Rob Ford Defends Robocalls

[IM469]

i am quite sure....if we are all on board with ROBOCALLS..that Ford can clarify for you. Or you may wanna catch it n the radio show.

Gee, why not wait for Ford to robo-call it to me and then up date every other twisted morsel of unsolicited political opinion on a daily basis ?

 

[Butler1000]

Only if the first call (and every robocall thereafter) has complete How to Get Yourself On the Do Not Call List instructions.
PERIOD! Really fm, why encourage shouting as well as the crassinterruption of political telemarketers? Don't we need more civility these days.

It may well be that we're in some age where speed and loudness rather than content and thought are what dictates our communications era, but that is not a Good Thing in and of itself. Nor is it in anyway a good thing when it comes to the long overdue matter of Ford pulling his thumb out on transit. Nor when all he's doing is slagging an opposing member on Council.

He's just demonstrated his mind and manners are the equal of Boris the Mover (or any duct cleaning scam). We don't really want to know you think that's actually a good thing in your favorite pol.

Try getting call display.....I think it was invented somethime in the 20th century....

(Ok relax...kidding!)

 

[fmahovalich]

I saw Ford today on CP24. Apologetic...nope. Not at all. More like ambliviant at best.....

Ford has no reason to apologize. He has already conceded taxes will go up to pay for subways. He saw his popularity jump in polling after the tax hike and subway announcements. He has a mandate and cash proposed. The constituents want subways. Ainslie reversed his thinking on it. The constituents SHOULD BE PISSED.

Ainslie will drop this. He comes off as a cry baby.

And it's not an argument to say its the wrong location, wrong format, or should be the Relief line!!

That line should be going in at the same time!

 

[oldjones]

Try getting call display.....I think it was invented somethime in the 20th century....

(Ok relax...kidding!)

Or try a vote for a Mayor with a developed and mature social conscience. That was thought of as an ordinary standard through most of the 20th Century.

We didn't push to get a federal DNC list because of all the good people responsibly using targeted marketing to enhance our society. Is targetting ordinary folks at home with intrusive attack ads against a Councillor you don't like really the low standard of public conduct we want from our elected officials?

You may admire the guy, and still think he's the best choice for Mayor, but that doesn't excuse him behaving like any other scummy telemarketer. They'll all tell you as sincerely as Rob, that your life will be all the better for listening to their spiell and buying their baloney, and that's all you, he and fm and others here are offering.

He's just shown us once again, how low a level he operates on. And how many are down there with him still.

 

[fmahovalich]

Or try a vote for a Mayor with a developed and mature social conscience. That was thought of as an ordinary standard through most of the 20th Century.

We didn't push to get a federal DNC list because of all the good people responsibly using targeted marketing to enhance our society. Is targetting ordinary folks at home with intrusive attack ads against a Councillor you don't like really the low standard of public conduct we want from our elected officials?

You may admire the guy, and still think he's the best choice for Mayor, but that doesn't excuse him behaving like any other scummy telemarketer. They'll all tell you as sincerely as Rob, that your life will be all the better for listening to their spiell and buying their baloney, and that's all you, he and fm and others here are offering.

He's just shown us once again, how low a level he operates on. And how many are down there with him still.

Ainslie had a choice. His constituents were clear on what they wanted. Mr Ainslie gave them the finger.

you know..it's funny how the anti Ford crowd hates this one piece of robocalling..pointing out a deficiency by Ainslie.....

yet the anti Ford crowd has No problem with Mr Ford being centered out several times a day..in all sorts of media...for his deficiencies. He has an unconscionable amount of 'gonna getcha' FOI requests, countless attacks from all sides, all the while he sticks to his mantra.....that being the subway for Scarboro.......yet when Ainslie gives his constituents the finger....Mr Ford is still wrong.....and should not call him on it.

Again.... Back to the OP post......Im for ROBOCALLS.

 

[Butler1000]

Or try a vote for a Mayor with a developed and mature social conscience. That was thought of as an ordinary standard through most of the 20th Century.

We didn't push to get a federal DNC list because of all the good people responsibly using targeted marketing to enhance our society. Is targetting ordinary folks at home with intrusive attack ads against a Councillor you don't like really the low standard of public conduct we want from our elected officials?

