Rob Ford's Toronto

[tariqata]

Here's Daniel Dale's analysis of the CFO's briefing note, by the way - I know snippets were being posted yesterday but I found it useful to have it all in one place.

Key takeaways for me, and points that I want to see Ford challenged on over and over and over:

Spending is actually going up; Ford and the city haven’t cut the total budget. ... Rather, to come up with their $1-billion figure, they have added up particular moves that have supposedly allowed the city to spend less than it otherwise would have — while ignoring the particular moves that have required the city to spend more than it otherwise would have.

Not to mention the "efficiencies" that include highlights such as draws from reserve funds, deferring capital projects, and things like this:

An $84-million “compensation reduction.” City workers actually got raises in the contracts negotiated under Ford. How, then, was there an $84-million “reduction”? Rossini compared the actual 2012 and 2013 wage hikes with a hypothetical situation in which the union had secured a larger pay hike. “If the city didn’t negotiate the lower increase, the actual increase would have been higher,” spokeswoman Paula Chung explained in November.

Perhaps someone should also ask Ford if he counted spending Deco's savings and comparing workers' actual raise with a hypothetical higher one that was not even under consideration to be "efficiencies" when he was CFO. I would be fascinated to hear the answer.

 

[905region]

john lancaster ‏@jlancasterCBC · 3h
I'll be tweeting the latest on another possible document release at the #RobFord/Lisi ITO hearing...starts at 9:30. #TOpoli #sl

 

[GavinTheAlmighty]

Based on the accumulated interviews we've heard, I think we have to conclude it's just harder to get to him than any of us actually imagine.

My belief is that Ford simply has no sense of shame and self-awareness. Things that would make a conventional person say "Hm, maybe I shouldn't have said that" or "Wow, that really was bad of me" just don't register for him. When he is forced to apologize for something, he doesn't do it because he feels that it's the right thing - he does it because that's what other people do. The gravity of his situation doesn't register with him, which is why he just keeps going.

When you combine this with his knowledge that there are no tangible repercussions for doing what he does, it's dangerous. You could have the toughest interviewer in the world sit him down and grill him harder than he's ever been grilled before, and when Ford spews his usual lies, the interviewer would say "You did not answer my question - this is what I am asking and you need to answer it now". Meanwhile, Ford will just keep barreling ahead. Look at him with the unemployment numbers this morning on Metro Morning - he just flat out called them false. You say "No, you are wrong, these are official numbers" and he says "I don't believe them". How do you win against that? You cannot make Ford back down unless there are tangible repercussions, like when Dale was proceeding with his lawsuit.

Ford is a dangerous politician. People laugh at him for not knowing the rules, but I think it's the other way around - I think that by and large, he knows the rules all too well; that is, the societal rules and norms that would cause someone to feel shame when they are exposed as having done something incorrect or inappropriate, and the legal rules that govern behaviour that obviously have no teeth.

 

[LLtarra]

john lancaster ‏@jlancasterCBC · 3h
I'll be tweeting the latest on another possible document release at the #RobFord/Lisi ITO hearing...starts at 9:30. #TOpoli #sl

Oh yeah... I knew March 28 was significant for some reason or another.

Bring it on!

 

[FraudNation]

Question to people who deal with the courts: Is there anything illegal about "pretend" smoking crack cocaine? Like, if a student would have stood up at the front of the debate and fake smoked out of a glass tube, could they be arrested?
I bet multiple protests like this, with the "offender" being escorted away, would probably get some traction. Also, could *almost* be enough to show Rub's hypocrisy if he tsk tsked the act.

 

[requiem]

Frustrating interview. He claims Matt's stats are wrong, and then makes up his own on the spot and uses anecdotal evidence. And the way he just laughed off the library workers strike...that weird nervous giggle like he doesn't take anything seriously...argh. "I'm not a criminal"..."you smoked crack"...LOL. "People I talked to...I'm in the lead"...the usual deflection and lack of a real answer to the question he's being asked...he's just the worst.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Dealing with people like that requires a fast interviewer who can corner and counter him at every blow - Matt managed to do that, and Ford squirmed. He didn't go in for the kill though.

