Toronto Mayor Rob Ford

[Jarnhamar]

Perhaps the saddest part of the entire affair is that the people of Toronto electing Rob Ford actually represents a singing rebuke to the professional political class and indeed the entire "deep government" structure of all those "right thinking" people in academia, the bureaucracy, the judiciary and media who are so absolutely certain they know best how to run our lives and our society.

Great points.

What happens when our two options for political leaders become
1. Typical mealy mouthed politicians who screw off campaign promises and behave like typical politican-elites keeping up the 'same ole same ole'; or
2. Rod Ford-ish type down to earth politicans who apparently get shit down but have train wrecks for personal lives/are involved in "non-politican/usual politician" type criminal activity such as drugs.


It's probably not a good sign that I trust a crack smoking lying trainwreck politican more than I trust our "typical" ones.

 

[The_Falcon]

Great points.

What happens when our two options for political leaders become
1. Typical mealy mouthed politicians who screw off campaign promises and behave like typical politican-elites keeping up the 'same ole same ole'; or
2. Rod Ford-ish type down to earth politicans who apparently get crap down but have train wrecks for personal lives/are involved in "non-politican/usual politician" type criminal activity such as drugs.


It's probably not a good sign that I trust a crack smoking lying trainwreck politican more than I trust our "typical" ones.

The second point, one of my friends screen capped an interview Doug Ford had with CNN, behind him under a desk is a 40oz of Grey Goose......43 other politicians in silly hall, I bet you if you searched their offices, cars etc.  a person would probably find stuff, some not legal.  They have just been more discreet.

 

[Jarnhamar]

[quote author=Hatchet Man]
The second point, one of my friends screen capped an interview Doug Ford had with CNN, behind him under a desk is a 40oz of Grey Goose......43 other politicians in silly hall, I bet you if you searched their offices, cars etc.  a person would probably find stuff, some not legal.  They have just been more discreet.
[/quote]

Without a doubt.  I can't excuse his behavior but I'm sitting here wondering why I like him more than the rest of his calling.

 

[observor 69]

From the Nov 16 Sat. TO Star:

"On Ford, I shouldn’t have been so polite: Mallick

I’d like to say I warned you at election time but I didn’t. A braver columnist would have said many things.

For instance, it may very well be true that Ford is intoxicated daily. But his behaviour was so eccentric that I often wondered if the man was mentally ill. Yes, I’m saying it now but a braver columnist would have said it back then.


Ford is stupid. He has trouble with his native language. His nouns and verbs don’t match. His words emerge from a cruder era. His thoughts crash into each other. For instance, Ford claims it is insulting for media to repeat witness statements that his friend, the mysterious “Alana,” is a prostitute but it is not insulting for him, in his next breath, to refer to his wife’s genitals.

This is astounding. If he was not drunk outside his office when he said that Thursday morning, was he just at his usual level of idiocy or had he slipped the ropes that moored him to sanity?
Even now as the Americans — and the planet — howl with laughter, we are watching our words carefully because Ford is so pink and overweight that it seems improbable that he doesn’t simply keel over on camera. We say this as if we are under the impression that our words could cause this to happen.

No, it will be the drugs, cigarettes, crack, coke, KFC, a car crash, a fall or a fight with the wrong person, which could be Renata’s mother, frankly. Typing won’t finish off Ford, he will.

And his public descent has accomplished good things, let’s not forget that. Young prostitutes are heading back to community college in droves. I now look at wine, even the pleasant Chilean organic wines sitting in my fridge, with a level of fear. Ford Escorts are being renamed. Sun News TV, which has just given the Fords their own show starting Monday, is presumably having a rethink.

I hope they’re not because Sun News offers a handy little corral for the slower among us — it’s like a bouncy hate castle for grown-ups — and it comes with lanyards and badges that read We Voted for Ford.

My badge reads I Warned You. But I didn’t really. I held back, which I regret, and I offer so many apologies. To paraphrase our mayor, I will never ever ever do it again. Moving forward . . . "

hmallick@thestar.ca


A rather harsh statement on Ford but mostly correct in noting the aspects of the man behind City council moves to  seek his resignation.

 

[Edward Campbell]

I never thought I'd say this, because I always thought Mayor Ford was a buffoon, at best, but he must have done something right ...
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... Anyone who is on the wrong side of Heather Mallick will be carried off, by Brunhilde or one of her ilk, to Valhalla, when the time is ripe.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Mallick is a self serving hack.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Can't say I approve of Ford's personal conduct.

Can't say I approve of his fellow politicians who have taken the opportunity to achieve within the confines of city hall what they can not achieve openly at the ballot box, while allegations still remain unproven in a court.

I think the second point is going to outweigh the first among the largest plurality of voters.

