Rob Ford: The real gravy at city hall

[groggy]

The heart of the court action is this though: influence peddling.
In other words did he solicit donations from parties that resulted in their gaining influence for a favorable outcome for their business.
Show me proof that this occured. Show me he had anything but altruism in his motives.
As for use of cars cellphones etc by city employees for charitable reasons: if the rules state this is wrong then the rules need to be changed. This typed of thing can be handled with upfront reporting of activities.
Its a witchhunt.
And the other councillors are being awful silent. How many of them and their asst have used city resourses in the same fashion. For Pride. For charitable runs. For private community/cultural festivals.
How many times does the ttc allow the union to use ttc property to seel pizza slices?

Double standard.

The heart of the court case was about whether Rob was allowed to vote on a council decision that would have personally saved him $3,000. That's where the conflict of interest lies, he voted to allow him not to pay back improper donations, saving him personally $3,000.

That's a conflict of interest.

This new thing is a different issue, and also bad.
Ford should be doing the job of Mayor while we are paying him, not out there getting his willies coaching some amateur football team.
I don't want to personally pay him to coach that team and to personally pay his assistants to organize practices and games.
He's free to do it on his own time, but he should make sure he's doing the job he's being paid for when he's supposed to be doing it.

 

[msog87]

I wonder if the Ford family lets their employees duck out of work 5 hours early to engage in their hobbies?

I wonder if the Ford family allows the same employees to use company owned property to support their hobbies?

What do you think?

slacking off in the public sector is nothing new, just ask david miller who had a higher rate of absenteeism than ford does

 

[msog87]

It was widely-reported that two of the donations that were in question in regards to Ford's court case were an "unnamed Toronto taxi company" and Woodbine racetrack.

You wanna seriously try to claim that there isn't anything sketchy about that????

That-said... this thread isn't even about his court case. It's about him using your money to fund his football coaching hobby.

(... not to mention how he purgered (sp?) himself just last week in court by saying city resources and staff are no longer involved with his role as da coach.....)

what? a politician using their power for personal gain? whether or not ford is guilty of this, this is normal for politician. when you vote for someone, you vote for the lesser evil. Had george smitherman got elected, not only would he have used his power for personal gain like ford may be doing, but he'd also support harmful socialist policies unlike rob ford. im sick of hypocrisy and double standards. Theres a saying....POWER CORRUPTS!

 

[fuji]

slacking off in the public sector is nothing new, just ask david miller who had a higher rate of absenteeism than ford does

Really, do you have evidence of that? How many council meetings did Miller miss?

 

[msog87]

Really, do you have evidence of that? How many council meetings did Miller miss?

it was reported in the media the other day miller had a 31% absent rate

 

[fuji]

it was reported in the media the other day miller had a 31% absent rate

So I looked it up. When Miller was "absent" it was generally because he was travelling on city business. Prime Ministers tend to be absent from Parliamentary votes for the same reason.

I think the concern with Ford is not just that he misses council votes, but that his schedule appears empty, he isn't off somewhere on city business, he's just never around, and it turns out that's because he's off playing football or whatnot instead of doing any actual work. His own staff has leaked that he doesn't bother showing up to the office a lot of days. I think Ford needs to decide whether he wants to be Mayor, or whether he wants to be something else.

 

[Jennifer_]

what? a politician using their power for personal gain? whether or not ford is guilty of this, this is normal for politician. when you vote for someone, you vote for the lesser evil. Had george smitherman got elected, not only would he have used his power for personal gain like ford may be doing, but he'd also support harmful socialist policies unlike rob ford. im sick of hypocrisy and double standards. Theres a saying....POWER CORRUPTS!

I barely paid attention to this city's politics prior to Ford - I had just moved here I don't begrudge people who voted for him. Hell - I have gay friends who voted for him (and now regret it).

I love politics and I hope I can get involved in politics someday. I want to get into politics for genuinely good reasons - not for personal gain... I refuse to believe corrupt shit is motivation for all politicians.

