At Home in Hespeler

In the mean time that lying thieving crook McLiar and his scumbags just keep stealing the money.

So, you are saying that we should not have any conflict of interest laws?

The War on Former Mayor Rob Ford takes a counter-punch! Boom, to the kisser, Fordites, every last one-a-ya!

funny how all the Ford haters are mcguinty ass kissers. gotta love the looney left. there is just no credibility among you.

Had this been a Left wing mayor this would have never gotten this far, which says alot about the rabid Left, but, it also says something about Mayor Ford. He was asked 7 times by the Ethics commish to just pay it back and he didnt, he had numerous opportunitys to nip this and didnt.
Where were all his advisors? A main reason for Stephen Harper’s success is, he knows the walls he has go through and the game he has to play with the media and with the opposition. That this went as far as it did is all on the shoulders of Mayor Ford, his stubborness, and, his inability to fully understand just how much the Left hates him.

@billg
billg:

I’m glad you recognize that Rob Ford actually had a role in his own breaking of the law. He could easily have avoided this at many points.

But you are wrong to think that this would have been different had it been someone from the left it would never have gotten this far. Had this been anyone else on the planet this would never have gotten this far.

The judge had no discretion here: he broke the law and has to be booted.

As the judge points out it was Ford’s “stubborn sense of entitlement” that got us to this sorry state. At every single step of the way, Ford could have done the right thing and apologized for his original misstep of breaking City Hall’s Rules of Ethical Conduct. It was a small breach, but it was a clear breach, and the original consequences were equally small. But no, Ford had to double down. Every step of the way, when he could have been the bigger man, could have been the statesman, he doubled down.

And while the whole process was partisan on both sides, the fact of the matter is he broke the law. It is as simple as that. Where’s the conservative in you that says if you break the law, you suffer the consequences?

Personally, this whole thing should give us all some qualms. A clearly minor conflict of interest – it is a conflict and therefore against the law but it is a minor conflict – has produced a harsh result. Is this what was intended? It is certainly what the law says so it doesn’t matter. If we don’t like the law and its results, the democratic thing is to have our elected officials change the law. At least, that’s what I’ve always heard from conservatives.

But with this mayor, conservatives suddenly think different rules should apply.

Like with drunk driving and drugs in Florida, like with getting drunk at the Leafs game, like with reading and driving, like with driving while phoning, like with peddling prescription drugs, like with using 911 for personal use, like with calling a private citizen corrupt… this man thinks that laws and rules that apply to ordinary people, don’t apply to him.

It has happened over and over and over again.

And a judge finally said no, Mr. Ford, you are not above the law.

What I meant was, I cant see right wing councilors or the Toronto Sun targeting a left wing mayor because he solicited 3200$ for a youth sport program written on City of Toronto letter head…right wing voters would never forgive them for it. But, I do agree with your last point, for some reason he thinks he is above the law on this, and, he’s wrong wrong wrong.

@billg
Well, I disagree with that.

Look at Fontana in London. *NOT* the same thing because there are criminal charges, I admit, but look at the lengths to which backbench federal MPs are going to raise the issue – demanding the resignation of the mayor – in the House of Commons in Ottawa over an alleged misappropriation of just a few thousand dollars. Or all of the scandalettes of the Liberals. The rabid right is absolutely no different than the looney left on this stuff these days.

In fact, that is one of the lessons from the Liberals: where there is such brazen disregard for the law, even on the littlest things, there are bound to be major disregards for the law.

And for the record, here’s what the judge had to say about Robbie:

“This respondent has served on City Council for 12 years, the last two years as Mayor. He acknowledged, in cross-examination, that prior to this proceeding, he had never read or familiarized himself with the MCIA. Moreover, the respondent admitted that he never sought legal advice as to his entitlement to speak or vote on the Code of Conduct issues before council … he stated that he did not attend briefing sessions offered by the MCIA to newly elected councillors, or read the councillor’s handbook which addresses conflicts of interest.

“In view of the respondent’s leadership role in ensuring integrity in municipal government, it is difficult to accept an error in judgement defence based essentially on a stubborn sense of entitlement (concerning his football foundation) and a dismissive and confrontational attitude to the Integrity Commissioner and the Code of Conduct. In my opinion, the respondent’s actions were characterized by ignorance of the law and a lack of diligence in securing professional advice, amounting to wilful blindness.”

This is political assassination by another name. It’s a living color example of how rotten to the core the so called “legal” system in our so called democratic country.

This reminds me of how unions and the media tied up former Ottawa mayor O’Brien in the courts for so long and drained away an elected conservative mayor’s energy and attention. It also reminds me of the attempt to overturn the Etobicoke Centre election of a Conservative member of parliament by trying to force a whole new election over the incompetence of temporary Election Canada workers.