Rob Ford: The real gravy at city hall

[Jennifer_]

If Rob wants to find gravy - he only has to look to himself.


http://metronews.ca/voices/ford-for-toronto/365559/rob-ford-skips-work-to-coach-football/

September 11, 2012

Rob Ford skips work to coach football

By Matt Elliott
Metro Canada

Mayor Rob Ford’s Executive Committee met at City Hall yesterday. But the meeting was missing something: Mayor Rob Ford.

After attending the morning session, Ford skipped out on the rest of the day so he could go coach football. The mayor’s office confirmed the reason for the mayor’s absence today, via the Globe & Mail’s Kelly Grant.

This wasn’t a minor meeting. Executive Committee is where some of the most crucial items come before they head to council for a vote. It’s also usually the last opportunity councillors have to hear deputations from the public before items are voted on. Chairing this committee is one of the mayor’s major job responsibilities.


Yesterday, the committee considered everything from the council’s anti-discrimination policy to future uses for Casa Loma. They looked at important budget matters that will directly impact next year’s finances. They even considered a new policy for special events, something the mayor made an issue of during his election campaign when he complained about marathons shutting down city streets. Despite claims from his press secretary, several of these issues are contentious or will be contentious going forward. And Ford wasn’t there to speak or vote on any of these items. Because of football.

It was clear something was amiss early on in the meeting, when the mayor proposed that councillors work through lunch. His colleagues didn’t bite—any reasonable read of the agenda made it clear that the meeting was going to take at least the full day. This was the first major City Hall meeting in nearly three months, making for a long list of items up for consideration.

Ford can’t realistically claim to think they could wrap things up quickly. He also can’t realistically claim to have had an honest scheduling conflict, given that these meeting dates are set nearly a year in advance. The only plausible explanation—barring some kind of football-related emergency, I guess—is that Ford puts a greater priority on coaching football than he does on running the city.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to help kids play football. Were Ford simply a philanthropic business-owner from Etobicoke with a zeal for youth football, his character and values would be beyond reproach. None of us would have any right to criticize.

But he’s not just that. He’s the Mayor of Toronto, CEO of a public corporation dealing in multi-billion dollar budgets with a staff of nearly 50,000 people. He’s got a job that comes with immense responsibility. He should not have the luxury of cutting out of work early to go coach football.

To really make the point about the importance of attending meetings, look to Councillor Ron Moeser, who yesterday emailed his colleagues to apologize for and explain his absence at many recent council and committee meetings. His excuse? He’s got a giant metal deathtrap of a brace on his leg, owing to ongoing medical problems. He even included a picture of the contraption in his email.

And then there’s Ford, able-bodied, skipping meetings because he’d rather coach football.

It doesn’t add up. In the last week, we’ve learned that our mayor doesn’t read documents, doesn’t know rules and regulations that govern his position and—now—that he will leave work halfway through the day.

Given all this, it’s fair to ask: does Rob Ford even want to be mayor?

 

[msog87]

If Rob wants to find gravy - he only has to look to himself.


http://metronews.ca/voices/ford-for-toronto/365559/rob-ford-skips-work-to-coach-football/

September 11, 2012

lol do you actually think city council is productive? he's better off doing community service work then going to council sitting on his ass doing nothing. btw, rob ford always has been one of the hardest working politicians at city hall. He doesnt need politics, he's there bc he wants to be. He's always been known for returning every phonecall, working hard for his constituents, going out of his way. Not only is he more productive then the rest of council, his family employs hundreds of people UNLIKE the rest of council who just feed off the public.

 

[Anbarandy]

Of course Robbie wants to "play" mayor, he just doesn't feel like doing the work that is involved in being a mayor. That would be too onerous, demanding, and beyond his intellect and capabilities. He realized this very early in his term and thus has been hiding out, driving around, playing "fill in the pothole, scoop that poodle poo, spray wash that grafitti". Oh and let's not forget his favourite 'play acting' mayor-orial theatrics of making loud, bold and squawkish media soundbites about gravy this and gravy that, subways here and subways there, ferris wheels here and monorails there, fiscal doomsday now and debt armageddon on the horizon. Blah, blah blah.

Not one shred of evidence, data or analyisis has backed up his instant 'play acting' mayor-orial yammerings. Noise, noise, noise is all it was, is and ever will be from him.

Get him out of office and the noise will finally stop.

After the utter fiasco that was his testimony that re-enforced the generally held view that Robbie is totally inept, corrupt and an unabashed liar you would think he would just skulk off in shame and go away, but no here is this buffoon shooting off his mouth again and proving time and time again that he is just 'play acting' as a mayor.

