It is Ethics 101 that a mayor does not involve himself in a disputed election that is before the courts. Yet at least twice in the past month, Rob Ford has chosen to speak out about the conflict in Ward 9, York Centre. What is he thinking?
Maria Augimeri, who has represented the area for 26 years, won the ward last Oct. 25, beating Ford ally Gus Cusimano, but her margin of victory was narrow: just 89 votes. Mr. Cusimano claimed there were irregularities in the electoral paperwork and went to court. On April 21, a Superior Court judge ruled the election result invalid, setting the stage for a by-election.
That suited Mr. Ford just fine. He would love to bump off Ms. Augimeri, a stalwart of council's old left who represents a ward not far from the Ford family's Etobicoke bastion. So when city officials suggested they might appeal the judge's ruling, heading off a by-election, he was not happy.
"We should hold a by-election and let the people speak," he said at the time. An appeal would only "squander" public money. This week, when city officials decided after some to-ing and fro-ing that they would indeed appeal, the mayor put his oar in again. "It is a complete waste of taxpayers' money to go and appeal it now," he said. "Let's get on with the by-election."
That seriously undermined the veteran city clerk, Ulli Watkiss. It is her call, not the mayor's, whether it makes sense from a legal point of view to challenge the court's ruling. It is no good to have the mayor second-guessing her decisions. When she at first decided earlier this month not to appeal the ruling - before others appealed, forcing her to change her mind and join a challenge - she had to face questions about whether Mr. Ford was influencing her on what should be a strictly non-political matter. She denied that he was, but it was wrong to expose her to the suspicion in the first place.
Now we have city officials saying one thing (we're appealing, so no by-election for now) and the mayor of the city another (we shouldn't be appealing, let's have a by-election now).
It would be all right if the mayor's only concern was the cost of launching an appeal. In fact, an appeal will cost much less than the whole process of holding a new vote. Mr. Ford's intervention is all about politics.
Though his first six months in office has seen a string of successes, city council is starting to push back. This week, council overcame his opposition and tacked a bunch of amendments onto his bid to privatize garbage collection west of Yonge Street. The changes complicate the plan and subject it to a number of checks demanded by skeptical councillors. Council also handed defeats to Mr. Ford and his allies by voting to delay a master plan for Downsview Park, to approve an expensive new sewage-treatment system and to save an advisory committee on aboriginal affairs.
Booting Ms. Augimeri and replacing her with the reliable Mr. Cusimano would help tip council votes in the mayor's favour. Mr. Ford's election-campaign manager, Nick Kouvalis, has promised to run Mr. Cusimano's campaign. The mayor himself has been asking allies to peddle tickets to a Cusimano fundraising reception next Wednesday at which Mr. Ford will be the keynote speaker. Mr. Ford handed three of the $300 tickets to at least one member of his executive committee.
Now, Mr. Ford has every right to campaign for Mr. Cusimano, when and if a by-election is held. But to campaign for the holding of the by-election, against the advice of city staff, is another thing entirely. It is hard to imagine his predecessor, David Miller, interfering this way. He understood the protocol in these matters, and the protocol is: Stay out. Wait for the courts to decide. Don't give the impression of trying to influence the outcome of an electoral dispute.
Mr. Ford clearly has no time for niceties like that. He just wants his man in and his opponent out, appearances be damned.
Marcus Gee