The Antics Of Some Of Your Elected Officials

Council's whine and cheese
By SUE-ANN LEVY

We'll call today's column a slice of life from the bowels of a City Hall, run by our Harvard-educated mayor and a council granted "mature, responsible" powers under the City of Toronto Act.

Around 3:50 p.m. yesterday council decided to deal with a petty, inane motion by Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti calling for the auditor-general and the integrity commissioner to investigate frugal councillors Doug Holyday and Rob Ford for barely using their $53,100 office budgets, as well as supposedly accepting "third-party gifts" and paying for goods and services out of their own pockets.

Mammoliti also proposed that some $1,123 be withdrawn immediately from the two councillors' office budgets to pay for their use of common touchdown space at the Etobicoke Civic Centre.

It had been a highly-efficient council meeting to that point. Toronto's newly "empowered" councillors had approved exactly one item in full and had spent 30 minutes debating what time to recess -- they finally picked 6 p.m. -- to allow those members of council who wished to attend the final tax, oops revenue tools, consultation in Scarborough.

Mayor David Miller, who'd been conspicuously absent at the last three heated tax consultation sessions, indicated he wouldn't attend Scarborough's either. "I'll be with my family tonight," the lawyer and economist told reporters at yet another lunchtime photo op.

Meanwhile, here's a flavour of how Miller and his "mature" council handled the Mammoliti item yesterday:

4 p.m.: The debate starts and this "mature" council quickly degenerates into childish petulance.

4:10 p.m.: Holyday indicates he'd welcome an audit of the $1,471 he spent last year as long as the expense accounts of all councillors are audited as well. He tells his colleagues Mammoliti cost taxpayers $1,047,725 more than him to run his office between 1998 and 2005.

4:15 p.m.: Mammoliti asks Holyday how he can spend so little and still serve his constituents. When Holyday explains that he makes developers pay for public meetings and doesn't put in for mileage or meals (like him), Mammoliti accuses the councillor of being "sarcastic."

4:25 p.m.: After the two spar for 10 minutes, speaker Sandra Bussin finally cuts them off. It's at this point that Coun. Howard Moscoe endeavours to be the voice of reason. He proposes that all councillors be allowed to use the space in civic centres at no cost and to use their own money as long as they publicly disclose so. "What kind of stupid arrangement is this, turning people out of offices (touchdown space) that is sitting vacant?" he asked. "Let's end the insanity."

4:30 p.m.: Bussin opts to continue the insanity by ruling Moscoe's motions out of order.

4:35 p.m.: Mammoliti declares he doesn't want to "end this" because if Ford is allowed to take third-party donations to cover his office expenses (assuming he does), he wants to know whether he can too. "(If so) I guarantee I will come back next year with zero expenses," he declares. He goes on to take a shot at me for contending "tit for tat" in my column last Sunday -- that is, for stating I agree with Holyday that all councillors' expense accounts should be audited. "This is not about about tit-for-tat ... I'm given $53,100 to spend and then punished for doing so," Mammoliti whined.

4:50 p.m.: Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong suggests if councillors had attended the tax consultation sessions as he did, they'd know that the public is on Holyday and Ford's side. "The public wants us to be very prudent in how we spend our money," he said. But this seems to enrage Mammoliti, who pumps his colleague with a series of questions including: "How would the public feel about a councillor promising to spend their own money on a parkette?"

5 p.m.: Thankfully, Toronto's mature, responsible council opt to go back to a deferred item. But rest assured the King of Denial's empowered and highly accountable council will find more time to waste on the issue today!