You may admire the guy, and still think he's the best choice for Mayor, but that doesn't excuse him behaving like any other scummy telemarketer. They'll all tell you as sincerely as Rob, that your life will be all the better for listening to their spiell and buying their baloney, and that's all you, he and fm and others here are offering.

He's just shown us once again, how low a level he operates on. And how many are down there with him still.

Look at some of the Now Magazine covers over the years. And some of the unflaturing pictures published. And tell me again about "low" standards......

 

[Anbarandy]

Robo-Rob:

“It was extremely, extremely unfortunate that your councillor, Paul Ainslie, was the only Scarborough councillor who did not listen to his constituents and voted against the Scarborough subway. In fact, he led the charge against building subways in Scarborough.”

Municipal Code of Conduct, breaches:

1) Bullying and Intimidation (City of Toronto employees will be terminated for such breaches)
2) Misuse of City of Toronto resources (city of Toronto employees will be disciplined up to and including termination for such breaches)
3) Campaigning against other councilors when no election has been called.

Robo-Rob: "I don't know what I did wrong."

 

[Butler1000]

Robo-Rob:

“It was extremely, extremely unfortunate that your councillor, Paul Ainslie, was the only Scarborough councillor who did not listen to his constituents and voted against the Scarborough subway. In fact, he led the charge against building subways in Scarborough.”

Municipal Code of Conduct, breaches:

1) Bullying and Intimidation (City of Toronto employees will be terminated for such breaches)
2) Misuse of City of Toronto resources (city of Toronto employees will be disciplined up to and including termination for such breaches)
3) Campaigning against other councilors when no election has been called.

Robo-Rob: "I don't know what I did wrong."

Considering he brought forth the motion, I think that is the definition of "leading the charge".
He never "campaigned". No mention of an election or voting. Didn't endorse another person. All he did was inform ward voters of how a councillor voted on an important issue to the ward. They can decide how how deal with it next year.

There won't be an issue here in the long run. Quite frankly your comments about the Mayor are far more insulting. Should we have Fred Zed play "integrety commish" on some of your over the top comments as well?

 

[Anbarandy]

Considering he brought forth the motion, I think that is the definition of "leading the charge".
He never "campaigned". No mention of an election or voting. Didn't endorse another person. All he did was inform ward voters of how a councillor voted on an important issue to the ward. They can decide how how deal with it next year.

There won't be an issue here in the long run. Quite frankly your comments about the Mayor are far more insulting. Should we have Fred Zed play "integrety commish" on some of your over the top comments as well?

My comments are, unfortunately to you and others, based on the sad and sordid facts regarding your mayor's behavior.

 

[ogibowt]

While some may not like the content, ROBOCALLS ARE HERE to stay!

Herpes is here to stay, but we should make every effort to control it..

 

[groggy]

Considering he brought forth the motion, I think that is the definition of "leading the charge".
He never "campaigned". No mention of an election or voting. Didn't endorse another person. All he did was inform ward voters of how a councillor voted on an important issue to the ward. They can decide how how deal with it next year.

There won't be an issue here in the long run. Quite frankly your comments about the Mayor are far more insulting. Should we have Fred Zed play "integrety commish" on some of your over the top comments as well?

Ainslie makes a strong case that the mayor lied in his robocall attack. He says he supported a subway, but not with a tax raise (which Ford campaigned on, making Fords vote a much clearer lie). Ford promised a subway with no tax increases, now we've got a three stop gravy train for a needless billion.

 

[Butler1000]

Ainslie makes a strong case that the mayor lied in his robocall attack. He says he supported a subway, but not with a tax raise (which Ford campaigned on, making Fords vote a much clearer lie). Ford promised a subway with no tax increases, now we've got a three stop gravy train for a needless billion.

Right. So now the Mayor is being realistic that new revenue is needed to get the transit. Something everyone was bitching about. He compromised. Oh no! And got the votes as a result.
The councillor is now the one being unrealistic......

 

[Butler1000]

My comments are, unfortunately to you and others, based on the sad and sordid facts regarding your mayor's behavior.

And the Mayor's are based the public record of how the councillor voted.....

 

[bestman007]

Ainslie is lucky that the Mayor didn't order his execution. Once you're part of the mob (aka. Executive Committee) you better not cross the head of the mob (aka. Mayor of Toronto).

