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The Urban Jungle
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Rob Ford's Toronto

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typezed said:
I know this is the common belief, and partly why he was elected Mayor, but I've never really seen much proof of it. Most of us have little idea of what most councillors do to fill their time outside of the monthly two-day meetings. Some, I suspect, are quite diligent about attending to ward and constituent concerns and some are mostly absent. I can make some guesses as to the relative work ethics of our representatives, but mostly I don't know. Ford has this reputation of being someone who answered calls and went to inspect constituent problems because that's what he has told us he did. That's what he tells us he does as Mayor. But we know that he always overstates his efforts, and that he lies without pause. We know as Mayor, under far more scrutiny than he was as a councillor, he has mostly been attentive to high school football, sleeping off his addictions and hanging out in the woods drinking vodka with his criminal friends. I doubt this was any different when he was a councillor.
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Plus 100!

Perhaps if this does come to pass, he will be under more scrutiny as the "ex-mayor now councillor". Certainly the public interest will be there, at least initially.
 
Cooper said:
........... The media would treat him an opposition leader for a while if he returned to a councillor seat, but I don't know how long that would last. Personally, I'd be happiest if he just went away.
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I don't know if they would even do that.

Also, as a councillor he was a loose cannon/blowhard. The proverbial lone wolf, he has no interest in working with others. So no coalition will coalesce around him.......ever.
 
Oh please, I hope this absurd reality show does not return as a sequel with Rob Ford starring as the lone-wolf counsellor that is prone to outbursts, after-hours shenanigans and is heavily covered by the press. This thread makes for good reading and all, but I need to get some other things done.
 
Grinder said:
Oh please, I hope this absurd reality show does not return as a sequel with Rob Ford starring as the lone-wolf counsellor that is prone to outbursts, after-hours shenanigans and is heavily covered by the press. This thread makes for good reading and all, but I need to get some other things done.
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And so does City Hall. If he returned as a councillor, his actions and his infamy would provide so much distraction as to drive that place further into the ground.
 
ParkdalePetunia said:
Actually if my memory serves, this conversation started when you stated that his alcoholism should somehow be off of the table and we should all be empathetic towards the plights he's been through. You know who I actually have empathy for? His children. Because regardless of what he's done in office, he has created an unstable environment within their home, has made disgusting public statements about his wife, and treated his entire family as social props. His children have been subjected to his behaviour both at home and in the media. He has absolutely no care or concern for what they are going through or for what they will go through as this will haunt them for the rest of their lives. He is self-centred, narcissistic, irresponsible, and I'm sorry, does not seem capable of loving or caring about anyone beyond himself (seems like the MO for his family). As a parent, especially as a parent, I can not feel sympathetic, empathetic, or compassionate towards him. Ever. Regardless of his public position, he is a terrible human being. But regardless of all of that, I don't want to see him dead, and I would venture to guess that the majority of us here don't want to see him dead. Because we have compassion for his children and the people who, despite everything, still love him.
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Can you imagine what his kids are going to find on the internet when they are a bit older? He doesn't care about anyone but himself.
 
typezed said:
Ford has this reputation of being someone who answered calls and went to inspect constituent problems because that's what he has told us he did. That's what he tells us he does as Mayor. But we know that he always overstates his efforts, and that he lies without pause. We know as Mayor, under far more scrutiny than he was as a councillor, he has mostly been attentive to high school football, sleeping off his addictions and hanging out in the woods drinking vodka with his criminal friends. I doubt this was any different when he was a councillor.
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We've sen from the FOI requests and from the reports of his binges that often he was said to be doing constituency work and having private meetings with citizens when in fact he'd been on a bender the day before and wasn't fit to do anything. I wouldn't trust anything he says about doing work unless there were impartial witnesses who came forward to say he'd actually done something.
 
Admiral Beez said:
Yep, that's been my prediction for months now. He'll come out of rehab, say he's better and wants to return to his roots in Etobicoke, and will then drop his candidacy and endorse Tory for mayor.
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The biggest thing in the way is his ego though. He loves the attention and status that comes with being mayor!
 
L23 said:
We've sen from the FOI requests and from the reports of his binges that often he was said to be doing constituency work and having private meetings with citizens when in fact he'd been on a bender the day before and wasn't fit to do anything. I wouldn't trust anything he says about doing work unless there were impartial witnesses who came forward to say he'd actually done something.
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He probably did do a lot of constituency work initially (maybe not the most effective activities, but a lot of it). 2006-2012 likely saw his addictions progressively push out all the real work. His myth is based on the first few years plus good marketing.
 
