“You owe me money,” a convicted drug peddler screamed at Rob Ford after bursting into the mayor’s home and later threatening to kill him.

Court documents recently obtained by the Toronto Sun reveal stunning new details about the mayor’s frightening run-in with a man who once had close ties to the Ford family — an incident that occurred in Rob Ford’s Etobicoke home and raises more questions in the wake of the crack cocaine allegations that have been dogging him.

A strung out Scott MacIntyre, the ex-boyfriend of Ford’s sister Kathy, entered uninvited through the unlocked front door of the Edenbridge Dr. house around 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 11, 2012, and began screaming about debts that needed to be paid, according to the documents.

“You owe me money, your sister owes me money, if I don’t get it, they will kill me,” MacIntyre, then 45, yelled at the mayor, who rushed to confront his sister’s longtime common law partner.

The documents — a transcript from MacIntyre’s court appearance at 2201 Finch Ave. W. on Apr. 23, 2012 — include an agreed statement of facts submitted during his guilty plea.

Scribd version of the transcript here. And here is The Star's report at the time on January 11, 2012.

'An agreed statement of facts'. That's what MacIntyre admits he said.

Here at DJ! we've written about Jabba's strange family, including the sad-case sister who attracts violent drug users, before.

And we've written about Jabba's own possible substance abuse.

Last night on Twitter some semi-professional do-gooders were wringing hands and tut-tutting at those of us who were demanding WHAT THE FUCK NOW? 'Not kosher to go after his family', we were told. 'Substance abuse is complicated', we were admonished.

This has gone waaaay beyond one over-fed dumb-ass bully with a troubled family and maybe addiction problems of his own.

Toronto's Chief Magistrate surrounds himself with criminals, criminal activities, and violence.

There is a reason that politicians and wielders of power and influence (used to) eschew criminals and criminal activities.

Because criminals like nothing better than to have a pol in their pocket.

We need to know: what does Rob Ford owe? To whom? And for what?

Who owns Rob Ford? Or rents him on a regular basis?

We need an investigation. Or several.

Part-Time Mayor Stupid

Mayor Stupid ducked out on an executive committee meeting to coach highschool football, prompting Adam Vaughan to roll out the 'part-time mayor' meme again.

“The executive committee is the mayor’s committee and he has responsibilities to it,” he said Tuesday. “He’s not being paid to coach football, he’s not being paid to do anything other than being mayor by taxpayers.”

. . .

“People who come to address committee expect to have an audience with the mayor,” Mr. Vaughan pointed out.

Mr. Ford dismissed accusations that he is not doing his job. “I work harder than any mayor ever has,” he said. He added that citizens who missed him at Monday’s meeting can always give him a call.

“I return all my phone calls,” he said. “Everyone has my number. Anyone who wants to call me I’d be more than happy to talk to them.”

Two years before the next election, Mr. Vaughan speculated that Mr. Ford is using his role as a football coach to raise his profile.

“I guess he sees that coaching football gives him a big publicity boost,” he said. “Being a folk hero is not his job. Being the mayor is and if he is not showing up for work he is not respecting taxpayers.”

Seriously. He thinks his job is to return phone calls.

On the other hand, as evidenced by his testimony at the conflict of interest thingy -- the best account of which is Edward Keenan's -- who knows what he thinks his job is?

Ford Nation responds to all criticism with: He won a majority, so STFU.

All Torontonians will remember the 2010 municipal election as having, IMO, the worst roster of mayoral candidates evah.

That said, Mayor Stupid did win. But strictly speaking, he did not win a majority.

Here are the numbers.

Ford: 47.1%
Smitherman: 35.6%
Pantelone: 11.7%

There were about 814,000 votes cast, or 53% of eligible voters.

I just did the math. Mayor Stupid actually had the support of about 25% of eligible voters.

That makes me feel better.

I am going to make it my personal Mission from Gawd to help get the other 47% of Torontonians off their butts next time.

But please Gawd, give us at least one credible -- ah hell, I'll settle for half-decent -- candidate.


Image source.