 

[oldjones]

lol do you actually think city council is productive? he's better off doing community service work then going to council sitting on his ass doing nothing. btw, rob ford always has been one of the hardest working politicians at city hall. He doesnt need politics, he's there bc he wants to be. He's always been known for returning every phonecall, working hard for his constituents, going out of his way. Not only is he more productive then the rest of council, his family employs hundreds of people UNLIKE the rest of council who just feed off the public.

He's a freeloader who isn't earning the Mayor's salary cheques he cashes. You may have missed his recent court appearance, but he says he couldn't manage to come up with a measly three grand so he and Council could get back to their jobs instead of discussing his miserliness. That'd be about a week's pay at $150K annually, or his pay for just five days playing hookey while he pretends to be teaching kids life lessons about honesty and hard work.

What's scarey is they're kids, and certain to be learning from him.

 

[Moviefan-2]

Of course Robbie wants to "play" mayor, he just doesn't feel like doing the work that is involved in being a mayor. That would be be to onerous, demanding, and beyond his intellect and capabilities. He realized this very early in his term and thus has been hiding out, driving around, playing "fill in the pothole, scoop that poodle poo, spray wash that grafitt". Oh and let's not forget his favourite 'play acting' mayor-orial theatrics of making loud, bold and squawkish media soundbites about gravy this and gravy that, subways here and subways there, ferris wheels here and monorails there, fiscal doomsday now and debt armageddon on the horizon. Blah, blah blah.

Not one shred of evidence, data or analyisis has backed up his instant 'play acting' mayor-orial yammerings. Noise, noise, noise is all it was. is and ever will be from him.

Get him out of office and the noise will finally stop.

After the utter fiasco that was his testimony that re-enforced the generally held view that Robbie is totally inept, corrupt and an unashamed liar you would think he would just skulk off in shame and go away, but no here is this buffoon shooting off his mouth again and proving time and time again that he is just 'play acting' as a mayor.

Get off the fence and tell us whether you approve or disapprove of the current mayor of Toronto.

 

[Anbarandy]

Councillor Adam Vaughan blasted Ford for ditching City Hall for the football field.

“The executive committee is the mayor’s committee and he has responsibilities to it,” Vaughan said Tuesday. “He’s not being paid to coach football. He’s not being paid to do anything other than being mayor by taxpayers.

“If he takes that slogan seriously, which is he respects taxpayers, he ought to show up for work.”

Ford missed the approval of a request for proposals for an operator to run Casa Loma, a heated debate over a review of the city’s anti-discrimination policy, and several items on both the city budget and the Toronto Police budget.

Vaughan said speakers show up at the executive committee to address the mayor.

“He has a responsibility to be there,” he said.

“We all have extracurricular activities … I just think (being at a council meeting) is a fundamental responsibility.”

The Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina councillor questioned if Ford would skip campaigning for football activities.

“I don’t understand it, I’ve never understood it — do your work with your kids but show up for work,” he said.

Vaughan argued nobody working in the private sector could “just walk off the job and coach kids football.”

“They’d get docked pay, they’d get fired eventually.”

He said it’s clear Ford is a “part-time mayor.”

“And it shows, it showed in the courtroom (during last week’s conflict of interest hearing), it showed in the committee room and eventually it is going to show up at the ballot box,” he said. “People don’t like part-time politicians who claim to be watching their back when he is not watching anything other than kids playing football.”

Ford shrugged off Vaughan’s criticism.

“I don’t listen to Adam Vaughan,” Ford said.



As the self-proclaimed "hardest working mayor, former councillor, and man" you will ever see barely working our dearest Robbie should have declared one of his 'novel and unique' cases of conflict of interest for skipping out on the meeting he is paid to attend as a 'play acting' mayor to coach a bunch of kids that he can exercise total control over.

Conflicts of interest on agenda items that should have been declared by Robbie so that he could recuse himself and leave the meeting with whatever shred of dignity he believes he possesses:

1) Pride Funding: Hates gays hence conflict of interest with extreme prejudice and homophobia.

2) Casa Loma Sale: Hates Casa Loma hence conflict of interest because of his sudden idea of turning the tourist attracton into a wax museum and Timmies franchise.

3) Budget Discussion: Does not understand what a budget is hence a conflict of interest with extreme ignorance and stupidity.

4) TPS budget: Worships at the feet Chief Blairsey and his boys hence a conflict of interest with gleeful rapid head bobbing and lolling adulation.


"Respect for the taxpayer". Yep that's good ole boy Robbie. Taking the taxpayer to the cleaners with his 'play acting' paid mayor's faux-job.

