Mississauga ELECTION update (Ward 7 Part II)
Re: Mississauga ELECTION update
bizorky wrote:
Hey, I'm lovin' it! You should consider scripting this as a soap opera. Although "Desperate Municipal Councillor Wanna-be's" has no poetic ring as a title.
Oh, bizorky, if you only knew. For that matter, if
we-all only knew...
Sorry, that I couldn't report on this yesterday but I was busy being stomped on by the evil empire so that demanded my full attention.
So. I logged on today to write up more about Wednesday's Ward 7 meeting. Luckily, John Stewart's Mississauga News' Blog beat me to it so I won't have to invent my own wheel.
The Mississauga Muse will now perform a duet with John Stewart.
Here goes.
My comments inside Mr. Stewart's article will be in [blue]
Ward 7 fireworks
John Stewart
Conn Smythe once said that if you can’t beat them on the ice, you can’t beat ’em in the alley.
In the Ward 7 council race, it’s more like, if you can’t beat ’em in the parking lot, you can’t beat ’em at the polls.
Yes, believe or not, two of the main combatants in the all-candidates’ session sponsored by the Cooksville-Munden Park and Gordon Woods ratepayers last night ended up taking it outside at the end of the evening — although both agree that no physical blows were landed.
[And I missed it all because I took off right after the meeting.]
That’s about the only thing that incumbent Councillor Nando Iannicca and challenger Shane McNeil could agree on last night.
No use getting into the allegations of who shouted what at whom in the parking lot at St. Timothy’s School and what digitally dextrous retort may have been made, because the verbal blows that were landed inside the gymnasium were solid enough in themselves.
You knew that the game was on when council candidate Beju Lakhani opened with a full-throttle attack on the self-described “chosen son of Ward 7†whose, “18-year long slumber is coming to an end.†Then he blasted Rip Van Iannicca for an alleged conflict of interest for collecting $33,000 on top of his $115,000 combined City and Region salary for sitting on Enersouce’s board.
[Beju Lakhani is sharp. Focussed. --Mr. Lakhani is the gentleman on the right.]
Iannicca, of course, responded in unkind, reminding Lakhani that Enersource is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the City’s. (Interestingly, no one said a word about Hazel sitting on the Enersource board.)
["interestingly"... well, face it, Iannicca wouldn't respond with "Oh yeah, well Madam Mayor's on the board too and she gets paid the same as me...". And 2: as for Lakhani outting McCallion, well, as I said, he's sharp and focussed --focussed on Iannicca.]
“I have been the victim of an insulting charade perpetrated by Nando Iannicca,†McNeil said in his speech, referring to e-mails he received from someone posing as Rita Forbes, who turned out to be Nando’s older but-not-necessarily-smarter brother Sandro (the one with the PhD.)
[Sandro (PhD) Iannicca... hmmm... and then there's Bruno Iannicca who wasn't there to go up against Future Mayor. So Bruno Iannicca's daughter gave his speech instead. Nando, Sandro, Bruno, Bruno's daughter....
This has led me to conclude that there are 80-kabillion Ianniccas in Ward 7]
Although he had been served with a notice of libel and slander Monday by the councillor, McNeil repeated his contention that the real author of the e-mails was the elected Iannicca, not his brother. He suggested, quite reasonably, that the democratic tradition of debate might be a better way to settle such matters than suing at the drop of a blog.
What set the councillor or his brother, or both, on edge about the McNeil campaign was a series of controversial statements on his web log, some of which were clearly untrue.
For instance, it was Toronto council, not Mississauga, that took a 16 per cent pay hike this year. McNeil complained that Iannicca bought home furniture with City funds, such as a computer desk, but that is authorized by a City policy that allows politicians to communicate with constituents from their homes, which is much more convenient on evenings and weekends.
The blog has since been edited to remove some of the statements and refine others and a homemade disclaimer has been added at the bottom.
Iannicca claims his honesty has been impugned and he will pursue legal action to clear his name.
[Well, this one's actually a First for Mississauga --a councillor suing over besmudged honour rather than
bad poetry.]
