And under Ford's stewardship, for the first time ever, the city's spending has flatlined.
His commitment to put taxpayers above special interests who rely on public-funded entitlements has made Ford plenty of enemies. The Toronto Star has been relentless in attacking the mayor, devoted unprecedented resources to defaming him and actually libeled Ford by falsely accusing him, based on hearsay, of assaulting a high school football player. A charge that the student, once located, refuted himself. There hasn't been a week when the Star hasn't found some petty grievance that it tried to magnify into a mountain of disdain against Rob Ford.
And now it emerges that Rob Ford may have smoked crack cocaine.
Even if the charges are true, while expecting the mayor to seek help and conduct himself with more decorum in the future, the city is still far better off with Ford as mayor than it would be under any of his spendthrift opponents.When Grover Cleveland, the former mayor of Buffalo and a man considered to be a thoroughly honest politician, was running against James G. Blaine for the US Presidency in the 19th Century, it was considered a scandal that Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child. The Republican Blaine was a good family man who was widely believed to have accepted bribes while Speaker of the House of Representatives.
A newspaper editorial at the time said in effect that Cleveland was a disappointment as a family man while staying honorable in his role as a public servant, while Blaine was immaculate in his private dealings but thoroughly corrupt as a politician. The right thing to do therefore, was that the two should be consigned by the voters to the lives they led best - Cleveland to public life and Blaine back to private life. Grover Cleveland defeated won the election.
The analogy holds true of Ford. The man has never taken a cent in public funds in any way that could be deemed inappropriate. He is even famous for paying his office expenses from his own pocket rather than charging them to the taxpayers.
Lucia Corbella noted in The Calgary Herald that the hypocrisy exhibited by Ford's enemies regarding his alleged substance abuse is astounding:
"Funny how quickly, though, lefties who use that excuse for beautiful losers they admire, or for the downtrodden on their city streets, have abandoned their hackneyed mantra when a person they despise is a user."The Toronto Star lavished praise on the unbalanced kleptomaniac MP Svend Robinson. But he had, in their eyes, the benefit of of being a member of the socialist New Democratic Party.
In the last municipal election, The Toronto Star endorsed George Smitherman, a drug-addict who was responsible for a billion dollars worth of wasted taxpayer funds. But he was a Liberal, so as far as the Star was concerned, he was just great.
Ford's Council opponents are incompetents who lavish public money on their special interest friends. To put them back in charge of the city's coffers would be disastrous for the taxpayers of Toronto.
While we want to get Ford to get of his crack, he spends other people's money responsibly. Whether sober or on drugs, leftist city councilors like Adam Vauhgan, Joe Mihevc, Janet Davis and Gord Perks spend tax dollars like crackheads who have just pulled off a successful home invasion.
And that's a type of addiction Toronto really can't afford.
There is more to running a city than managing finances. Many people would characterize Ford's leadership as incompetent, notwithstanding his small successes managing the public purse (you could also argue that those successes were only made possible because of groundwork laid by Miller, who also cut spending, and who consistently delivered very large annual surpluses, which have all but disappeared under Ford). Ford has lost complete control of the Council agenda, as has been demonstrated time and time again, most recently with the transit and casino debates, and has shown a complete and utter lack of vision for this, the fourth largest city in North America. He is also a liar, promising people things (i.e. subways), that he has no intention delivering - nevermind the plethora of lies he has made regarding his own personal life, only to have to retract them once the evidence to refute him became overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteSo no, Richard, whatever you might think about the success or failures of the Miller administration, Toronto is not better off under an (allegedly) crack smoking mayor who hangs out with drug dealers while making crass, homophobic, and racist comments.
Our city deserves better. We deserve better.
Wrong. Ford has a vision of making Toronto a safe, livable city that works well and doesn't squander its resources.
ReplyDeleteJust because Ford's vision doesn't entail using exorbitant amounts of tax funds to pay for elitist experiments in social engineering doesn't mean he has none.
And as to the promises he hasn't been able to keep, that was mainly due to being stymied by his leftist Council opponents. Ford still kept more promises in his first 6 months in office than David Miller did in 6 years.
Some people really hate democracy
ReplyDeleteThey sure do when it doesn't go their way.
ReplyDeleteKristin Wong-Tam, who won a City Council seat with 28% of the vote in her ward, is someone for whom I don't have high regard. But nonetheless, I would never suggest she isn't a legitimate representative or that it invalidates our "first-past-the-post" system.
There will be an election in about a year and a half. I think what really worries the folks at the Toronto Star is that Ford will win again, despite all their efforts at muckraking.
You're living in a fantasy world. Get over your partisan blindness for a minute and realize that Ford is damaging Toronto's brand. We're a laughing stock around the world. This doesn't concern you?
ReplyDeleteThis isn't about left or right. Trust me, I'm not saying these things because I want Adam Vaughan to become mayor (I think he's a douchebag). I could vote for a right wing candidate who had a REAL vision and an ability to get things done. Don't delude yourself into thinking that the left wing on Council is thwarting the mayor. This is a decidedly right wing Council we have and many of the mayor's own purported allies now consistently vote against him.
He hasn't done his job. He doesn't show up for work. He can't manage to convince people to coalesce around his agenda. He has united Council AGAINST him. If he were the CEO of a large corporation and performed this way he would have been fired long ago. His salary is wasted on him.
That's where the real gravy is.
I hardly think the rest of the world is obesessing over Rob Ford the way the pathetic left has been since before his election.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking as a citizen, I'm very satisfied with the job he's doing and could care less about his personal life. I'm willing to put it to the test next election.
I've already written about the unusual phenomenon of how Toronto is a city where stupid leftists' self-esteem is tied to municipal politics. It's amusing to see that play out every time one of Ford's gaffes makes the news.
You're shitting me, right? Are you really comparing Smitherman, who used "party drugs" while running a camera store, to Ford; a "law and order" guy, already once arrested for drug possession in a foreign country and possibly caught smokig crack with gangbangers while in office?
ReplyDeleteI've said a lot of terrible things about George Smitherman and I'm proud of all of them. But I never said that he was breaking drug laws once in politics, simply because there's no evidence of it.
And aren't conservative standards supposed to be higher than that of liberals? According to your argument, they're not. We get to be every bit as retardedly tribalistic as the Left is. Congratulations.
The fact is that Ford's scandals - each and every one if them - are of his his own making, either through malfeasance, hubris, sheer fucking stupidity, or all three.
And by continuing to defend this horseshit you essentially forfeit the right to honestly call any other politician out on their foibles. Ever.
You sure you want to do that, Richard?
You're confusing me with a social conservative, Skippy. If Ford were stealing money or if his...um.. "alleged" drug use translated to "hug-a-thug" policies, I`d be with you.
ReplyDeleteBut as far as I see it, he`s been a good mayor, certainly better at doing what the city needs to have done than his predecessor, and as far as I`m concerned, that`s really the only thing that matters. Even more so given some of the potential alternatives who will be jockeying for his spot.
The possession and use of any kind of cocaine is still an indictable offence under the Criminal Code, the last I checked. I may not like that law, but I can hardly pretend that it doesn't exist. I am, however, glad to see that so much of Ford Nation isn't so inhibited .
ReplyDeleteAnd hasn't Hizzoner suggested that criminals be suggested to some kind of internal exile that prohibits them from living in the city?