 

[pbi]

This is really a modified form of the SLAPP lawsuit in action, attempting to drive out or discourage people who really want to make changes, and silence those who want to speak out against the current actors and system. You can already see the glee in the eyes of the pundits who hope with all their hearts Olivia Chow will become Mayor of Toronto; even though she is no friend of the taxpayers (and indeed I could see her brand of politics in action making her a deadly enemy of taxpayers and small business), any potential opponent will be getting the Rob Ford treatment the moment they even opine on the idea of running for Mayor.

I see the conspiracy mongering has begun already.

Nobody in their right mind hopes that Olivia Chow will be Mayor, and this sad litany of idiocy has nothing whatsoever to do with SLAPP.  If anything, Mayor Ford expresses himself too freely. If people "really want to make changes", they can start by demonstrating some basic tenets of public leadership. This man is a disgusting train wreck who should be removed as quickly as possible, except that unlike BC or several US states, we actually have no  machinery to do that. The public musings of Premier Wynne about "helping Toronto"  are just that: musings. She is the premier of a minority government. The Ontario PCs, who , (unlike their Federal counterparts), have remained amazingly silent on this entire agonizing mess, would never allow any action to be taken that could be construed as against Ford, lest they alienate their base in T.O.

I have been around for a few years now, and I have never, ever, seen a Canadian political leader who has actually or allegedly violated so many tenets of leadership as I understand them to exist.  Nor have I ever seen one who has attracted so much ridicule and negative attention to a city that definitely does not deserve it. Crack smoking, for me anyway, is the least of it all.

Once upon a time, councillors were willing to work with him: if this were not true, none of of his pet projects would have passed muster: don't forget that although he has the Executive Council to set the municipal agenda, he is only one vote. Without the support  of a majority of councillors, none of his initiatives would have passed.

He has now managed to wreck that. It is essentially him and his brother against Council.  Council has taken those actions which it appears are legal under the acts creating and governing the existence of Toronto as a political entity. Ford may not like it, and may well seek to threaten or intimidate council with his lawyers and his money, but he must remember that municipal democracy is not about one person: it is about a Council elected from across the City, and vested with certain powers. He is now feeling the weight of those powers.

People on the Right need to ask themselves if this is the best they can do: another loudmouthed, bullying, misbehaving, self-entitled buffoon who parades his ignorance as a badge of honour.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I don't live there.
I don't vote there.
What he does has no impact on me.
Just because he is a Canadian mayor, I'm not embarrassed by him.
I just can't seem to muster the righteous indignation that some others here seem capable of.
I could really care less what happens, although it would be interesting if he ran and won the next election.

If anything, he's been able to slap that smug smirk off the face of many Canadians in their view of America by giving us our own Marion Barry or Kwame Kilpatrick.

Let he who is without sin.... yada yada.

 

[observor 69]

The community just to the west of TO, pop.668,550 (2006,) has a 92 year old grandmother as Mayor and they're doing just fine thank you very much.  :nod:

 

[the 48th regulator]

And Rob Ford continues to be the Epic Mayor that he is!!!

:blotto:

dileas

tess

 

[mariomike]

The community just to the west of TO, pop.668,550 (2006,) has a 92 year old grandmother as Mayor and they're doing just fine thank you very much.  :nod:

I remember seeing Her Worship in action during the 1979 emergency in her city.

Looks, for now at least, like our Deputy Mayor will be in charge should the city go into Emergency Operations.

 

[a_majoor]

This article addresses precisely what you are getting at http://www.torontosun.com/2013/11/15/ford-nation-vs-political-class.  Furey mentions a Star article about were supposedly 50 or so behind the scenes people met at a high priced Toronto law firm, to discuss strategy (and entice John Tory to run) for the next election.  Furey mentions while the "elites" will breath a sigh of relief that "something" is going to be done about this issue, a great swath of the rest us (including myself) see this as nothing more than "political class" practicing the same old same old. 

A friend of mine is actually going to put his name in.  He is not doing it for shits and giggles, he actually intends to run a serious campaign, as hard as that will be for someone who is not connected.  With the ability of social media and viral marketing to spread a message without incurring huge costs, who knows.....

Best of luck to your friend. I am in Kingston so my ability to help is very limited, but anything to throw sand into the gears of the "elites" who will breath a sigh of relief that "something" is going to be done; perhaps if they did a little less "something" in the past we would not have reached the situation where Rob Ford looked like the best answer to the elites for many voters...

And PBI, there is plenty of stuff out in the open on the various expressions of shock and outrage that Ford was elected in the first place, the sustained efforts to unseat him long before this video and even the openly expressed hope that Olivia Chow will be able to sweep into power in the next election (and if Olivia Chow isn't a card carrying member of the "political elite class" then who is?), so this is more like reading the spoor on the ground than any conspiracy theory. I can only imagine the treatment Hatchet Man's friend will receive once he announces.

