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Opponents of Toronto’s mayor are calling for apologies and the sacking of a Ford-controlled committee after a watchdog concluded the mayor’s office meddled in the recruitment process for a slew of city boards. (via Rob Ford denies ombudsman findings that his office meddled with civic appointments - The Globe and Mail) Council will deal next week with a contentious new report from Toronto’s ombudsman that found, among other allegations, Mr. Ford’s staff asked bureaucrats to remove a line from newspaper advertisements seeking “diverse” candidates. “I didn’t interfere in any process,” he said Thursday. “I’ve actually cleaned up the process that we had before. It’s a very clean and above-board, transparent process and it went very well.” The report describes how unnamed employees of the mayor’s office meddled in the way the municipal government selects ordinary citizens to sit on some 120 boards, including those overseeing the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the Toronto Parking Authority, Toronto police and the public library system. The mayor’s office first asked for post-election recruitment to be postponed, then demanded it be condensed into such a short time-frame that candidates could not be screened properly, according to Ms. Crean. “It will look to cynics as if the fix is already in for appointments and the process is just for show,” an unnamed bureaucrat wrote to the city manager in a June 9, 2011, e-mail. “We now have a governance process that is no longer based on any recognizable principles.” DiManno thinks that Mayor Ford should be recalled: “The sad fact is that, in this town, it’s a whole lot easier to get rid of a broken blender than it is to recall a rogue politician. And that’s not right.’’ That was Rocco Rossi speaking during the last municipal election campaign, before he withdrew from the mayor’s race. Yet his woefully low polling numbers did receive a significant bump — 10 per cent, according to one telephone survey — when he proposed instituting a recall mechanism for tossing out incompetent or maladroit elected politicians before their term was up. Sounds like an even better idea now, two years into rogue Rob Ford’s hapless administration. There are certainly a few stalwart allies still clinging to the mayor’s tattered coattails because they surfed into council prominence on his backdraft after spending years submerged in backbench waters. So Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti predictably shifts the blame to city staff for the pounding unleashed Thursday by Ombudsman Fiona Crean, who accused the mayor’s office of conducting a rushed, compromised and interfering selection process in the appointment of ordinary folk to 120 powerful civic committees. See, it’s their fault for inadequately screening recruitment candidates after the mayor’s office issued a hurry-up order and their tangle-footed ineptness in dancing to Ford’s quick-time tune which caused all kinds of staff strain. “If you’re not used to that kind of stress, then maybe you shouldn’t be there,’’ Mammoliti sniffed. To review: conflict of interest allegations over soliciting donations from city hall lobbyists to his private football foundation; leaving an executive council meeting to attend his team’s practice; deploying an aide in his office to help coach the team; using a city of Toronto car to get there; personally asking city officials to authorize road and drainage repairs outside his family company’s business in time for its 50th anniversary celebration; menacingly confronting a journalist beyond his family home’s backyard fence and levelling unsupported accusations the reporter had been spying on him. Meanwhile, Rita Davies, executive director of cluture for the city, abruptly left this summer: Senior city managers at city hall are working in “a culture of fear,” scared for their jobs and reluctant to give honest advice if they believe the Ford administration doesn’t want to hear it, former high-level employees say. A report from the city’s ombudsman released Thursday revealed the administration has been inappropriately interfering with city staff. Former top-ranking Toronto employees say it goes far beyond interference. Speaking out for the first time, former managers tell the Star about a toxic work environment, where they felt bullied, threatened and encouraged to keep their mouths shut. “It didn’t happen to me because I didn’t stay long enough, but certainly I thought it could happen or had begun to happen,” said former deputy city manager Sue Corke, who resigned because of “values” in March 2011. “There was a lack of civility,” said Corke. “The environment wasn’t as professional as what I had been used to in 30 years in the public sector. I’m used to a professional environment in which civil servants are provided with respect and where they provide the best advice to their political masters.” Corke said the mayor’s staff was not always interested in advice that did not fall in line with their “right-wing ideology.” “And that’s not me,” she said. “My social policy values are evidence-based, not ideological.” From the time Rob Ford took office in December 2010, more than a dozen senior managers have walked — or been walked — out the door. Another manager who left in the last year, who does not want to be named to protect former staff, said: “Clearly there is a lot of influence and persuasion and I’d even say bullying to have city staff do the will of the mayor’s office.” The individual said staff is reluctant to stand up for logic. In February, the Ford administration orchestrated the firing of TTC general manager Gary Webster after the 37-year veteran continued to tout the advantages of above-ground light rail over subways. The administration made the controversial move just weeks after ombudsman Fiona Crean warned council civil servants are afraid to speak their minds. Crean has advocated for new laws that would shield bureaucrats from politics. The Toronto bureaucracy is dysfunctional - we’ve long known this.

