LORINC: Fourth quarter and Team Ford is down by a few
June 3, 2013 | By John Lorinc
If you lived inside Rob Ford’s brain these days, what kind of thoughts would you expect to see floating by?
After watching the revolving door spectacle last week, it struck me that the brothers Ford and their old football buddy/business partner David Price might find themselves in a coaching frame of mind. Heading into the fourth quarter, three touchdowns behind, and trying for a come-from-behind win in order to go on to the Superbowl. Hail Mary passes and all that.
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One example of the latter: his revised approach to the media. Ford, by later in the week, had abandoned the reverse fake (slipping out the side door), which wasn’t working, in favour of a run up the middle (daily mini-pressers). This play, for those who hate football, occurs when the team with the ball simply tries to push its way through a wall of hulking linemen. Indeed, when Ford finds himself confronting the media horde staking out his office, does he, in his his mind’s eye, watch himself powering through a phalanx of nasty linebackers? Does Doug, or the apparently loyal Price, think in those terms? I have no idea, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
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The mayor, of course, has been in campaign mode since he took office because he only sees the universe in Manichean terms: us vs. them, my team vs. your team. In the world of competitive team sports, unlike the world of political governance, one doesn’t compromise with the other squad. One tries to defeat it.
Yet what happens when Team Ford (“Ford Nation†is a misnomer) begins to operationalize its come-from-behind victory fantasy? Many questions should arise that have nothing to do with crack. One of the more intriguing problems for journalists covering what’s left of the Ford administration will be determining how much of the work being done inside his office is actually about assembling a campaign machine. Were these new staffers hired to advance a policy agenda tailored for governing through the rest of Ford’s term, or have they been tasked with helping him prepare for the 2014 campaign?
It’s a key detail. After all, the 2014 election period doesn’t official begin for seven months, and the resources of the mayor’s office should never be used to build a campaign. (Indeed, Ford has barked at length about how councillors use their office budget to put out promotional materials meant to ensure their re-election.)
So from where I sit, Ford’s new response to the crack scandal could and should raise tough questions about whether he’s begun to use tax dollars for partisan purposes. As anyone concerned about fair elections will concede, there’s nothing more important, if you pardon the metaphor, than a level playing field.
