I will say that I wish Ford’s political record would receive the same kind of scrutiny that his scandals do. Ford’s claims to have saved the city a bundle of money — maybe a billion dollars — often aren’t challenged. When they are, it turns out that they’re not true. Similarly, his record on transit and delivering subways is disastrous, made worse by a recent move to take out a pile of new debt to finance the city’s share of an unnecessary subway line.
There’s also the question of how exactly Ford will sell the public on a re-election platform that he probably won’t be able to deliver on. Ford’s inability to win votes at city council should be seen as a major liability for him. Unless he can convince the public to replace a number of his incumbent colleagues with more Ford-like candidates, a new council term under Ford wouldn’t be all that different than this one has been. He might enjoy an early honeymoon period where he wins a few votes, but ultimately he’d end up on the losing end of things again — totally unable to actually keep many of his promises. But will voters understand that?
Without those kinds of questions getting the attention they deserve, I’m not convinced that any of the scrutiny focused on the mayor’s scandals will matter much when it comes time to campaign in 2014. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t fair.