Maybe more disturbing than anything McNeil said was the pure enmity that his face reflected as he stared at Iannicca each time he spoke.
[Make that FOR SURE "more disturbing". My #1 memory from Wednesday is Shane McNeil's face. I'm something of student of behaviour and my eyes kept going back to McNeil. His face was --I keep typing then deleting then typing --trying for The Right Word and can't.
Mr. Stewart described McNeil's look as "enmity"
enmity
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English enmite, from Anglo-French enemité, enemisté, from enemi enemy
positive, active, and typically
mutual hatred or ill will
synonyms ENMITY, HOSTILITY, ANTIPATHY, ANTAGONISM, ANIMOSITY, RANCOR, ANIMUS mean deep-seated dislike or ill will. ENMITY
[Mr. Stewart didn't observe Shane McNeil through a telephoto lens while videotaping, like I did. What I saw I've just never witnessed before in my life --such a roiling raging bottled-up potent private brew of LOATHING and ANGUISH.]
For his part, the clearly too-tightly wound incumbent made his own accusations, one of which is patently incorrect according to McNeil. Rather than just having moved into the ward as Iannicca suggested, McNeil said he has lived in Ward 7 for close to a dozen years. He was not on the preliminary voters’ list because he recently moved.
[I'm certain this was an honest mistake --a case of just not having the latest information.]
No word yet on whether McNeil plans to use the same law firm as Iannicca.
[This comment by Mr. Stewart came as a surprise. I figured The Corporation would be footing Councillor Iannicca's bill.]
The challengers landed some body blows (especially on the sorry state of the four corners and Cooksville in general) but when it came to content, Iannicca excelled, as the incumbent obviously should.
[Nando Iannicca excels Period. He can spit out Mississauga stats going back decades. If course, I'm perfectly capable of doing that too but I'd have to make them UP!]
In all the hubbub, some very good ideas got lost or minimized. Iannicca wants to rebuild the T.L. Kennedy site to make it more urban and add a community centre next door, create a $2.2 million pedestrian and walk system along the hydro right-of-way on The Queensway and close Burnhamthorpe Rd. W. in the city centre on weekends to make it, “our great meeting place.â€
He may have three degrees (journalism, political science, economics), skill in three languages and a way with words that few people on council can match, but Iannicca also has attitude.
["and a way with words that few people on council can match"... In fact, I'd go so far as to say when I studied/photographed Nando Iannicca on Wednesday night, I felt that I was looking at the Mayor-apparent of a post-McCallion Mississauga.]
He’s a hard-nosed streetfighter from Cooksville who enjoys a scrap and isn’t afraid to use the boots when he has to.
The problem is that, too often, he uses them when he doesn’t have to.
[Ho-yeah, you got that right, John Stewart. Competition is for Equals. There were none present Wednesday night. No one even close to Councillor Iannicca.]
That’s probably why Iannicca always seems to draw passionate opponents and the battle always manages to get extremely personal.
[What I witnessed Wednesday night between Nando Iannicca and Shane McNeil is just like a boxing match that would pit me against Mike Tyson.
I can't describe the profound sympathy that I had for Shane McNeil. I've never observed another human being in such personal-hell private-anguish before.
Reminder --John Stewart wrote:
He may have three degrees (journalism, political science, economics), skill in three languages and a way with words that few people on council can match, but Iannicca also has attitude.
[And Wednesday night, I squirmed as I watched Shane McNeil go up against THAT Powerhouse.
That's why, MississaugaT.O.Forumers, I prefer studying/observing animals.
You see when animals get into conflict --oh, their anger might lead to physical fighting... but animals instinctively know when enough's enough. They have Stop Gestures they can display --kind of like our human version of "UNCLE! UNCLE!"
Yes, Mr. Iannicca "may have three degrees (journalism, political science, economics), skill in three languages and a way with words that few people on council can match..."
I'm sure he's that and more. But what I want to see --make that NEED to see from this man is --mercy.]
mercy
Main Entry: mer·cy
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French merci, from Medieval Latin merced-, merces, from Latin, price paid, wages, from merc-, merx merchandise
1 a : compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one's power;
