Three of the four citizens shortlisted for positions on the influential Toronto Police Services Board are Conservatives, a fact two of them stated on their applications.Tory connections — including party fundraising, work on federal or provincial campaigns, or even candidacy — are cited by shortlisted applicants to many other city boards, including two up for spots on the Toronto Licensing Commission, said a source who saw the applications.
The civic appointments committee is sweeping clean some boards, including the one overseeing libraries, with all members denied a chance at reappointment. Mayor Rob Ford’s office has taken an unprecedented interest in the process, even — according to witnesses — handing council allies a list of the citizen applicants, marked up with notes, during the short-listing.
Critics claim all this as evidence that Ford’s administration is putting connections and right-wing beliefs ahead of committee-related qualifications in a way that didn’t happen under Ford predecessors David Miller or Mel Lastman.
“I think we have moved from a skills-based process to one based on patronage and political affiliations,” said Councillor Joe Mihevc, a former appointments committee member who recently visited a closed-door session of the current committee chaired by Councillor Frances Nunziata.
“Instead of getting the best and the brightest we’re going to get the ones who are politically connected, and that’s a tragedy.”
Nunziata told the Star in an email that this year’s selection “has been one of the best processes we’ve had in civic appointments. The number of highly qualified candidates is very impressive.” All committee members participated in creating the short list, she added.
The committee is in its second week of privately interviewing shortlisted applicants, who are not asked to list a political affiliation. Next month, members will recommend to council more than 200 citizens for seats on Toronto’s myriad agencies, boards and commissions, ranging from Toronto Water to Yonge-Dundas Square to local arenas.
City staff compiled and classified applications made in response to ads placed by the city in the Toronto Sun. The committee, dominated by Ford loyalists including Nunziata, the mayor’s councillor brother Doug and Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, winnowed the names to a short list last month.
On July 18, a majority of committee members voted to kick out Councillor Janet Davis, who was visiting to observe the shortlist process. Davis won’t say why, because it was an in camera meeting.
But the Star has learned Davis was turfed after she vehemently complained about seeing a mayoral staffer distributing preferred-applicant lists to the mayor’s supporters. City staff confirm the mayor’s office has no official role in the selection process.
Nunziata says Davis was ejected for being “belligerent and disruptive to all members of the committee,” but did not respond to a question about the mayor’s staff distributing a list.
Ford and his inner circle have privately vowed to rein in arm’s-length city agencies after several failed to take direction, including the city manager’s request for all departments and agencies to cut 5 per cent from their 2011 operating budgets.
Among the most vocal was the Toronto Public Library Board.
Eman Ahmed, the current library board chair and a projects manager at the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, wasn’t surprised nobody has called her for an interview.
“This board was appointed by the previous administration. I’m assuming (the new one is) going to want their own people in place,” Ahmed said.
“I’m not paid for this; it’s a volunteer thing. So if they don’t want to appoint me, fair enough, it’s their prerogative.”
City guidelines for the committee suggest it “strike a balance between reappointing some members for continuity and some new members for new ideas.” Citizens can’t serve more than two continuous terms.
The committee is also instructed to make choices that reflect Toronto’s diversity.
Councillor James Pasternak, a committee member who usually votes with Mayor Ford, also remarked on the “very strong pool of talent” this year, but wouldn’t comment on the allegation the mayor’s office pointed out preferred applicants, saying the meeting was confidential.
“I wouldn’t describe the mayor’s office as directly involved,” he said. “The mayor’s office clearly attends community council meetings, full council, and other subcommittees, so them sitting in and observing this process would be par for the course.”
The committee is looking at academic credentials, a commitment to civic engagement and “those who are attuned to fiscal responsibility,” Pasternak said.
“There has to be stronger accountability and a new generation of creative thinking.”
Origin
Source: Toronto Star
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