Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, October 05, 2012

Mayor Rob Ford’s allies sink to a new low

For nearly five hours Thursday, Toronto city council exposed its nasty underside with such maniacal relish that only a tiny ombudsman with sturdy spine stood between the elected weasels and a disgusted public.

Fiona Crean, barely five feet tall, towered over her ill-mannered adversaries — deflecting their poisonous pronouncements with the ease of an accomplished fencer.

Pity the public service that labour beneath the club of the current administration, an outfit that governs through threats and intimidation. If you are the head of the TTC and you share a view opposite the mayor’s, you are fired, as was Gary Webster.

Dare to call out the mayor’s office and you are likely to be hit with a withering attack on your character.

That’s what happened to Crean on the floor of council. Unable to orchestrate her ouster, allies of the mayor sunk to scurrilous attacks.

The display of open threats, direct insults, and unbridled hostility on one of the two independent arbiters of council conduct was, at times, nauseating. And for an administration gaining renown for intimidation and bullying, this sunk to a new low.

Through it all, the mayor sat mum as his henchmen covered themselves in shame. His defenders attempted to divert attention from the naked emperor; instead, they exposed him to even greater scrutiny.

It’s not the first time. Just recently, the same cabal went after the integrity commissioner Janet Leiper. She had the audacity to write a report to council asking the body to enforce its sanction against the mayor.

Leiper had ruled in 2010 that Councillor Rob Ford should not be soliciting money for his football foundation from lobbyists seeking city contracts. She asked him to stop and to return the money he collected. Ford ignored her. She took the matter to council and council sided with Leiper and ruled Ford should repay the money.

Again Ford refused to comply. In the interim he was elected mayor. Leiper returned to council seeking redress.

Instead of backing Leiper and ordering the mayor to pay back the $3,100 Ford’s allies attacked Leiper and overturned the previous council decision — with Ford voting along with them. Disgusted at the entire affair, a citizen took the mayor to court on conflict of interest charges — a matter that a judge is to rule on any day now.

One is left to consider this: If councillors like Giorgio Mammoliti and Frances Nunziata could display such obvious contempt for the ombudsman — and the integrity commissioner — and do it in open council, without any restraint imposed by the mayor, imagine what they might do to city staff in private.

In fact, several staff members in senior and middle management report exactly that.

Fiona Creen is not a member of the public service. She is independent. She investigates complaints from staff and from the public. She uses legal techniques and investigative methods to do her work. She recommends remedies to council and the politicians can accept or reject her advice.

Crean interviewed 40 city staffers — under oath — so afraid they were that they needed the legal nudge of a subpoena to loosen their tongue.

They said the mayor’s office interfered in the appointments, prepared a preferred list of candidates and generally contaminated the process by which 120 citizens are appointed to city boards and agencies. Crean investigated and reported her findings, often in strong language that stung the administration. And for that she was pilloried by the mayor’s lackeys.

Some among the mayor’s allies held their heads down during the debate, ashamed of what their allies attempted. They claim to be working to improve the administration from the inside; they need to do more.

It was left to Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday to save the mayor’s allies complete and abject humiliation.

Crean’s recommendations are good and sensible, he said, and should be adopted. “We spent all day discussing this and it’s clear as the nose on your face,” he said.

So much so that when the vote finally came, Crean’s report was adopted unanimously. The miscreants didn’t have the guts to vote against the obvious.

Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Royson James

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