Same Old, Same Old......

The only good thing to come out of the municipal election and the mayors appointments is bloggers and columnists won't have to look far for things to hold the feet of these leftist wingnuts to the fire.

Mayor David Miller’s new team old and out of touch
By SUE-ANN LEVY

Joe Pantalone, Joe Mihevc, Kyle Rae, Gloria Lindsay Luby, Howard Moscoe, Paula Fletcher, Brian Ashton, Glenn De Baeremaeker, Shelley Carroll, Giorgio Mammoliti, Pam McConnell and Norm Kelly.

These are council’s new “movers and shakers” — good soldiers named last week to Mayor David Miller’s ‘A’ team, or in official terms, his newly-empowered executive committee.

The best and the brightest they certainly are not. Only in the socialist world order now firmly entrenched at City Hall would so many past-their-due-date, out-of-touch no-talents, in my view, be heading up senior committees with massive budgets and responsibilities.

Only in the world of His Blondness would a councillor who couldn’t run a meeting to save her life last term be elected the new Speaker, now in charge of running every single council meeting. I’m talking about the queenly Sandra Bussin. But I digress.

Let’s be frank. In his newly beefed up role, the mayor has the power to select a team of his choice. It is his right to surround himself with loyal leftist lapdogs and assorted spineless sycophants, even if it’s not the way to move this city forward or get his council to work as a team.

That said, I could have done without the silly talk at council last week of the choices being made equitably and fairly or that the mayor was inclusive.

We know full well that this brood has got their marching orders loud and clear — if they dare deviate from the mayor’s agenda they’ll find themselves banished to council’s hinterlands to join the mayor’s critics (all of whom were lucky to be appointed to one committee and not always their first choice).

I already know — from his previous track record on the works committee — that as its new chairman Glenn De Baeremaeker will support Miller in his aversion to incineration options.

Kyle Rae had a darn good time while a member of the economic development committee in the past — travelling to Philadelphia, New Orleans, London, Bangkok, Frankfurt, Berlin and Milan all in one year. I suspect now that he’s chairman he’ll be looking for many new opportunities around the globe to “sell” Toronto with Miller in tow.

Moscoe, already no friend of the cabbies or the tow truck operators in this city, has issued a list of his priorities as the new licensing and standards committee chairman.

Now he sees himself licensing landlords. I know the socialists love to license, tax and spend but didn’t he do enough damage as TTC chairman? Well, let’s look on the bright side. At least he’s off the TTC.

I can’t for the life of me understand how the communist-leaning, often daffy, Paula Fletcher got the Parks and Environment post. It’s also worthy of note that her hubby is the very union-connected John Cartwright.

I keep hoping that Carroll — who’s dropped a whopping 90 pounds and looks terrific — will take the same tact as budget chief and streamline spending at City Hall. But with a committee stacked with leftists like Gord Perks and Joe Mihevc — all itching to cater to their special interest pals — you can be guaranteed there will be no checks and balances at all.

Coun. Mike Del Grande, thrown onto the licensing and standards committee after indicating his preference for budget, called the selections all “strictly politics.”

Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong looked at the whole process far more practically. He said as a strong mayor Miller will now have to take responsibility for the victories and most of all, the defeats.

“It’s not council’s victory or defeats,” he said. “Because the mayor has put his unique stamp on this, its his success or failure.”