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.

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!