I think Ainslie got off easily!

 

[destillat]

So now the Mayor is being realistic that new revenue is needed to get the transit.

so his campaign promise of no new taxes was: 1) a lie... or, 2) based on a half-assed (if ford is even capable of using half his ass) attempt at getting the whole picture before swallowing his big mac, and opening his mouth long enough to make the promise...... which one is it...

 

[basketcase]

And I hope he would use the city funded office. Nice to see the Mayor getting out a message to his people in an efficient manner. We want our Mayor to speak to the people. This was an effective way to do it.

Anabary's problem is not that he called.....but what he said.

Would you have a similar opinion if some lefty counselor used city resources to inform people about their opinions?

 

[groggy]

The latest Ford radio show shows that Ford is either really, really stupid, or a really, really bad liar.
A caller manages to get through who isn't David Price, and then complains about the subway and calling out Ford for repeatedly make the incorrect statement that the Scarborough LRT would remove car lanes like the St Clair streetcar line. The caller is correct and Ford responds by calling him a liar.
Is Ford a liar, or really stupid?

Here's the Torontoist blog on the show, its a non-stop lie fest, with glaring inaccuracies and made up stories.

1:08: Rob says “subways” four times in a row, because it’s a day that ends in “y.” Of course, this also doubles as his answer for anything related to Sandro Lisi.

1:10: Rob says he disagrees with the process used last week to appoint a new councillor to for Ward 3. He criticizes councillors Shelley Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East) and Paula Fletcher (Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth) for voting to appoint new councillor Peter Leon, and then praises Peter Leon. Peter Leon (Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre) is now on the show.

1:17: Leon speaks about his background, which includes a stint on the Etobicoke Library Board. “I had a great experience on the library, I believe it was seven or eight years, all told…Ladies and gentleman, the best bargain you have today in your community is your public library, believe me.”

1:25: Doug asks Leon how the traffic was along St. Clair Avenue coming into the studio, and he says it was bad: “The more subways the better.” Doug agrees, “We have lots of real estate underground, and we have to continue building subways, not spread the St. Clair disaster throughout the whole city.”

1:30: Leon signs off, and Rob, who didn’t vote for him during the appointment process, says he wishes that there were 42 other councillors just like him.

1:33: As Trooper’s “Raise a Little Hell” plays, the Fords back into the show from commercial, and Rob says, “Raise a little hell. We have to raise a lot of hell down there to save a billion dollars. It’s like taking milk from a baby. All they do is yell and scream, and holy smokes.” (As has been reported over and over again, Rob has not saved a billion dollars.) Rob then says that the city’s unemployment rate has gone from 11 per cent to 7 per cent on his watch. It’s true that unemployment has decreased during his mayoralty, but from 9.4 per cent to 7.1 per cent.

1:36: Rob criticizes councillor Janet Davis (Ward 31, Beaches East-York) for wanting to increase service levels for affordable housing, childcare, and shelter services, saying she wants to recklessly spend money the City doesn’t have. Doug chimes in: “Councillor Davis is known to pump up her union buddies.” He then goes on to say that the role of government is to make sure the necessities are taken care of and taxes are low.

Well, to someone who can’t afford childcare or housing, social services are probably necessities. What’s not a necessity is spending $910 million of City money on a subway that will require large operating subsidies for most of its useful life.

1:37: Rob: “LRT is exactly what we have on St. Clair.” It is not. Rob: “They’re going to rip up the middle of the roads.” The Scarborough LRT would not run on the road.

1:40: Speaking about his robocalls to Paul Ainslie’s (Ward 43, Scarborough East) ward after Ainslie supported LRT rather than subways, Rob says, “My responsibility is to inform people how councillors vote.”

“All I want to do is to make sure people stand up and say ‘I’m proud of how I voted.’ I wish someone would come out and advertise my voting record to the entire city. I can justify it, I can tell you why I voted on the issues the way I did.”

Rob Ford, your wish is granted.

