Q. A member attends an event in her or his Ward celebrating the completion of a significant property development. The property developer asks the member to pose for a photograph along with other dignitaries attending the event. Should the member agree?
A. Inquire as to the use that the developer intends to make of the photograph. If the answer is that it will be used for advertising or other promotional purposes, decline the invitation: see Article VIII of the Code of Conduct.
The above is an excerpt from the Annotated Code of Conduct for members of Toronto City Council [pdf] and is a sample of advice the Integrity Commissioner once offered a councillor. Article VIII of the Code concerns “Improper Use of Influence,” which involves leveraging your position — and the weight of your office — for anything unconnected to official duties.
This is an ad for Lastman’s Bad Boy that ran in the Sports section of Wednesday’s Toronto Star:
That Councillor Rob Ford might be unfamiliar with the Code of Conduct is the farthest thing from news. About half the case studies in the Code’s annotated version involve situations where the Integrity Commissioner found Ford to have breached it. (And all those date from his first, pre-mayor decade on Council.)
What’s funny is the way he casually bumbles in to such ethical pickles.
“He was there shopping and he needed a couple sectionals and he made the best deal he could,” explains Bad Boy CEO Blayne Lastman, the son of former mayor Mel Lastman, who founded the chain’s first iteration in the 50s. He says Ford called him directly to negotiate a deal.
The staff at the Mississauga store posed for photos with Ford, which were posted on the company’s Facebook page on March 29. The next day, the councillor reposted one of the pics on his Instagram account (which is apparently a thing he has).
Lastman says his general manager asked Ford for permission to use the photos in an ad. Over the years, “we’ve shown lots of different people that have shopped at Bad Boy, and we decided to use Councillor Ford for now,” he says.
And he didn’t receive compensation or anything?
“No, he didn’t,” says Lastman. “He just got another great deal, which everybody gets at Bad Boy.”
Ford’s appearance in the ad is “completely inappropriate,” municipal law expert John Mascarin writes in an email. “Such conduct constitutes an improper use of influence on the part of the councillor, especially in view of Mr. Ford having been advised and having agreed that they could be used in an advertisement.”
Ford’s office has yet to respond to requests for comment.
In February, the Integrity Commissioner was asked to investigate Councillor Mark Grimes’s appearance in a promotional video for a condo project in his ward, after the CBC called his closeness with developers into question.
