[BeaverFever]

Gunnair Gunnair:

$1:

Ford testified in court in September, revealing that he had never read the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act he is accused of breaking, nor the handbook given to city councillors that spells out the rules for declaring conflicts.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/11/25/toronto-ford-conflict-case-decision-release.html

Interesting....

That's his whole problem...weve had other uneducated right-wing mayors who held on for long periods -Mel Lastman for example, but Ford is one of the tea-party type jihadists who thinks he doesn't have to learn or abide by the rules since hes on a divine mission to cut taxes. Anyone who disagrees with anything he says or gets in his way is an evil socialist that must be destroyed wrathful vengeance and ruled over like a king...including the integrity commissioner. According to Ford, we dont need integrity legislation, we just need to keep people like him in power who always get the "right" things done by all means necessary

[Bodah]

Bravo Zip !

[Xort]

Looks like Mayor Ford got a lot done and did what he was put in office to do. But it seems like he wasn't batshit crazy liberal enough to be the mayor of a large city.

[BeaverFever]

Xort Xort:

Looks like Mayor Ford got a lot done and did what he was put in office to do. But it seems like he wasn't batshit crazy liberal enough to be the mayor of a large city.

Yes, excellent analysis. He was elected to violate the integrity act, something only a batshit crazy liberal wouldn't do. Bravo.

[Xort]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Yes, excellent analysis. He was elected to violate the integrity act, something only a batshit crazy liberal wouldn't do. Bravo.

People seemed not to like him before this ruling was made.

Good job missing the point.

[Gunnair]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Step right up, folks, it's time to roll out the right-wing "victim wagon" again. Trudeau got a pass and everyone is picking on poor Rob Ford. The media is going apeshit on the poor Cons again.

Let's stack it up shall we. Let's look at the actual evidence. Trudeau made some unfavourable comments about Albertans. If he indeed got a "free pass" then you wouldn't have heard about it at all. The papers wouldn't have picked it up...but they did. I'd say you have an close analogy with Stephen Harper's comments to an American business club prior to his making it as top dog. They weren't that nice, he probably regretted them, but in the final analysis, despite the wailing and rending of clothes of a few, Harper prevailed.

As for Jean Chretien and his Liberals, the drubbing they received at the hands of the electorate should put to rest any silliness that they got an easy ride. Again, there is a very good analogy with Kim Campbell and the PCs following Mulroney's last years, when everyone was sick of him.

Did Ezra give Trudeau a free pass? Charles Adler? The NeoCon editorial stable at the National Post? Our own CKA editorialist, JJ? No, no, no and no.

Can you say pity party?

[BeaverFever]

Xort Xort:

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Yes, excellent analysis. He was elected to violate the integrity act, something only a batshit crazy liberal wouldn't do. Bravo.

People seemed not to like him before this ruling was made.

Good job missing the point.

All politicians are unliked by some element of the public and the establishment. They dont all end up being removed from office by a court of law.

[Curtman]

Winnipeg mayor mum on Rob Ford's removal from office

$1:

Katz said he did not know about the situation in Toronto until he was told reporters wanted to ask him about it.

"I don't really focus on what's going on in Toronto. My job is to take care of the needs and the concerns of the citizens of Winnipeg. So I'm not going to make any comment on what's going on there," Katz told CBC News Monday afternoon.
...
Brian Kelcey, a civic politics instructor at the University of Winnipeg, says the case against Ford is very similar to a lawsuit Katz will face in court in April.

Katz is being sued by Joe Chan, a local restaurateur who alleges that public money was spent on a Christmas party for city staff at Hu's Asian Bistro, a restaurant that the mayor owned at the time.

I think Sam Katz is the best mayor we've had in a long time, it would be a shame to see him go too. But this, and this:

City to review some Shindico property deals

$1:

Now a city committee has agreed to look into two of the most recent controversial land deals — one at the downtown Canada Post building and the former Dominion Bridge steel fabricating site in the St. James industrial neighbourhood — with the possibility of terminating them.

Both contracts were awarded to Shindico, a company that Mayor Sam Katz has been criticized for being too cozy with.

"The process that allowed for some of these questionable deals to go forward, that process has been stopped. So that's really good news for taxpayers," Craig said following the Monday meeting.

"I think we've also drawn council's attention to the need for transparency in some of these projects."

Shindico land swap deal
Shindico is also currently at the centre of the fire hall land swap deal, which is about to face an external review.

It comes following weeks of questions about the tentative deal that was to see the city flip two abandoned fire halls and some land over to Shindico in exchange for property on Taylor Avenue where a new fire-paramedic station has already been built.

Details of the land swap began to emerge after Shindico advertised a lease on one of the former fire halls, located on Grosvenor Avenue, even though the deal had not been finalized.

And this:
Critics weigh in on Sam Katz's Arizona house purchase

$1:

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz's purchase of a home from the sister of a Shindico executive has people talking, including a former adviser who suggests Katz should leave office.

CBC News reported on Thursday that Katz paid more than $1 million US to buy a house in Scottsdale, Arizona, last month from Teri Nordstrom, the sister of Shindico chief financial officer Diane Shindleman and sister-in-law of president Sandy Shindleman.

The transaction is raising eyebrows because Shindico has been involved in some controversial real estate deals with the City of Winnipeg in recent months, including a land swap involving several fire hall properties.