Of the 60 council votes deemed significant by Metro‘s Matt Elliott, the mayor has lost 28 of them. For context, in seven years, David Miller lost one. So Rob Ford is not that good at winning votes. Here’s a small selection of votes worth informing people about:

The mayor has voted: against his own budget, against funding the student nutrition program with investment earnings, to cut funding to the Tenant Defence Fund, against a review to make the budget process more transparent, against taking the end of the school year into consideration when moving TCHC residents whose homes are being sold, to implement service reductions on 56 bus routes and 6 streetcar lines, to increase the crowding limit on buses, to charge charities and churches for waste collection, against community grants for youth outreach workers (after the vote, Ford ran from a reporter who asked him about it), against provincially funded public-health nurses, to reject provincial grants to help preschoolers who stutter, against allowing people with disabilities to speak to council committees by video conference, and to relieve himself of responsibility for reimbursing lobbyists who donated $3,150 to his football foundation, if you remember that one.

That’s a long robocall.

1:41: Sometimes Rob tells stories that make you question how accurate they are. Let’s put on our detective hat as he talks about the time Paul Ainslie resigned from the mayor’s executive committee:

“After [the vote], I was obviously upset. People in Scarborough were very upset, and said, ‘Rob, there’s something wrong with this picture. Why did Councillor Ainslie jump ship?’”

I have a feeling that “People in Scarborough” might mean “Norm Kelly and Michael Thompson,” or an equally small sample size.

“I said, ‘I can’t give you an answer.’ So I said, you know what, I have to dismiss him from my executive.”

Okay, that’s fair, you want your executive committee to represent your views. But didn’t fellow executive committee councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East) vote against the subway extension too?

“I could’ve done it on Wednesday, but I said ‘You know what, I won’t.’ I talked to Earl, my chief of staff, I said ‘Let’s just wait it out, I don’t want to embarrass him.’”

Right, you’re a nice guy and you want to be gracious in your victory. But wait, weren’t you the one who did the robocalls? Wasn’t the point of those to embarrass him for his vote?

“On Friday I was going to let him go. It was the right thing to do. The right thing to do was to get him to resign, so this wouldn’t belittle or embarrass him.”

Now I’m confused. Are you dismissing him, and that’s the right thing, or are you allowing him to resign on his own terms, because that’s classy-like?

“So he did that. He obviously caught wind of that he was getting dismissed at the end of council, so he resigned at the end of the afternoon. No problem.”

So then you belittled and embarrassed him with robocalls to his ward and insults on your weekly radio show. I’m starting to think this story isn’t consistent, and is being made up as we go along. Also, it doesn’t have enough pictures.

1:42: Rob admits the robocall was his. Can RoboFord be a Thing? He also says the robocall was not personal and he never said anything negative about Ainslie (you can listen to it here). However, when Ainslie spoke at council in support of the LRT, Rob’s first question was, “Councillor, do you plan to run in the next election?” So the mayor can frame this as “informing the public” rather than electioneering, but you be the judge.

1:45: Rob, on robocalls: “I didn’t do anything wrong, I just informed people how he voted.” Doug says the reason Ainslie is upset is because Rob didn’t pick him as budget chief. Of course, the Ward 43 councillor did go public about Rob’s alleged intoxication at the Garrison Ball for veterans, so there are motives for both parties here.

1:54: “When you hold people to account, when one of your key platforms was transparency and accountability, you ruffle feathers. You absolutely ruffle feathers, they don’t like the truth, they don’t like the facts.” -Noted fabulist Doug Ford discusses epistemology.

1:58: Rob says he paid for the robocall and that Ainslie can go running to the integrity commissioner, but it won’t be the last of these calls. Ford may be cleared of any wrongdoing with the integrity commissioner, but that doesn’t mean that what he did was right, and robocalls after close votes certainly shouldn’t be, as Doug says, “standard operating procedure.” A lot of politics is based on the assumption that politicians will possess a basic amount of decency and shame to prevent things like this from arising in the first place. But how do you teach an individual whose governing principle is pathological shamelessness?

2:03: Doug makes the argument that of Toronto’s 67 subway stations only three are in Scarborough, and that that’s unfair. Of course, the reason the downtown subway is so crowded anytime near rush hour is because all parts of the city commute to it for work, but no bother. This is Doug Ford’s subway socialism, where all areas of the city need equal subway representation regardless of any sensible transit or budget planning.

