So the biggest political scandal the city’s probably ever seen has been officially relegated to scrap heap of history.[briefbreak]
The OPP announced yesterday that there will be no criminal charges in the MFP computer leasing mess four years after the Bellamy inquiry into the sad affair found former budget chief Tom Jakobek and other city staff and friends of the former mayor Mel Lastman (remember him?) in a conflict of interest.
While there will be no criminal charges (not really a surprise insert Julian Fantino conspriracy here) it’s worth recalling the way business used to be handled in this town before David Miller rode in on his broom – usually through the backdoor with a few perks, maybe a little cash, to grease palms.
Easy to forget too that the MFP computer leasing scandal, which saw the city waste tens of millions, was not only a massive breach of pubic trust, but the tip of the proverbial iceberg. While it was the focus of conflict allegations, the inquiry into the unethical behaviour revealed problems with a whole host of city contracts.
The stink of rot didn’t stop there under the Lastman regime, though. There were questions too about development deals under Lastman’s watch, including a plan to turn over control of Union Station, the most expensive piece of real estate in the country, over to a powerful consortium headed by friends of the mayor.
But let’s not dredge up the past, shall we? Miller’s on the way out and there’s the whiff of new possibilities in the air with a mayoral race George Smitherman and Rocco Rossi running to be chief magistrate. And that whiff smells like privatization.
Wow. Just think of the possibilities for hand polishing there. No doubt more than a few private concerns are moving to make sure they’ll be at the front of the line when and if garbage collection and the delivery of other city services go on the block.
We may just be setting ourselves up for another MFP, or maybe not.
Under Miller, council has introduced a host of measures to ensure that municipal government business is kept on the up and up. Those include toughened lobbying guidelines and city purchasing policy.
Some remains to be done. The implementation of five key recommendations made by the Bellamy inquiry, including revising conflict of interest policies and expense claims reporting for employees, as well as screening companies doing business with the city, are scheduled to be implemented by the end of the year.
We will have a new mayor by then. Will any of the two current frontrunners for that job follow through? The answer to that question may provide a valuable clue on whether public or political interests will define how future business is conducted in the city.[rssbreak]