I have a major problem with the hard core Ford Nation crowd who continue to make excuses for him or refuse to call him out on his glaring hypocricy or accuse those who do as being agenda-driven. YOU are simply emboldening his idiocy.

Harmful socialist programs? I call it being proactive rather than reactive. The generation before mine kinda faked us up with penny pinching... I don't approve of politicians who want to continue adding to the crap I'm gonna have to pay for someday bc people now want a short cut without taking a second to think about what the result will be for people like me sometime down the line.....

It just blows me away that those of you who ran towards Ford bc he claimed (though if you paid attention beyond soundbites you'd realize he did not "do") that he's saved y'all lotsa money... yet AFTER ITS APPARENT he's doing exactly what he won the election by fighting against ... you will still make excuses for him.

If he was a left leaning politician you'd be up in arms. Look at what you are defending!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!
Why? Why? Why?

I don't give a fak about where someone sits on the political litmus test. I make no apology for calling an incompetent idiot of a mayor what he is... why do some of you have to play the partisan game and defend behavior you claim to hate? He's not a good mayor - whether you voted for him or not is a non-issue. Mayors from the past are non-issues. The people he ran against are non-issues. The fact that he won 2 years-ago is a non-issue.
What matters is what he is doing NOW - to defend his idiocy is beyond comprehension. Winning an election doesn't give him a hall pass that entitles him to be a complete idiot (whose salary you pay for).

Dont you expect better of someone who's working for you???

STOP EXCUSING HIS SHITTY PERFORMANCE!


holy fakn double standard man....

 

[PornAddict]

I barely paid attention to this city's politics prior to Ford - I had just moved here I don't begrudge people who voted for him. Hell - I have gay friends who voted for him (and now regret it).

I love politics and I hope I can get involved in politics someday. I want to get into politics for genuinely good reasons - not for personal gain... I refuse to believe corrupt shit is motivation for all politicians.

I have a major problem with the hard core Ford Nation crowd who continue to make excuses for him or refuse to call him out on his glaring hypocricy or accuse those who do as being agenda-driven. YOU are simply emboldening his idiocy.

Harmful socialist programs? I call it being proactive rather than reactive. The generation before mine kinda faked us up with penny pinching... I don't approve of politicians who want to continue adding to the crap I'm gonna have to pay for someday bc people now want a short cut without taking a second to think about what the result will be for people like me sometime down the line.....

It just blows me away that those of you who ran towards Ford bc he claimed (though if you paid attention beyond soundbites you'd realize he did not "do") that he's saved y'all lotsa money... yet AFTER ITS APPARENT he's doing exactly what he won the election by fighting against ... you will still make excuses for him.
É







If he was a left leaning politician you'd be up in arms. Look at what you are defending!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!
Why? Why? Why?

I don't give a fak about where someone sits on the political litmus test. I make no apology for calling an incompetent idiot of a mayor what he is... why do some of you have to play the partisan game and defend behavior you claim to hate? He's not a good mayor - whether you voted for him or not is a non-issue. Mayors from the past are non-issues. The people he ran against are non-issues. The fact that he won 2 years-ago is a non-issue.
What matters is what he is doing NOW - to defend his idiocy is beyond comprehension. Winning an election doesn't give him a hall pass that entitles him to be a complete idiot (whose salary you pay for).

Dont you expect better of someone who's working for you???

STOP EXCUSING HIS SHITTY PERFORMANCE!


holy fakn double standard man....

Bottom line Rob Ford is best mayor ever for Toronto..He saved me car registration tax of $60 last year. per vehicle My wife also have a car so she saved another $60. So for a family have two car its $120 in total. In ten year it will saved me $1200 plus interest. I would rather my money stay in my pocket instead of going to the city. ..Espically to those left wing scum bag government like Miller allies always crying that the city is broke and poor. All they know how to do is to TAX AND SPEND MY FUCKING HARD EARN DOLLAR. Like $20,000 for coucillar kye going away party whcih the ethic commisoner found nothing was wrong with that. If that happen in a private sector the whole lots of people who was involved with that would have been fired. Even the ethic commioners would also been fired for her decision on her finding that there were none wrong with misuses of city money or company money,,,if that happened in any private company she would have been the first one out of the door.

