Mayor Rob Ford is making it even harder to find out how he spends his time.Unlike previous Toronto mayors and the current mayors of many U.S. cities, Ford does not release a basic daily schedule, leaving the media and city residents in the dark about public appearances.
Early in his term, reporters requested his complete itineraries, which list both his appearances and closed-door meetings, under access-to-information law. Ford’s office provided the documents within the legal limit of 30 days.
The Star and Globe and Mail later revealed which businesspeople and politicians Ford had met with.
His staff then began removing the names of his meeting partners from the itineraries and listing them in a separate document.
The Star and Globe made new requests for the documents in November. In both cases, his staff — who are not told who is making a request — said they needed a 20-day extension on the grounds that the requests require a “more extensive” search through a large number of records.
The work required to meet the 30-day deadline would “unreasonably interfere with the operations of the institution,” Ford’s staff said.
The new deadline for the Star request was Wednesday.
Ford’s staff declined to meet it, ignoring multiple advance reminders from the city’s Corporate Access and Privacy office.
Ford’s staff finally contacted the office late Wednesday afternoon, said Jim Suderman, director of information access.
“The mayor’s office has contacted us with regard to your request and I now hope that we will have a response for you by the end of this week, possibly sooner,” Suderman said.
Brian Beamish, assistant commissioner in the office of Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, said even the 20-day extension was “puzzling” given that Ford’s office had been asked for a basic document.
“I think for most of us, for most public servants, that would be readily available without doing an extensive search,” Beamish said.
Ford criticized government secrecy on the campaign trail. In a letter to councillors a week after he took office, he wrote, “Transparency and accountability in governance is extremely important to me personally and is a major priority of our government.”
In a Friday CBC interview, he brushed aside a question on his decision not to release a schedule.
“With all due respect to the media, I worry about the taxpayers. The taxpayers know where I am. The taxpayers — I go to people’s houses, just like I did yesterday,” he said.
He added: “People know where I am. People call me. I return all their calls. . . . I’m very accessible, very transparent.”
Ford’s predecessors Mel Lastman and David Miller, released a schedule of appearances. Other mayors’ disclosure practices vary.
Ottawa’s Jim Watson does not issue a schedule but habitually mentions his appearances on Twitter.
Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson sends schedules to reporters only if they ask for them. Calgary’s Naheed Nenshi posts on his website a monthly list of everyone he has held meetings with.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent Gray posts his daily schedule online.
In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, council’s speaker, and the city’s fiscal watchdog all release daily schedules to the media.
So does Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Tom Alexander, assistant press secretary to Emanuel, sounded momentarily puzzled when told Toronto’s mayor does not give reporters any advance information about his appearances. Alexander asked: “How does the press know where to go?”
In other news involving Ford’s dealings with the media, Toronto’s integrity commissioner will investigate a Star complaint that challenges his exclusion of the newspaper from the email list his office uses to notify reporters of his appearances and public statements.
The move stems from Ford’s objection to a story the Star wrote during the 2010 mayoral race.
Original Article
Source: Star
No comments:
Post a Comment