My standard response is - that's not the question.

AoD

 

[requiem]

I just got to the "I'm thinner!" part. OH GAWWWWWD.

Sorry, cranes and tourists don't inspire me.

 

[basic]

I watched the video the interview. Ford sounded and looked hungover. Him and Matt did not even exchange a single glance during the break.

I thought it was a decent interview, but not stellar. I agree that her needs to be hounded when he lies, with no end until he answers that question or leaves. There is no way Ford won the interview though, that's preposterous. He lost it badly. There is no way he gained a single vote from it, merely treaded water at best. But the bar is so low that people want to give him a gold star.

His talking points around the scandal haven't changed, and won't change. That doesn't mean the questions shouldn't still be asked regularly. People laughed at those talking points when they first came out. It brings peoples mind back to the ridiculousness of the sideshow.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I just got to the "I'm thinner!" part. OH GAWWWWWD.

Sorry, cranes and tourists don't inspire me.

And even the cranes bit is a lie.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I watched the video the interview. Ford sounded and looked hungover. Him and Matt did not even exchange a single glance during the break.

I thought it was a decent interview, but not stellar. I agree that her needs to be hounded when he lies, with no end until he answers that question or leaves.

His talking points around the scandal haven't changed, and won't change. That doesn't mean the questions shouldn't still be asked regularly. People laughed at those talking points when they first came out. It brings peoples mind back to the ridiculousness of the sideshow.

What you basically need is an interrogator, not an interviewer.

AoD

 

[Dubster]

The best way to beat Ford as a candidate is the Adam Vaughan method. "He's a joke, an addict incapable of telling the truth and taking responsibility for his actions. You shouldn't take anything he says seriously."

No one who is planning to vote for Ford at this stage is going to change their minds. Give up on them. Is it depressing that 30% of the city is drawn to a sociopath? 'Twas ever thus. Everyone likes a pundit who believes 100% in their own bullshit. See: any sports radio jock on the air at the moment.

Be thankful that number isn't higher, and go for those who aren't blind. That's the only way to do it. Don't take him seriously. Dismiss him, to his face, at every turn.

 

[requiem]

And even the cranes bit is a lie.

I liked how Matt asked him how many he was personally responsible for.

 

[pattycakes]

The best way to beat Ford as a candidate is the Adam Vaughan method. "He's a joke, an addict incapable of telling the truth and taking responsibility for his actions. You shouldn't take anything he says seriously."

No one who is planning to vote for Ford at this stage is going to change their minds. Give up on them. Is it depressing that 30% of the city is drawn to a sociopath? 'Twas ever thus. Everyone likes a pundit who believes 100% in their own bullshit. See: any sports radio jock on the air at the moment.

Be thankful that number isn't higher, and go for those who aren't blind. That's the only way to do it. Don't take him seriously. Dismiss him, to his face, at every turn.

Great post Dubster. This article in the Sun this morning has a quote from Ralph Lean which I agree with, keeping in mind that Lean was a huge Ford supporter until recently:

"His brother Councillor Doug Ford questioned the makeup of the crowd, saying “a lot of these people weren’t students.”

“I think a lot of these guys are a bunch of lefties that come downtown, that heckle, and Ralph Lean didn’t keep them in control,” he said.

Lean said the audience was 90 to 95% students.

He said he didn’t think Ford answered his tough question about economic performance vs. bad behaviour.

“And I would keep asking him and I hope people keep asking him,” Lean said.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I liked how Matt asked him how many he was personally responsible for.

Actually I don't like that answer - because it implicitly validates his assertion. Better to flat out say that there had been plenty of cranes even before you became mayor, were you deficient in observation or something.

AoD