 

[Butler1000]

No Jennifer. The generation of politicians screwed up not with penny-pinching, but with wasteful spending. Of all stripes. By running deficits on social spending. By not upgrading infrastucture. By giving people a free ride.
Last night I watched the town hall meeting for Danzing street residents. And listened people tell of being there for 10+ years. Able-bodied people. Able minded people. On welfare. In subsididized housing.
Don't you think there should be a cut off point?
A point when we as a community say to those capable of taking care of themselves that its time to do so?
My problem isn't with helping people who need it. Its with enabling those who don't.
Is it a magic budget bullet. No. Is it a start yes.
Show respect for my hard earned tax dollers. That's not a lot to ask.
That is the Message Mayor Ford was elected on. I believe these attacks are not really about him but about the message. A lot of people are making money off the city. Illgotten gains. The message is a threat to them. They can't attack the message. So attack and discredit the messanger. I believe that's what this is about. To defend the message, I will defend the man.

 

[MattRoxx]

Look at Ford's double standards:
He cut social services to the poor but now uses city hall resources to create his own personalized service to his select few chosen poor.
He calls out other councillors for using city hall resources for their own use then goes and hires an ex-football player to help his 'charity' team on the city's dollars.

The fat fucker should just show up and do his job, not go skipping off to play football with his friends on our dollar.

Speaking of double standards, shortly after the shooting at the Eaton Centre

"The best social program is a job," Mayor Ford said. "I don't believe in these programs. I call them 'hug a thug" programs, and they haven't been very productive in the past, and I don't know why we're continuing with them."

But before he was against those hug-a-thug programs he was for them

In the past, Ford has sounded like a regular bleeding heart when explaining the importance of the football program he kickstarted nearly a decade ago with his own money. He’s pointed out that more than half of the 80 players he coaches at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School live in public housing. As part of a National Post feature a few years back, Ford got right to the core of the matter: ”Many of the kids on this team don’t have fathers in their lives anymore – some never did.”

In the same article, Ford directly credited his program with helping an NFL-bound player avoid a life of violent crime: “If it wasn’t for football, I’m absolutely sure he would be dead or in jail.”

He should get out of politics and do the charity football program full time.

 

[Moviefan-2]

The generation before mine kinda faked us up with penny pinching...

Thinking back on the '90s, it's worth noting that two of the big penny pinchers of that age -- Jean Chretien and Mike Harris -- are each held in high regard by members of their respective parties.

Perhaps they did something right.

 

[Butler1000]

Thinking back on the '90s, it's worth noting that two of the big penny pinchers of that age -- Jean Chretien and Mike Harris -- are each held in high regard by members of their respective parties.

Perhaps they did something right.

They did do something right. The city didn't follow though. A lot of downloading occured then. The cities were at the bottom. But they carried on business as usual. These were the heydeys of Layton et al. No real infrastructure improvements. When amagamation happened what should have turned into savings turned into added costs. To some we aren't people. Just wallets.

 

[fuji]

They did do something right. The city didn't follow though. A lot of downloading occured then. The cities were at the bottom. But they carried on business as usual. These were the heydeys of Layton et al. No real infrastructure improvements. When amagamation happened what should have turned into savings turned into added costs. To some we aren't people. Just wallets.

Amalgamation pushed a lot of cost to the city and left them unable to pay basic maintenance. Toronto for years was getting by only by selling of capital assets. This led to the backlog that is crushing the city today.

The reason why it was such a disaster is that it was done with no consultation, and as a result, done badly. The Harris government was big on ideas but came up short on implementation. They were incompetent when it came to working with others, instead preferring a belligerent, hostile approach.

As it turns out, fur something as complex as amalgamation, you need to work with others to get it right.