 

[james t kirk]

lol do you actually think city council is productive? he's better off doing community service work then going to council sitting on his ass doing nothing. btw, rob ford always has been one of the hardest working politicians at city hall. He doesnt need politics, he's there bc he wants to be. He's always been known for returning every phonecall, working hard for his constituents, going out of his way. Not only is he more productive then the rest of council, his family employs hundreds of people UNLIKE the rest of council who just feed off the public.

You're kidding right.

Rob Ford is the furthest thing from productive. He's barely ever at City Hall and this is an empirical fact. He is less than part time even. He didn't even have time to meet with the mayor of Calgary recently when the mayor of Calgary was in town because he (Ford) was nowhere to be found. Where the fuck is he? He does not need to be returning phone calls because he is no longer a Councillor. He's supposed to be Mayor.

Ford was elected to be mayor of the City of Toronto - not a football coach. He needs to decide where his priorities lay. I'd like to coach football too, however, I'm too busy working 60 to 70 hours a week. If I was to beg off work to coach football - my boss would tell me to stay out on the field.

 

[fuji]

lol do you actually think city council is productive? he's better off doing community service work then going to council sitting on his ass doing nothing. btw, rob ford always has been one of the hardest working politicians at city hall. He doesnt need politics, he's there bc he wants to be. He's always been known for returning every phonecall, working hard for his constituents, going out of his way. Not only is he more productive then the rest of council, his family employs hundreds of people UNLIKE the rest of council who just feed off the public.

Perhaps he should quit politics then, and leaved it to someone who actually WANTS to do they mayor's job.

 

[groggy]

lol do you actually think city council is productive? he's better off doing community service work then going to council sitting on his ass doing nothing.

Lets just say that city council will far better off when Ford is doing community service.

 

[msog87]

He's a freeloader who isn't earning the Mayor's salary cheques he cashes. You may have missed his recent court appearance, but he says he couldn't manage to come up with a measly three grand so he and Council could get back to their jobs instead of discussing his miserliness. That'd be about a week's pay at $150K annually, or his pay for just five days playing hookey while he pretends to be teaching kids life lessons about honesty and hard work.

What's scarey is they're kids, and certain to be learning from him.

He was in court playing the game to keep his job, I don't blame him for that I wouldnt give the asshole that brought him there the satisfaction of booting him out of office over a farce

 

[msog87]

Perhaps he should quit politics then, and leaved it to someone who actually WANTS to do they mayor's job.

dude most politicians have poor attendance records, and while missing council "business" they arnt volunteering their time helping kids. Being the mayor obviously keeps rob busy, he didnt miss some important conference where he's soliciting investment into toronto etc that obviously benefits the citizens of this city, he missed some b.s. council meeting bc I can tell rob is a loyal guy, he's loyal to the kids he coaches.

 

[msog87]

You're kidding right.

Rob Ford is the furthest thing from productive. He's barely ever at City Hall and this is an empirical fact. He is less than part time even. He didn't even have time to meet with the mayor of Calgary recently when the mayor of Calgary was in town because he (Ford) was nowhere to be found. Where the fuck is he? He does not need to be returning phone calls because he is no longer a Councillor. He's supposed to be Mayor.

Ford was elected to be mayor of the City of Toronto - not a football coach. He needs to decide where his priorities lay. I'd like to coach football too, however, I'm too busy working 60 to 70 hours a week. If I was to beg off work to coach football - my boss would tell me to stay out on the field.

he's always coaching on his own time, this is a non issue. If he was at home "sick" today, nobody would have given a shit

 

[james t kirk]

he's always coaching on his own time, this is a non issue. If he was at home "sick" today, nobody would have given a shit

No, it is an issue. A big issue. Usually teachers coach high school football. I fail to see why this cannot be the same thing at Don Boscoe. Teachers are in the same school and they can easily do the co-ordinating issues during their day and coach the practices / games after school. Ford cannot.

I would think that being the Mayor of the 4'th largest city in North America would be that demanding that one would simply not have time to devote what probably amounts to 25 to 35 hours per week.

Being mayor demands at least 5 days a week, 8 hours per day, PLUS many evenings and weekends on top. I can't see it being a job that doesn't require your attention 60 hours per week. Adding HS football on top? Not possible.

I personally think Ford would rather be coaching football. So that's what he does.

Ford thinks that being Mayor is like being Pope. He can rule by decrie and his judgement is next to God's. That simply is not the case. The reality is that we have major issues in this city that need attention and direction. Our current mayor is not doing his job and addressing those issues. He's barely ever there. He needs to be down at City / Metro Hall keeping his finger on the pulse of the city. He needs to be working with the Council, not mouthing off about council on trash talk radio.

