Too Many Clowns...

Royson James: City hall race loses some lustre

January 30, 2010
Royson James

TTC chair Adam Giambrone is expected Monday to file his papers seeking election to the city's top job – mayor.
This will essentially close the field of top candidates for the $170,000-a-year job, almost nine months before voting day in late October.
It's a long contest: "Someone who's making a baby tonight could give birth before election day," observes John Laschinger, a perennial campaign manger who has chosen Giambrone as the heir to King David's throne. But the race has already lost some of its lustre.
Laschinger, who managed Miller's two winning campaigns, likes Giambrone's chances – though he's also the poster boy for public anger over abysmal customer service with the TTC.
Giambrone will have to ward off fellow NDPer Joe Pantalone before securing the backing of the Millerites. Pantalone has been Miller's deputy for six years going on seven, and has many IOUs. Then, Giambrone has to eat into the huge lead that Liberal and former deputy premier George Smitherman has accumulated. And he must be mindful of federal backroom Liberal Rocco Rossi on the right flank.
There are others – from Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, running a kamikaze campaign on the right fringe, to Sarah Thomson, green and inexperienced, pursuing a lost cause. But it starts out as a four-way race that is likely to narrow to a three-way split in September.
Last fall, Miller said two terms were enough and he would be leaving city hall. This unleashed anticipation of a classic clash. We may be getting much less than that.
John Tory, considered a political heavyweight who could draw votes from the ideological right and left, dipped his toes in the water and recoiled, sticking with his drive-home radio gig on CFRB.
Councillor Shelley Carroll, budget chief and Miller backer, had the aura of a credible alternative to the boys. But with Liberal support streaming to Smitherman and Rossi, the loyal party member was squeezed out.
Glen Murray, former Winnipeg mayor, also read the tea leaves and abandoned his bid. Ditto for Councillor Karen Stintz. And it seems Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, stunned at Tory's withdrawal, can't recover quickly enough to mount a campaign.
Miller's announced departure raised hopes on several fronts: City hall needed a leader from outside city council with fresh ideas; Toronto could use a city-wide debate on radically different visions of her future; substantial candidates would emerge so that each vision would be led by a competent, credible and experienced leader.
That hope is diminished somewhat.
On the left, we have two candidates in Miller's mould – Pantalone, very experienced but very much from yesterday; Giambrone, extremely green – and management of his ward and of the TTC shows dangerous gaps.
On the other side, Rossi is such an unknown quantity he starts out as a fallback candidate. Can he win over the public? His early foray, with suggestions such as stopping transit expansion, is worrying.
Smitherman, the poll-leading front-runner? Why would he be bold now? He doesn't have a Tory nipping at his heels. And he won't want to anger the "progressives" by contracting out any municipal services.
The man with the "bulldog" rep was just endorsed by a labour union – backed ahead of two labour-loving candidates.
Maybe the carpenters' union is telegraphing something: Expect a different name, same game at city hall.

Royson James usually appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Email: rjames@thestar.ca