Cooper said:
Official oppostion leader? I dunno. Rob doesn't have a good track record for bringing people on side, and he's not exactly a wellspring of ideas, even among fiscally like-minded councillors. The media would treat him an opposition leader for a while if he returned to a councillor seat, but I don't know how long that would last. Personally, I'd be happiest if he just went away.
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I agree, it would be nice if he and his brother disappeared. When I said "official opposition leader", I didn't necessarily mean in council, clearly he'll have a hard time forming some sort of coalition there, I was referring more with the voters in the suburbs. They might see him in that role. Especially if he's the go-to councillor for a good anti-Chow quote for the Sun. If he cleans up, and he starts to win the voters' support again, who knows. If people were dumb and ignorant enough to vote for him the first time, I don't see why a "sober" Ford wouldn't have a chance to win in four years based on his "cut the waste" message. He needs to increase his support. Can he do that? I don't know. But I wouldn't count him out just yet. Maybe "Ford More Years" should be changed to "In Ford Years"... Although, if Ford truly hates his life and doesn't clean his act up 100% then he's finished, I think. Maybe that's why losing weight is such an important mission with the Ford family. What if he shows up much thinner years down the road? It'll be physical proof, to some, that the old Ford is gone and a new Ford has emerged, if he grows up, as well, that is.
 
I'd like to pick up on a (relatively) undiscussed detail from a few pages back.

GeekGirl said:
Sorry, I'm a few pages back. Donny Peterson, president of the HA, stated he supports Ford. He was interviewed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/04/hells-angels-rob-ford-photo_n_4384104.html

I was a little shocked at first too, then it all began to make sense. The Ford's very likely have friends or acquaintances in the HA. They also have relationships with the mob (Ford's latest picture with the ex-mob bosses being just one example) and some ground level dealers. Also, back in the days the HA used to run the strip joints (I don't know how big that business is for them now). The connection to the present day strip/escort clubs isn't surprising at all. A lot of these people either know each other, or have heard of each other, at the very least they know who is important and who is not. Ford is the mayor, he can do a lot for them in many different ways, of course they want to protect him.
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Well, like calls to like, dunnit? They're just supporting a fellow criminal. Not exactly a shock.

Whenever the Hell's Angels come up in discussion with Rofo, it reminds me of a wildly speculative thread that appeared at Gawker after the Globe & Mail published their investigation of the Fords' involvement in the drug trade. Several contributors there claimed that the HA were - and still are? - very heavily invloved in drug dealing here in Ontario (and possibly Canada as a whole), and that the chances were quite good that Doug, at least, probably had some prior 'business' relationship with them. This was all speculation, obviously, and I'm far from an expert myself, so I really can't say one way or the other...but according to the Globe, Dofo's little operation actually was fairly significant, with genuine criminals involved. It wasn't just a matter of some callow young punk peddling a few reefers to his high school buddies for pocket money. There was real criminality there.
 
dforthandbview said:
I agree, it would be nice if he and his brother disappeared. When I said "official opposition leader", I didn't necessarily mean in council, clearly he'll have a hard time forming some sort of coalition there, I was referring more with the voters in the suburbs. They might see him in that role. Especially if he's the go-to councillor for a good anti-Chow quote for the Sun. If he cleans up, and he starts to win the voters' support again, who knows. If people were dumb and ignorant enough to vote for him the first time, I don't see why a "sober" Ford wouldn't have a chance to win in four years based on his "cut the waste" message. He needs to increase his support. Can he do that? I don't know. But I wouldn't count him out just yet. Maybe "Ford More Years" should be changed to "In Ford Years"... Although, if Ford truly hates his life and doesn't clean his act up 100% then he's finished, I think. Maybe that's why losing weight is such an important mission with the Ford family. What if he shows up much thinner years down the road? It'll be physical proof, to some, that the old Ford is gone and a new Ford has emerged, if he grows up, as well, that is.
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Ah, outside council. Yes, if Ford returned on council, he'd definitely breathe some more life into the nation. It wouldn't be the force (perceived or otherwise) that it was a few years ago, but it would definitely remain a noisy faction.
 
As for the empathy/sympathy debate, I have fully as much of either for Mayor Fatass as he's demonstrated for other people in roughly the same circumstances, i.e. none. And let us not forget his hateful comments about how bicyclists who are killed while out riding all had themselves to blame for their own deaths. Seriously, pressing a hanky to your eyes and blubbing about how simply awful it is for poor, persecuted L'il Orphan Fordie - why, all these mean people want to hold him accountable for his own behavior!!! gasp! swoon! - is a sucker's game. We can all understand people who engage in self-destructive behavior as fellow human beings, but sociopaths and professional grifters/con artists (and Ford is both) will eagerly latch on to any displays of empathy shown them in order to continue their fucked up behavior, especially if it involves screwing other people over. And as we've seen, that's something that Ford absolutely relishes doing, classic schoolyard bully type that he is. We shouldn't continue enabling him.
 
L23 said:
That's not going to happen. There's too much bad blood there with Tory, and remember, he said he'd rather Chow win than Tory if he was going to lose (because naturally everything would go to hell if a socialist woman was in charge, and then the people would beg him to come back - this is the gist of what he said a month or two ago). He'll come back from Robhab, claim to be a completely changed man, and will still lose. He won't drop out, and won't endorse Tory.
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Bully for him then. It would mean no more Ford shenanigans in Council until the following election.
 
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