2:05: Rob says his priorities for subway expansion would go:

Connect Don Mills to McCowan Road
Put a subway along Finch Avenue
Downtown Relief Line
His reason for the relief line being third? Downtown has enough subways. Okay, hope you like pictures like this, Toronto.

2:08: We have our first call of the day, Paul on line one! Let’s listen in.

Paul: “I just want to congratulate Councillor Ainslie on his vote on the subway. Doug Ford, just a few minutes ago you said LRT in Scarborough would be ripping up the road and blocking traffic. Is that correct? Did you say that? ”

Doug: 100 per cent it’s going to be ripping up the roads. You know Paul—

Paul: That’s a lie, Mr. Ford.

Doug: Oh okay, I’ll let you finish and I’ll respond.

Paul: Do you understand that the LRT plan was supposed to follow the Scarborough RT route and not be blocking any traffic whatsoever?

Doug: Let him finish.

Rob: Go ahead.

Paul: In a YouTube video search for Rob Ford and Josh Matlow and there’s a great video of Rob Ford not understanding what the LRT line is whatsoever and councillor Josh Matlow had to explain to him that the LRT line would be going through the SRT line in that area of Scarborough. So Rob Ford and Doug Ford are lying to the citizens of Toronto. (Rob and Doug chuckle in background.)

Doug: Let him go.

Paul: There will be no streetcars, LRT, anything blocking traffic in Scarborough. That LRT line was fully funded and you guys are wasting millions for everything that has gone on. An environmental assessment needs to be done on this now, and you’re going to be putting this City further into debt. And the Downtown Relief Line you’re talking about services the people from east, west, north.

Rob: Thank you, thank you very much. We appreciate that. Now, let’s hear the truth. Obviously, that’s not the truth.

Doug: Let me respond first. First of all, what I’d like to ask Paul is, “Do you believe in a two-tier transit system?” Do you believe that the people of downtown should have underground transit in the middle of winter and have the people of Scarborough stand on the side of the road like they do on St. Clair Avenue freezing their butts off, while everyone else is underground on Eglinton. Yes, it is ripping up roads along Eglinton, Paul, we’re ripping up a couple lanes of traffic.”

It is the most critical phone call to ever get through the Rob and Doug Ford bubble. For the record, Paul got all of his facts right except that some lanes for cars will be reduced in Scarborough for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, but not the Scarborough LRT. Still, Paul ruffled the Fords’ feathers good.

2:14: Rob says that the average household will pay $10 a year for three years for the subway. This is a misrepresentation of how much it will cost. A property tax increase will be phased in over three years, and it will cost the average household $38 annually for 30 years. This doesn’t include any operating or maintenance or cost overruns, all of which will be on top of that tax. We made a handy calculator that lets you see all this for yourself. Rob should check it out!

http://torontoist.com/2013/10/rob-and-doug-ford-radio-recap-roboford/

 

[Butler1000]

so his campaign promise of no new taxes was: 1) a lie... or, 2) based on a half-assed (if ford is even capable of using half his ass) attempt at getting the whole picture before swallowing his big mac, and opening his mouth long enough to make the promise...... which one is it...

He was unrealistic. Many many told him so. He saw reason. It was something that many said he couldn't do. So he listened to his critics. What they don't like is he got the job done. Better he had not got the deal done for his opponents. A year ago everyone was saying he couldn't do it would taxes. So he listened.

And as a result he will propably get elected again....and that's why they hate it.

 

[GameBoy27]

I look at things like this and think, how would I feel (not being a big fan of Miller) had he done something like this. I pretty much wouldn't care. The more I hear Ainslie talk about it, and that he's going to the integrity commissioner, the more he sounds like a big cry baby!

Maybe Ainslie will see if Clayton Ruby would like to take another run at the Mayor. lol

 

[destillat]

He was unrealistic. Many many told him so. He saw reason. It was something that many said he couldn't do. So he listened to his critics. What they don't like is he got the job done. Better he had not got the deal done for his opponents. A year ago everyone was saying he couldn't do it would taxes. So he listened.

And as a result he will propably get elected again....and that's why they hate it.

Yet he will continue to claim that he did not raise taxes...
Lies piled on top of lies...
I guess the more lies you tell, the harder it is for people to keep track of all of them, and you just get away with it...