According to the Globe and Mail about 6 months ago, they reported that Ford is seldom in his office, he does not publish his calander (like Miller did), and when they do see his schedule, it's usually mostly X'd off for personal time off. He failed to meet with the Mayor of Calgary - no-one in his office even knew where he was. He failed to meet with the head of the United Way - again, no-one even knew where he was.

Ford needs to decide what is more important to him - being Mayor of the City of Toronto or coaching High School football. The City deserves a mayor who is going to do his job, not a part-time football coach.

 

[groggy]

he's always coaching on his own time, this is a non issue. If he was at home "sick" today, nobody would have given a shit

How many people here would be fired today if they left their job in the middle of a big meeting that they are supposed to be leading to go work on their hobby?

 

[train]

Very entertaining stuff. Can you imagine a city council comprised of the above misfts and reprobates. Unless you know his schedule over a period of time you are in a poor position to judge. Certainly he can't be screwing his employer as much as fuji is given his constant board activity. I suspect most people would regard setting a posting record on an escort review board, mostly during working hours, slightly worse than coaching a kid's sports team. Pots and kettles.

 

[slowpoke]

Looks like Ford is also using his city staff to help out with his football philanthropy. Since the taxpayers are footing the bill for those staff salaries, doesn't that make Ford part of the gravy train problem he's always whining about? He'd just finished testifying under oath that he'd stopped using city employees to help him with his coaching activities but it looks like he's still doing it. He must think we're all really stupid if he thinks he can get away with this. What an idiot!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...s-help-run-his-football-teams/article4537899/

"Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s office aides help run his football teams

One week after Toronto Mayor Rob Ford testified under oath that he no longer uses taxpayer-funded staff and resources for football, fresh evidence has emerged that suggests he continues to do just that.

Mr. Ford appears to have relied on at least two mayor’s office employees and their taxpayer-funded cellphones to help administer the summer football teams he founded after winning Toronto’s top political job.

He has also hired Andrew Gillis, the former quarterback of the University of Toronto’s Varsity Blues football squad, to work as a “special assistant” in his office, The Globe and Mail has learned.

On Tuesday, Mr. Gillis’s day included donning a T-shirt and ball cap to help Mr. Ford lead the Don Bosco Eagles in a practice that started around 3:30 p.m. at the high-school team’s home field in Etobicoke."...

 

[oldjones]

He was in court playing the game to keep his job, I don't blame him for that I wouldnt give the asshole that brought him there the satisfaction of booting him out of office over a farce

We paid Rob something in the order of $1500 to sit in Court because he was too cheap to pay back the $3K. We haven't even considered the Council and staff time he wasted discussing and dealing with this personal matter instead of just returning the donations he improperly solicited.

 

[james t kirk]

Looks like Ford is also using his city staff to help out with his football philanthropy. Since the taxpayers are footing the bill for those staff salaries, doesn't that make Ford part of the gravy train problem he's always whining about? He'd just finished testifying under oath that he'd stopped using city employees to help him with his coaching activities but it looks like he's still doing it. He must think we're all really stupid if he thinks he can get away with this. What an idiot!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...s-help-run-his-football-teams/article4537899/

"Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s office aides help run his football teams

One week after Toronto Mayor Rob Ford testified under oath that he no longer uses taxpayer-funded staff and resources for football, fresh evidence has emerged that suggests he continues to do just that.

Mr. Ford appears to have relied on at least two mayor’s office employees and their taxpayer-funded cellphones to help administer the summer football teams he founded after winning Toronto’s top political job.

He has also hired Andrew Gillis, the former quarterback of the University of Toronto’s Varsity Blues football squad, to work as a “special assistant” in his office, The Globe and Mail has learned.

On Tuesday, Mr. Gillis’s day included donning a T-shirt and ball cap to help Mr. Ford lead the Don Bosco Eagles in a practice that started around 3:30 p.m. at the high-school team’s home field in Etobicoke."...

True story....

I knew a guy who was in a professional position at the City of Toronto. They had a student working in their group for the summer. Said professional guy was out in the field one day with the student and he decides to swing by his house and he and the student lift a window air conditioner into place at said professional's house. Takes maybe 15 to 20 minutes.

Word got back.

Said professional was fired from his job.

I knew this guy and he was a good guy. Definitely competent.

Makes you wonder about the double standard.

 

[red]

get off the fence and tell us whether you approve or disapprove of the current mayor of toronto.

lmao

 

[hentai915]

Rob Fob is such a joke. It is sad that Toronto has become such a laughing stock of the country due to him being our Mayor.