All spell trouble ahead for our mayor. Especially if Rob Ford is removed for much, much less.

[kitty]

i voted for Rob Ford and despite what he "criminal activity" i would vote for him again. i think this is a sad day for Toronto

[Gunnair]

kitty kitty:

i voted for Rob Ford and despite what he "criminal activity" i would vote for him again. i think this is a sad day for Toronto

You might get your chance.

[Lemmy]

kitty kitty:

i voted for Rob Ford and despite what he "criminal activity" i would vote for him again. i think this is a sad day for Toronto

As big a critic of Ford as I am, I actually agree with some of that sentiment. I don't think Ford did anything seriously wrong enough to be tossed from office by the courts. I do think he's done plenty wrong enough to be tossed from office by voters in the next election. But that's another matter. This was petty. Ford, for all his faults, is a genuine guy and I'm confident whatever he was doing for the kids he coaches was done with honest intentions.

[BeaverFever]

Lemmy Lemmy:

kitty kitty:

i voted for Rob Ford and despite what he "criminal activity" i would vote for him again. i think this is a sad day for Toronto

As big a critic of Ford as I am, I actually agree with some of that sentiment. I don't think Ford did anything seriously wrong enough to be tossed from office by the courts. I do think he's done plenty wrong enough to be tossed from office by voters in the next election. But that's another matter. This was petty. Ford, for all his faults, is a genuine guy and I'm confident whatever he was doing for the kids he coaches was done with honest intentions.

Yeah, this event and the lawsuit hes currently involved in arent grave matters, hes just a bumbling idiot whos bleeding to death from 1000 self-inflicted papercuts. In my OP I said I thought this outcome was extreme, but the law is clear, it says explicitly that if you intentionally violate the ethics code, you must leave office. Doesn't matter if its for a dollar or if its for no money at all. Anything less would invite all kinds of favour-swapping and influence peddling in City Hall. He didnt need to go down this road, he chose to, just like he chose to publicly accuse that restaurant owner of bribery with zeo evidence. Hes just not accustomed to learning rules, let alone following them.

[OnTheIce]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Yeah, this event and the lawsuit hes currently involved in arent grave matters, hes just a bumbling idiot whos bleeding to death from 1000 self-inflicted papercuts. In my OP I said I thought this outcome was extreme, but the law is clear, it says explicitly that if you intentionally violate the ethics code, you must leave office. Doesn't matter if its for a dollar or if its for no money at all. Anything less would invite all kinds of favour-swapping and influence peddling in City Hall. He didnt need to go down this road, he chose to, just like he chose to publicly accuse that restaurant owner of bribery with zeo evidence. Hes just not accustomed to learning rules, let alone following them.

So the difference here is a letterhead, correct?

If Ford had solicited donations using a blank piece of white paper as his stationary, are we naive enough to think that the people he's asking for donations don't know who he is?

Would their be any cries from those on the left had he used blank stationary insinuating that asking for donations from anyone as a mayor, regardless of paper is a breach of ethics?

We all know the answer.

Mississauga Mayor McCallion was found guilty of conflict of interest TWICE when she voted on an issue that she benefited from financially and another where she saved her son millions in a development deal.

The law isn't "clear", it's subjective, and likely to be in appellate court for years. Different rules for different people, it seems.

[Gunnair]

I think it's very safe to say that partisanship is what is really driving this, irrespective of minor wrongdoing by Ford. That being said, it is the height of incompetence that Ford didn't even read the rule book.

Bad form all around, I think.

[BeaverFever]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Yeah, this event and the lawsuit hes currently involved in arent grave matters, hes just a bumbling idiot whos bleeding to death from 1000 self-inflicted papercuts. In my OP I said I thought this outcome was extreme, but the law is clear, it says explicitly that if you intentionally violate the ethics code, you must leave office. Doesn't matter if its for a dollar or if its for no money at all. Anything less would invite all kinds of favour-swapping and influence peddling in City Hall. He didnt need to go down this road, he chose to, just like he chose to publicly accuse that restaurant owner of bribery with zeo evidence. Hes just not accustomed to learning rules, let alone following them.

So the difference here is a letterhead, correct?

If Ford had solicited donations using a blank piece of white paper as his stationary, are we naive enough to think that the people he's asking for donations don't know who he is?

Would their be any cries from those on the left had he used blank stationary insinuating that asking for donations from anyone as a mayor, regardless of paper is a breach of ethics?

We all know the answer.

Mississauga Mayor McCallion was found guilty of conflict of interest TWICE when she voted on an issue that she benefited from financially and another where she saved her son millions in a development deal.

The law isn't "clear", it's subjective, and likely to be in appellate court for years. Different rules for different people, it seems.

Well the judge isnt local or partisan, but from what I understand it comes down to "error in judgement" vs purposeful intent. Ford could have been found guilty of the former, but instead of tye latter, but dont forget he refused to learn the rules, refused to return the commissioners repeated phone calls and inquiries, etc. The letterhead is a somewhat trivial mater -although all those he solicited with it were businessmen doing business with the City and lobbyists who were actively registered to lobby Ford and other councillors on municipal issues, so there is the appearance of influence peddling - but really this is just one in a long list of examples of how Fords poor judgement and juvenile demeanor turns minor things into big things.