 

[X Royal]

I can only imagine the treatment Hatchet Man's friend will receive once he announces.

I'm sure you can after your run for mayor in London a few years back.

 

[The_Falcon]

I can only imagine the treatment Hatchet Man's friend will receive once he announces.

Probably very little, like most people who aren't part of "the establishment", a news outlet may do an obligatory story about the "other candidates" usually they are just fluff pieces talking about the 20-30 or so others who have thrown there name in.  Most of the time it's because they can, or to get a little notoriety (cough Enza cough).  He has a pretty solid twitter following, and has self published a few of his own writings (and I think may have served the 48th Regulator aka Tess a pint or two at some point), so he actually intend to make a concerted effort and get his name out there.  We are doing our research of the possible candidates, issues for platform ideas, counterpoints. I hope we do well.

As for Chow, as mentioned there has been considerable talk about her running, and quite a bit of support for her to do so.  The star and, G&M, and Toronto Life have speculated about her running, and how it will save us all.  :

 

[Nemo888]

The votes for Rob Ford look like anti-amalgamation protest votes on the map.  For me that is ironic because it was introduced by Mike Harris, the farthest right politician Ontarians have ever elected. I also though it was a very brave long term policy. In the late 90's Detroit's future was already written and everyone saw that what is happening now was inevitable. Then as now metro Detroit was surrounded by some of the wealthiest suburbs in America.  Oakland County is the fourth wealthiest in America for instance. Everyone fled metro Detroit for greater Detroit. Starved of taxes and resources city centres rot and die. The same thing was happening all over Ontario. So a right wing Premier saw this in our future and fixed the problem with amalgamation. Now city centres in Ontario are booming.  The alternative was Detroit style rotten core syndrome.  It's takes political courage to do something unpopular that helps people who don't vote for you a decade after you retire. Great job Mike Harris.

WTF with the one pink Smitherman neighborhood up in Vaughan(?) near the train yards??? Is it a huge GO train stop or something?

 

[dapaterson]

Saturday Night Live did their cold open with a Rob Ford theme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fcNDlhHFNw


Followed by Weekend Update:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mhFqgy9Q3A

 

[jollyjacktar]

:rofl:  You can't say he didn't have that coming.

 

[mariomike]

So a right wing Premier saw this in our future and fixed the problem with amalgamation.

Some departments were affected by it. Others not at all.

For example, the six fire departments were amalgamated into one.

But, Metro Police had already amalgamated in 1957, and the Department of Emergency Services ( EMS ) in 1967.

 

[a_majoor]

I'm sure you can after your run for mayor in London a few years back.

Indeed, although my campaign was more of a "how not to" exercise. The advantage for non establishment politicians today is there is a far greater access to non traditional channels for getting the word out than back in 06, although that cuts both ways; the "elites" can pay to have their messages pushed to the top of Google and probably manipulate other social media channels as well. Of course the person who defends everything defends nothing, so diverting dollars from traditional campaigning may be a good thing.

Hatchetman

I would also suggest that your friend researches and does the numbers. Although the political class is loath to talk about numbers, and will go to dizzying lengths to change the subject (or if pressed compare apples to building material), this is an effective tactic. Both Mayor DeCicco and then challenger Joe Fontana started their campaigns with an emphasis on Toronto garbage being trucked down the 401 as their key campaign issues, by doggedly sticking to the numbers both of them eventually changed their tunes as the campaign progressed, and discussions about finances and taxes were high on the list towards the end (although not as much as I would like, and certainly not enough to sway the election, otherwise I wouldn't be writing to you on Army.ca now!  ). You might not see any real effect in the campaign world (the Media faithfully stuck to the "narrative" in London, and I think they might actually have been puzzeled and even a bit annoyed that the "narrative" was changing from underneath them).

And of course cultivating legacy media is a good thing in Toronto, where there is a large media market and it is harder to get shut out. He might be able to get a reporter, talk show radio host or (low probability/high payoff) TV personality interested in following his campaign. I managed to get two talk show hosts to give me more than cursory coverage because I could supply a good sound bite and sounded halfway intelligent on their call in shows, skill sets your friend should start working on now. Practicing for ambush questions is also a skillset to be developed. While I doubt your friend or most people in his circle have the issues Rob Ford has, a detailed life review by your friend and his inner circle of advisors is probably desirable. You know the press and opposition are going to do this, be prepared. I suspect that now even relatively trivial events (parking ticket, controversial letter to editor, indescreet social media faux pas) could be vacuumed up and held as ammunition to make things difficult, and set your friend back on his heels (especially if he is gaining any traction).

Other lessons learned is to boil your campaign down to an "elevator pitch" (i.e. can you explain your campaign in the time it takes an elevator to go up or down a floor). Sadly for people like myself who like discourse, most people don't and are unwilling or unable to sit down for a big, detailed pitch of how he is going to change Toronto.