Rob Ford gives staff $5,000 taxpayer dollars each to stay on

And that would be justice, if “the voters” were a single bloc-voting hivemind.

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And frankly this all proves that my feeling that “Democracy” is a crock of shit is at least a possibly valid standpoint.

In 1998, the Conservative provincial government forcibly amalgamated the relatively progressive city of Toronto with its more conservative suburban neighbors to create a single mega-municipality. A majority of Toronto residents opposed the decision, as did a majority of suburbanites. Those same suburbanites outnumber the city-dwellers and therefore they can decide the mayoral election if the conservative vote is not split.

So no, the city of Toronto did not elect Rob Ford. The municipality of Toronto did. And that a really important distinction to make in this regard.

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the electoral map looks something like this:

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As a Canadian, I follow American politics much more closely than Canadian politics for two reasons:
(1) I like to understand the policies most likely to affect my daily life, and
(2) American politics is just more trainwrecky interesting.

I may have to rethink (2).

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And in some parts of Canada you may have to rethink it in en français.

A mayor who loved crack and blow
Didn’t care about those in the know.
He said, “I’m expected
To be reelected
As long as I keep taxes low.”

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Can just imagine the what the staff are / have been going through. In their personal lives, and as far as resume goes… I don’t think 5k covers having to answer future interview questions about your tenure as a Rob Ford administration employee.

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If your boss is wildly breaking the law, and your in government business, it’s the work of one individual to film or tape him and give it to the police. Could’ve been done years ago. Ford hasn’t exactly been subtle in his excesses. Or, you just resign in mass, to show you’re not a crook like he is. You stick around, you’re a crony.

He sure seemed to be getting a lot of love at the Eastern Final yesterday.

Oskee Wee Wee!!

He was elected at the beginning of the day, by noon he was drunk and by 10:30 he was smoking crack. It’s now last call for mayor bumblefuck.

Why is that? Because his just dessert is served slowly and with due process?

Was smoking crack one of his election promises?

Not if your democratic system is representative. ‘Democracy’ isn’t the problem.

Rob Ford has so little regard for the city of Toronto that he relocated the CN Tower. How are we going to find our ways home after a late night at the bar?

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” [H.L. Mencken]

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For anyone who was paying attention, it pretty much was.

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I just can’t help feeling like Toronto is involved in a huge piece of collective performance art, and any minute now Rob Ford will come out and identify himself as a trained classical actor, and the entire city will admit that they voted for a fantastic piece of trickery on the rest of the world, and everyone in Toronto will spend the evening drinking martinis and congratulating themselves.

Although I do think actor Rob Ford has a tendency to chew the scenery a bit, and perhaps could use more nuance to make the whole thing more believable.

I must say, living in the U.S., I also suspect the NRA of this every time Wayne LaPierre says anything in public.

$5000 raises!

Doesn’t that mean an extra $5000 per month for every staff member? Potentially hundreds of thousands of more dollars?

I guess the meaning of “raise” is probably ambiguous. If someone says “I got a $2 raise” I’ll assume they mean per hour. If someone says “I got a $20,000 raise” I’ll assume they mean per year. It’s sloppy reporting not to be clear which one this is – $5000 per year is more likely, yes, but this is Rob Ford we’re talking about.

As a jaded Boston political wonk, I must tip my hat to Toronto for showing us how to conduct high-caliber political theatre. But unless I am mistaken, this is just a one-man-show. We’re used to full scale public sector bread and circus here …but beyond the shenanigans of Hizzoner Crack-Clown, Canadians still seem far more sensible.

Does this development signal a new age of Maple-Leaf absurdity…or will you Canadians just return to your boring, inoffensive ways when the…uh…dust…settles?

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