Ford’s Dirtiest Dozen

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Skid

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First there was the Magnificent Seven, and then the Hateful Eight. Now Boss Ford and his acolytes at Toronto City Hall have formed The Dirtiest Dozen. It’s neither a heroic story, nor an anti-hero story. It’s a horror story.

The mob is lead by Boss Ford and a well-known supporting cast. In alphabetical order we have: Glenn De Baeremaeker, Justin Di Ciano, Vince Crisanti, Michael Ford, Stephen Holyday, Jim Karygiannis, Georgio Mammolitti, Frances Nunziata, Cesar Palacio, David Shiner, and Michael Thompson. Not many left-leaning pinkos amongst this group.

My favourite in this crowd is Georgio Mammolitti, a Ford fawner and career politician for almost twenty-eight years who was best described by Star Columnist Edward Keenan on Tues., April 3, 2018 in this summary: “For decades, his entire public persona has been a performance of cartoonish villainy, aimed at hyping up division and soaking up headlines. He carries himself, to a startling degree, like a professional wrestling heel, hyping rivalries and alternating between boasts and accusations for their own sake.”

Then there’s Jim Karygiannis, another career politician with a reputation for social conservatism despite having a long run with the federal Liberal Party. In 2002, Karygiannis was voted “laziest MP” in a poll of Parliamentary staffers. Duriing his term of service in the 40th Parliament, the Globe and Mail studied his voting record and ranked him third in the list of politicians that missed votes.

It gets better. In August 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Committee officers complained of Jim Karygiannis using abusive language and an aggressive tone while speaking to them. Karygiannis stated that the accusations were false and part of a “smear campaign” against him. That behaviour didn’t change when he became a City of Toronto Councillor. In June of 2016 – the ethics commissioner found that Mr. Karygiannis broke the city council’s Code of Conduct with targeted intimidation of local residents that was deemed “shocking” by the ethics watchdog. Another smear campaign.

Shortly after he was removed from his post as veterans affairs critic by Justin Trudeau in 2014, Karygiannis announced his resignation from the Liberal Party to be closer to home. This career politician then announced his intention to run for municipal government in the October 27th election. Karygiannis seems to have found a better match in Ford Nation for his alleged bullying and intimidation tactics.

Michael Thompson: as reported in the Star, he apparently needs to watch how he spends taxpayer dollars, being unable to account for more than half of the $75,338 he spent in 2016 and 2017. And this from a guy who had the economic development chair portfolio. Apparently fiscal responsibility wasn’t a requirement.

David Shiner: While a city counsellor, Shiner was also a registered federal lobbyist for MCW, a company that had received $7.6 million in city contracts and was competing for several million dollars in city contracts. Not illegal, but looks slimey, especially when you and Mammo received such big discounts on your Greenwin-Verdiroc Group rental apartments. And really David, how many streets can you name after your relatives?

Justin Di Ciano: For the past year, Commissioner Valerie Jepson has been investigating a Code of Conduct complaint against the councillor. She’s obligated to alert authorities if any other more serious alleged breach surfaces. She was looking into whether Di Ciano may have benefited financially or politically from his relationship with an Etobicoke developer.

Cesar Palacio: an ardent Ford supporter known for SLAPP suits against his political opponents. Although “the Toronto Star revealed that during the campaign against Alejandro Bravo an anti-crime charity launched by Palacio paid the mortgage on a building where he had his constituency office. He hung on to the seat, this time by just 201 votes.”

Michael Ford: the most moderate and progressive of all the Fords. Also politically clever. He changed his name from Michael Douglas Aldo Ford Stirpe to Michael Ford just before running for municipal council. Without the “Aldo” and the last name of “Stirpe” on the ballot, that “Ford brand” name recognition probably helped, He won the election.

Frances Nunziata : brought up before a human-rights tribunal in 2010, when her former executive assistant alleged harassment and discrimination.

Vincent Crisanti: simply a blind faith dedicated supporter of the late Rob Ford and of Doug Ford when he ran for Mayor … and lost.

Stephen Holyday: Just a good ol’ fiscal conservative who wanted to defund the Toronto Pride Parade. Stephen may have missed the fact that the 2014 Pride Week in Toronto, often referred to as a “rainbow coloured cash cow,” generated $286 million in economic activity, creating more than 3,400 jobs, and $61 million in tax revenue.

The one puzzle is Glenn De Baeremaeker. How does a vegan environmentalist best known for his work to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine and Save the Rouge fit in with a environmental illiterate like Doug Ford?

Think of this: if the Ford plan to cut Toronto municipal council down to 25 seats succeeds and the Dirtiest Dozen bully and intimidate their way into majority territory, it will make the Mike Harris and Rob Ford years of tragic chaos look like an episode of Leave it to Beaver.

The way I see it.

***

Skid Crease, journalist

Sources: Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Huffington Post, Wikepedia

Scientific Laws of Politics

Posted on July 21, 2018 by Skid

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The first in a series of humorous insights …

The Law of Integrity:

The greater the volume of a politician’s complaints against an Integrity Commissioner, the less the likelihood that he or she has any integrity.

The Law of Self Aggrandizement:

The louder and longer a politician boasts about his or her accomplishments, the less he or she has truly accomplished anything of significance.

Corollary – the more time a politician boasts about the time he or she spent reading a report or attending a meeting, the less the likelihood that comprehension was achieved.

The Law of Posing:

The more a politician only turns up for the smiling photo-op without participating in the event, the greater the chance that he or she is unqualified to hold office.

The Law of Private Influence:

The more a politician’s voting record shows that he or she is consistently supporting specific interests, or avoiding votes that would oppose those specific interests, the greater the reality that the politician is owned.

