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Ford bruising

The toughest week yet since Mayor Rob Ford took office got worse Tuesday, April 12.

After some pointed questions about the creative accounting found in his campaign expenses and the handing out of another $100K plum to a political buddy, the mayor lost a vote at council – a significant one at that – in a bid to tighten his grip on all 118 of the city’s arm’s-lengths agencies, boards, and commissions (ABCs).

Weak links are beginning to appear – not in the mayor’s direct chain of command, mind you, but among some of those in the so-called mushy middle who have been losing a little sleep over having to vote with His Worship or else. Some have been asking themselves, “Is this what I was elected for?”

A couple among them, who shall remain nameless on this end for now lest the Wrath of Khan come tumbling down on them, had barely uttered a word at a council meeting until Tuesday.

Ford’s surprise defeat didn’t exactly come out of the blue.

There have been subtle signs of a slight turning in the power dynamic at City Hall, like that unanimous vote by the Planning Committee recently to appeal a court decision on the billboard tax.

Not to mention that mess of a photo op to clean up graffiti in the west end last Thursday, April 6, that was meant to distract us from some of the bad publicity. There, the mayor wasn’t interested in answering questions from the assembled media about anything but his efforts to rid the city of spray-painted scrawls, hustling to his parked van to duck other queries. For a moment, a flash of the old Ford anger shone through.

His brand has been bruised, and no one knows that better than the mayor and his handlers.

Hence his rare mood at Tuesday’s meeting, at the start of which he stood to make what sounded like a peace offering to his political enemies.

The occasion was the official renaming of Metro Square as Pecaut Square in honour of David Pecaut, the late city-builder and former Toronto City Summit Alliance chair.

I could have been imagining things, but there it was for all to see: the mayor, who has spent the last five months ramming his agenda down council’s throat, sounding conciliatory, talking about the spirit of cooperation inspired by Pecaut and how Pecaut’s contributions should be a lesson to us all.

We all live in the same city, after all, and are in this together, Ford said. Wow.

The mayor’s press secretary smiled a wicked smile.

Didn’t take long, though, for the goodwill to go poof and the mayor’s control agenda to retake centre stage on the council floor.

Enter EX4.6, that proposal by the mayor’s executive to bring the city’s ABCs to heel.

Councillor Doug Holyday asserted that the mayor’s plan to hand-pick chairs for those ABCs was not some “plot” to put Ford’s cronies in charge.

But, of course, some could be forgiven for not believing that. Otherwise, why would the plan involve removing councillors from those boards, too? Where’s the increased accountability for taxpayers in removing elected reps from ABCs? Hard to fathom.

In the end, Ford won the power to appoint chairs to ABCs, but the councillors will stay, too.

Lesson for Ford: when matters get hot, a photo op may no longer serve as a suitable diversion for the masses – or for council’s mushy middle for that matter.

enzom@nowtoronto.com

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