Ford Follies

The brothers Ford seem to have the same attitude: rules are for others.  I wrote in “The mantra is wearing thin” that Mayor Robbie is once again in trouble.  This time it stems from his football coaching.  Not only did he miss 5.5 hours of a 9 hour executive council meeting, of which he is the chair, to coach his high school football team, but it seems he has been using some of his office staffers as assistants – during business hours.  And yes, late yesterday a citizen did file a conflict of interest complaint with the city’s ethics commissioner.  But considering Robbie ignored the commissioner’s last ruling against him and that ended up in court, I doubt the complaint will really accomplish much.

According to an article in today’s online edition of The Toronto Sun, an unnamed source (they have to be protected because they aren’t authorized to speak for the mayor, but want the information known) Robbie’s staff mentioned his use of city personnel and equipment, in addition to his sloughing off his duties in favour of coaching, to him very early in his term.  Robbie’s attitude is, as I wrote above “rules, even rules he brought in as mayor, are for others” and ignored their concerns.  Rob Ford was elected on a slogan of “stop the gravy train”, meaning cut the waste at city hall.  However, when it comes to him personally and his football teams, it would appear that slogan should be “pass the gravy”, for his personal use of city property and people is the very thing he railed against during his campaign and called “gravy”.

Brother City Councillor Doug is another loose cannon.  Since the story on the football team broke earlier this week, Dougie has been popping up on various radio stations around Toronto defending his brother and making promises such as “the staff members will be brought forward so the media can speak with them.”  The main problem with his statements is that the only person who may speak for the mayor officially is his press secretary, and that ain’t Doug Ford.  City Hall says “no, the staffers will not be made available for the press”.  So, although Doug is introduced on these shows as “City Councillor Doug Ford”, in reality he’s just a guy trying to defend his brother’s idiot actions.

And of course, this entire folly is accompanied by Robbie’s mantra “it’s for the kids”.

I’m glad I don’t live in Toronto – the mayor here manages to do his job without all the nonsense Robbie seems to create – but at the same time I’m happy Robbie is the mayor because he provides so much fodder for these postings.

Enjoy the rest of your week and remember to hug an artist – we need love too.

Cat.

Hizzoner does it again

I don’t recall which character it was, but someone in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (if not the book, in the movie) said something like “words mean exactly what I want them to mean, nothing more, nothing less.”  Rob Ford, the mayor of Canada’s largest city, Toronto, seems to have taken that to heart, except he’s changed “words” for “laws”.

I’ve written before of his disregard for the law prohibiting talking on a cell phone while driving (and giving the finger to someone who took his photo doing so) and his reading a document while driving on an expressway at 45 miles an hour during morning rush hour.  Until now, I don’t think I’ve mentioned that he also drove past, or attempted to drive past, the open doors of a streetcar, which is also prohibited in the Highway Traffic Act.

For the past two days, Robbie has been in court fighting a conflict of interest charge brought by a citizen.  This goes back to when Robbie was “City Councillor Robbie”, not “Mayor Robbie”.  Bit of background here: When he was a member of City Council, he was noted for not using any of his annual budget, but would pay for everything from his own pocket.  He could afford it.  As I’ve written before, the Fords are part of the 2% if not the 1%.  So, Councillor Robbie paid to have his city hall stationery printed.  He used some of that stationery – city hall stationery, not personal “Rob Ford” stationery – to solicit funds for a football club for youth he is involved with.  Apparently some of the people to whom he sent these letters are also lobbyists at city hall.

The city’s ethics commissioner found this was a violation of some bylaw and ordered him to repay the money, totalling approximately $3,150.  Well, even as councillor, Robbie would do only what he felt was right, not what the law said he should do.  He never repaid it.  Finally, after several warnings, the matter was referred to city council for resolution.  When it came up in council, now Mayor Robbie made a speech to the effect that he personally never benefited from the money, that it was “for the kids”.    That’s fine, he’s allowed to defend himself.  But where he came into conflict of interest was when he voted in favour of the motion that rescinded the order to repay the funds. In other words, he voted in favour of a motion which, if passed, would mean a financial benefit to him.  That benefit is not having to pay three grand from his own pocket.

This man has been in municipal politics for at least ten years.  After each election, he swore an oath to uphold the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act – an act which he admitted in court, under oath, he’d never read.  Although he admitted he’d never read the Act, city records show that on previous occasions he has declared a conflict and refrained from voting on an issue.  Not this time.  While on the stand yesterday, court records show our  Robbie saying ““I believe that (in) a conflict of interest you have to have two parties involved and the city has to benefit and a member of council has to benefit and this case that we’re talking about here today is only my issue”.  This is not the definition contained in the Act.  But, as I wrote above, this is Robbie’s definition therefore it’s the only one that matters.  Robbie has been repeating, almost mechanically, that this is “all about the kids”.  No Robbie, the money may have been “all about the kids”, but this case is about the fact you broke the law – the actual law – not your interpretation of it.

This court case isn’t simply a matter of whether or not Robbie should repay the money.  If Rob Ford is found guilty of the conflict of interest, the law requires the judge to remove him from office.  The judge could also prevent him from running for municipal office again for up to seven years, so this isn’t just a small “nuisance” case as Robbie and his brother, Councillor Doug, are trying to portray it.

The case has apparently wound up and the judge is expected to deliver a decision sometime with the next four months according to legal experts.  Maybe Robbie can use the time to actually read the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act and when he finishes that, he can start on the Highway Traffic Act.

To my followers and readers, enjoy the rest of your week and remember to hug an artist – we need love too.

Cat.

Hmm … “words mean exactly what I want them to mean, nothing more, nothing less” I wonder if people would buy that if I used it as a reason for using an incorrect word.  Probably not.

C.