The Law of Facebook “Community” groups:

The more you eat excrement – the more you are full of it.

The way I see it.

***

Skid Crease, humourist

Carolyn Parrish and Racist Insults

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Skid

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At the last Region of Peel meeting, councillor Carolyn Parrish was sanctioned for having texted racially charged insults to a colleague about the Peel Deputy Chief of Police.

This is the same “Stompin'” Carolyn Parrish who crushed a Bush doll on television and got thrown out of federal Liberal caucus. The same Carolyn Parrish who tore down and ripped up a poster of Hazel McAllion from a local restaurant’s wall.

Now, in her latest performance, having demeaned the Peel Region Deputy Chief of Police for having her position only because of being female and black, Parrish was found in violation of the Peel Region Code of Conduct, She was suspended for five days without pay, a punishment that made Peel police association president Adrian Woolley furious.

What made him more furious was that Peel Region councillors got to vote on the suspension and it barely passed. The final count was 12 to punish, 11 not to punish.

Now, what may be of special interest to Caledon readers is that councillor Barb Shaughnessy and councillor Annette Groves voted NOT to punish Parrish for her racist remarks using the excuse that they were made in a private text message. Gee, and only a few weeks ago these same two councillors were trying to pillory a Caledon journalist for calling out a local group of Town Council haters as “biatches” in a private blog. At that time they were claiming misogyny and hate speech. And now we find them defending gender biased and racist comments. Oh my.

I feel an Alanis Morissette song coming on … “Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think…” Yeah, a little too ironic.

The way I see it.

***

Skid Crease, journalist

Conflicts of Interest

Posted on June 27, 2018 by Skid

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Ah, the words that rev up every political junky’s heart – “CONFLICT OF INTEREST!” Yes, we just love to get the dirt on our politicians at every level. It helps to distract us from our own failings. There’s just one problem. It is a politician’s responsibility to report any potential conflict of interest prior to that item being discussed in council or in caucus or in parliament. It’s not exactly headline news. Unless you’re a C grade reporter trying to create a crisis as happens often in one of our local papers.

Really, the stories we should be reporting are about the politicians who DON’T declare a conflict of interest, I’ll give you an example, purely hypothetical of course but, just in case, the names have been changed to protect the guilty.

First, here’s an example of a case that goes by the book. A politician who lives in a rural area in Ontario, decides to sell the family farm. Kids have moved on to software development, and, as much as they love the grass fed beef, don’t want to be mucking out the barn anymore. The sale of the farm may affect the course of residential development in the area, The politician rightfully declares a “conflict of interest” and is dutifully excused before the issue is resolved,

No biggie! Unless you’re a reporter hungry for headlines and think you’re the smartest guy in the room. NOT. A politician declaring a “conflict of interest” is a non-story – it’s what they are supposed to do. We don’t report on every dump we make in the toilet. It’s just not front page news. Unless you are trying to create a crisis … or relieve a lower bowel impaction.

What is front page news is about the politicians who DON’T declare a conflict of interest. Keep in mind that the “pecuniary” advantages and financial impacts of these deals can go up or down. A land deal close to your abode could jack up your home value, or a huge warehouse next door could lower your residential development potential. The good politicians declare. The slimy ones don’t.

Secondly, let us suppose that a major golf course development is being proposed for a property that abuts ours. Prior to being elected, I rant long and loud about this proposed development. After my election, I say nothing. Am I guilty of a conflict of interest? Oh, yeah … big time. But it doesn’t make the front page.

You think? So, let’s start reporting on the politicians who are NOT reporting their conflicts of interest, specially if they’re running for higher office. And leave the good ones alone to do their jobs without incompetent reporters trying to make headlines over smoke and mirrors.

The way I see it.

***

Skid Crease. journalist, Caledon

Extreme Political Correctness is a Disease

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Skid

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… a bitchin’ satirical evisceration …

Bitch noun:

1. a female dog, wolf, fox, or otter.

2. informal: a difficult or unpleasant situation or thing. “the stove is a bitch to fix”

verb informal: to express displeasure; grumble. “they bitch about everything”

“While female students often affectionately refer to friends as “bitches”, the term “bitchin” is commonly used as a positive description by young people in the U.S.A. “Bitch” can also be used as a verb, meaning to “complain”. Or changing it to “biatch” can add humour or force. The word biatch is the youth slang for bitch. While it is pejorative it is not misogynistic.”

Yep, right out of the dictionary, Matthew and friends. Golly gee, get with the times. It was way back in the 15th century that it started being used as a derogatory term for women – if you were the “son of a bitch” it implied your mother was a whore. That allusion apparently descended from the notion that because female dogs have multiple nipples they must be promiscuous. Men are so visual.

However, the actual acceleration of the usage of “bitch” more than doubled around the 1920’s when the word was applied to those annoying suffragettes. Yes, it was the rise of feminism that brought “bitches” into real prominence. Author Jo Freeman in The Bitch Manifesto, declared: “We must be strong, we must be militant, we must be dangerous. We must realize that Bitch is Beautiful and that we have nothing to lose.”

However, the Merriam Webster dictionary defines “bitch” as “a malicious, spiteful, or overbearing woman.”

Well, I have witnessed that malice and spite from certain people associated with the Chamber of Commerce and I have witnessed that malice and spite at Town Council from certain politicians, and I have witnessed that malice and spite from extreme politically correct delegations and their supporters, so I really can’t understand what all the fuss is about.

It’s 2018, and no hard feelings John Rutter, but if it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck and it squawks like a duck … it’s a duck.