McGuinty did a lot to clean up the mess Harris left, but there see still problems that leave the city unable to invest well enough.

In fact Miller did invest in upgrades, but in other threads you guys are critical of that, because it had to be debt financed.

 

[groggy]

Bottom line Rob Ford is best mayor ever for Toronto..He saved me car registration tax of $60 last year. per vehicle My wife also have a car so she saved another $60. So for a family have two car its $120 in total. In ten year it will saved me $1200 plus interest. I would rather my money stay in my pocket instead of going to the city. ..Espically to those left wing scum bag government like Miller allies always crying that the city is broke and poor. All they know how to do is to TAX AND SPEND MY FUCKING HARD EARN DOLLAR. Like $20,000 for coucillar kye going away party whcih the ethic commisoner found nothing was wrong with that. If that happen in a private sector the whole lots of people who was involved with that would have been fired. Even the ethic commioners would also been fired for her decision on her finding that there were none wrong with misuses of city money or company money,,,if that happened in any private company she would have been the first one out of the door.

How about the outrage of hiring a $35k assistant to run Ford's football team?
Don't you find that offensive?

What about using city of Toronto car's to ferry around high school football teens?
That's offensive, isn't it?

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/cityhallpolitics/article/1256463--rob-ford-s-own-staff-raised-red-flags-over-football

 

[msog87]

I barely paid attention to this city's politics prior to Ford - I had just moved here I don't begrudge people who voted for him. Hell - I have gay friends who voted for him (and now regret it).

I love politics and I hope I can get involved in politics someday. I want to get into politics for genuinely good reasons - not for personal gain... I refuse to believe corrupt shit is motivation for all politicians.

I have a major problem with the hard core Ford Nation crowd who continue to make excuses for him or refuse to call him out on his glaring hypocricy or accuse those who do as being agenda-driven. YOU are simply emboldening his idiocy.

Harmful socialist programs? I call it being proactive rather than reactive. The generation before mine kinda faked us up with penny pinching... I don't approve of politicians who want to continue adding to the crap I'm gonna have to pay for someday bc people now want a short cut without taking a second to think about what the result will be for people like me sometime down the line.....

It just blows me away that those of you who ran towards Ford bc he claimed (though if you paid attention beyond soundbites you'd realize he did not "do") that he's saved y'all lotsa money... yet AFTER ITS APPARENT he's doing exactly what he won the election by fighting against ... you will still make excuses for him.

If he was a left leaning politician you'd be up in arms. Look at what you are defending!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!
Why? Why? Why?

I don't give a fak about where someone sits on the political litmus test. I make no apology for calling an incompetent idiot of a mayor what he is... why do some of you have to play the partisan game and defend behavior you claim to hate? He's not a good mayor - whether you voted for him or not is a non-issue. Mayors from the past are non-issues. The people he ran against are non-issues. The fact that he won 2 years-ago is a non-issue.
What matters is what he is doing NOW - to defend his idiocy is beyond comprehension. Winning an election doesn't give him a hall pass that entitles him to be a complete idiot (whose salary you pay for).

Dont you expect better of someone who's working for you???

STOP EXCUSING HIS SHITTY PERFORMANCE!


holy fakn double standard man....

Thats your opinion that his performance has been shitty, I think he's been as great as a mayor of toronto could possibly be. All of his supposed transgressions are so minor it's a joke. He's been on the taxpayers side and believe me that is very rare, most politicians fuck over the taxpayer. If it wasn't him then some other asshole would be in office, at least this asshole wastes my money less than everybody else.

