The clarification that allows Rob Ford to be a candidate in a by-election for his office gives his appeal a much better shot.
The Judge cites "considerably mitigating" circumstances for not imposing the penalty of banning him from public office for seven years.
He obviously does not believe Ford is unfit to hold public office. . He has decided the electorate should make the decision.
His decision was made according to the letter of the law.
He was not prepared to discern the intent of the law.
There is no case law to assist..
The trouble is,Toronto voters already made the decision They chose Rob Ford to serve as Mayor for the next four years. .
Now the city is to be put to enormous expense and upheaval and bitter division within the Council of choosing a new Mayor halfway through a term.
As if there aren't enough things to attend to.
Should other candidates be obliged to step down during the election? Like cabinet ministers in Premier McGuinty's government while campaigning to replace him.
Should City Council be prorogued during the campaign.?
How would that work?
Mario Gentile was a North York Councillor convicted of corruption in the 90's for accepting "gifts" from a developer among other things.
He had the same authority as Tom Jacobek in the city Council during the computer scandal. Both were controllers. In charge of finances.
One official who lost her job in the city was wined and dined and bedded and jetted about by a slick computer salesperson who apparently made millions from the deal.
Nobody went to jail for that corruption.
The inquiry cost the city $13million.
Conflict of Interest legislation got beefed up with penalties and the city, I believe , was compelled to strike a Code of Conduct and hire an Integrity Commissioner.
The rest of us got to do the Code of Conduct and Integrity Commissioner thing if we wanted..
In Aurora, we saw where it got us.
Mario Gentile was a very convivial fellow. A familiar figure at conferences. Amazingly generous with hospitality. Whatever he received and for whatever purpose, he certainly shared it about. to noticeable extent.
He ran for office again after his fall from grace.
As did Jacobek.
Neither succeeded.
Rob Ford does not compare.... No how..No way.
Adam Vaughan clearly wants the job. If enough of them go for it, they may split the vote for Ford. And if he kept his signs, he is ahead in the spending bracket. Not a peep from McGinty.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteSince I don't comment onto Christopher Watts' blog-site due to me desire to remain anonymous, and because Aurora Citizen seems to operate intermittently, I have decided to send this along to you.
In an article on Yorkregion.com dated November 29, without attribution, although sounding a lot like Debora Kelly, the headline is"
AURORA COUNCIL MUST MOVE PAST OLD QUARRELS
The subject is Councillor Michael Thompson's Motion regarding SLAPP litigation.
It is interesting that the article's author seems to condemn the request to consider a proposed future staff report in closed session, sanctimoniously criticizing these as not a councillor's place to suggest this. "On the contrary, members of council should fight for transparency."
If my memory is correct it was the then mayor Morris who requested the addition of "litigation - potential defamation" to the closed session portion of the Council meeting scheduled for September 14, 2010.
If a newspaper "editorial" is to have any value whatsoever, the first thing it should be is consistent.
The article concludes: "BOTTOM LINE: YOU DESERVE A COUNCIL FOCUSED ON ITS VISION FOR THE FUTURE."
That is precisely what the SLAPP litigation Motion is all about. Making sure that something like the Morris defamation action never happens again if it is SLAPP.
Ms. Kelly has a nice set of teeth, but her bark, and especially her bite, are completely misplaced.
It is beginning to look as though Premier Redford might be next - and her conflict involved considerably more money. Gary Mason in The Globe
ReplyDelete