 

[msog87]

No Jennifer. The generation of politicians screwed up not with penny-pinching, but with wasteful spending. Of all stripes. By running deficits on social spending. By not upgrading infrastucture. By giving people a free ride.
Last night I watched the town hall meeting for Danzing street residents. And listened people tell of being there for 10+ years. Able-bodied people. Able minded people. On welfare. In subsididized housing.
Don't you think there should be a cut off point?
A point when we as a community say to those capable of taking care of themselves that its time to do so?
My problem isn't with helping people who need it. Its with enabling those who don't.
Is it a magic budget bullet. No. Is it a start yes.
Show respect for my hard earned tax dollers. That's not a lot to ask.
That is the Message Mayor Ford was elected on. I believe these attacks are not really about him but about the message. A lot of people are making money off the city. Illgotten gains. The message is a threat to them. They can't attack the message. So attack and discredit the messanger. I believe that's what this is about. To defend the message, I will defend the man.

The govt wants ppl in poverty, they want ppl dependent on taxpayers money so that they can secure votes. poor people and those barely getting by easily outnumber the well to do people, so they easily outvote them.

 

[fuji]

Thats your opinion that his performance has been shitty, I think he's been as great as a mayor of toronto could possibly be. All of his supposed transgressions are so minor it's a joke. He's been on the taxpayers side and believe me that is very rare, most politicians fuck over the taxpayer. If it wasn't him then some other asshole would be in office, at least this asshole wastes my money less than everybody else.

Ford has fucked over the tax payer worse than any mayor of Toronto i can remember. What he says and what he actually does are unrelated.

Ford is the mayor that finally gave the TTC union jobs for life, with guaranteed pay raises forever.

Miller gave the union a sweet deal once. Ford then not only locked that sweet deal in forever, he locked it in with guaranteed raises!

Ford has been a fiscal catastrophe for Toronto.

 

[Jennifer_]

Thats your opinion that his performance has been shitty, I think he's been as great as a mayor of toronto could possibly be. All of his supposed transgressions are so minor it's a joke. He's been on the taxpayers side and believe me that is very rare, most politicians fuck over the taxpayer. If it wasn't him then some other asshole would be in office, at least this asshole wastes my money less than everybody else.

... with all due respect - I lose respect for ppl who would dare to pull out the "Ford saved me moola " line.

Anyone who actually thinks for themselves will see the glaring reality that Ford has cost you more than he's saved you or anyone in Toronto.

My Gawd - think for yourself man.....

 

[groggy]

Thats your opinion that his performance has been shitty, I think he's been as great as a mayor of toronto could possibly be. All of his supposed transgressions are so minor it's a joke. He's been on the taxpayers side and believe me that is very rare, most politicians fuck over the taxpayer. If it wasn't him then some other asshole would be in office, at least this asshole wastes my money less than everybody else.

Besides the $40k or so he wasted on his football hobby, how about taking a look at how much he is wasting on the transit file?
How much is he costing us in delayed and/or cancelled plans and possibly lost provincial funding?
How much would his ferris wheel cost us?

The man is a joke, a cartoon of a buffoon, not smart enough to merit the job.
He can't even understand what his responsibilities are, let alone understand how the budget works.

 

[dirk076]

No Jennifer. The generation of politicians screwed up not with penny-pinching, but with wasteful spending. Of all stripes. By running deficits on social spending. By not upgrading infrastucture. By giving people a free ride.
Last night I watched the town hall meeting for Danzing street residents. And listened people tell of being there for 10+ years. Able-bodied people. Able minded people. On welfare. In subsididized housing.
Don't you think there should be a cut off point?
A point when we as a community say to those capable of taking care of themselves that its time to do so?
My problem isn't with helping people who need it. Its with enabling those who don't.
Is it a magic budget bullet. No. Is it a start yes.
Show respect for my hard earned tax dollers. That's not a lot to ask.
That is the Message Mayor Ford was elected on. I believe these attacks are not really about him but about the message. A lot of people are making money off the city. Illgotten gains. The message is a threat to them. They can't attack the message. So attack and discredit the messanger. I believe that's what this is about. To defend the message, I will defend the man.

Dead on. They're trying to fight the election through his whole term. For those of us outside the City, the joke is not Ford, it's Adam Vaughan and his ilk. They are the pathetic ones. The joke is the City, the witch hunt, not Ford.