Opponents of Toronto’s mayor are calling for apologies and the sacking of a Ford-controlled committee after a watchdog concluded the mayor’s office meddled in the recruitment process for a slew of city boards. (via Rob Ford denies ombudsman findings that his office meddled with civic appointments - The Globe and Mail)

  • Council will deal next week with a contentious new report from Toronto’s ombudsman that found, among other allegations, Mr. Ford’s staff asked bureaucrats to remove a line from newspaper advertisements seeking “diverse” candidates.
  • “I didn’t interfere in any process,” he said Thursday. “I’ve actually cleaned up the process that we had before. It’s a very clean and above-board, transparent process and it went very well.”
  • The report describes how unnamed employees of the mayor’s office meddled in the way the municipal government selects ordinary citizens to sit on some 120 boards, including those overseeing the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the Toronto Parking Authority, Toronto police and the public library system.
  • The mayor’s office first asked for post-election recruitment to be postponed, then demanded it be condensed into such a short time-frame that candidates could not be screened properly, according to Ms. Crean.
  • “It will look to cynics as if the fix is already in for appointments and the process is just for show,” an unnamed bureaucrat wrote to the city manager in a June 9, 2011, e-mail. “We now have a governance process that is no longer based on any recognizable principles.”
DiManno thinks that Mayor Ford should be recalled:
  • “The sad fact is that, in this town, it’s a whole lot easier to get rid of a broken blender than it is to recall a rogue politician. And that’s not right.’’
  • That was Rocco Rossi speaking during the last municipal election campaign, before he withdrew from the mayor’s race.
  • Yet his woefully low polling numbers did receive a significant bump — 10 per cent, according to one telephone survey — when he proposed instituting a recall mechanism for tossing out incompetent or maladroit elected politicians before their term was up.
  • Sounds like an even better idea now, two years into rogue Rob Ford’s hapless administration.
  • There are certainly a few stalwart allies still clinging to the mayor’s tattered coattails because they surfed into council prominence on his backdraft after spending years submerged in backbench waters. So Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti predictably shifts the blame to city staff for the pounding unleashed Thursday by Ombudsman Fiona Crean, who accused the mayor’s office of conducting a rushed, compromised and interfering selection process in the appointment of ordinary folk to 120 powerful civic committees. See, it’s their fault for inadequately screening recruitment candidates after the mayor’s office issued a hurry-up order and their tangle-footed ineptness in dancing to Ford’s quick-time tune which caused all kinds of staff strain. “If you’re not used to that kind of stress, then maybe you shouldn’t be there,’’ Mammoliti sniffed.
  • To review: conflict of interest allegations over soliciting donations from city hall lobbyists to his private football foundation; leaving an executive council meeting to attend his team’s practice; deploying an aide in his office to help coach the team; using a city of Toronto car to get there; personally asking city officials to authorize road and drainage repairs outside his family company’s business in time for its 50th anniversary celebration; menacingly confronting a journalist beyond his family home’s backyard fence and levelling unsupported accusations the reporter had been spying on him.
  • Senior city managers at city hall are working in “a culture of fear,” scared for their jobs and reluctant to give honest advice if they believe the Ford administration doesn’t want to hear it, former high-level employees say.
  • A report from the city’s ombudsman released Thursday revealed the administration has been inappropriately interfering with city staff. Former top-ranking Toronto employees say it goes far beyond interference.
  • Speaking out for the first time, former managers tell the Star about a toxic work environment, where they felt bullied, threatened and encouraged to keep their mouths shut.
  • “It didn’t happen to me because I didn’t stay long enough, but certainly I thought it could happen or had begun to happen,” said former deputy city manager Sue Corke, who resigned because of “values” in March 2011.
  • “There was a lack of civility,” said Corke. “The environment wasn’t as professional as what I had been used to in 30 years in the public sector. I’m used to a professional environment in which civil servants are provided with respect and where they provide the best advice to their political masters.”
  • Corke said the mayor’s staff was not always interested in advice that did not fall in line with their “right-wing ideology.”
  • “And that’s not me,” she said. “My social policy values are evidence-based, not ideological.”
  • From the time Rob Ford took office in December 2010, more than a dozen senior managers have walked — or been walked — out the door.
  • Another manager who left in the last year, who does not want to be named to protect former staff, said: “Clearly there is a lot of influence and persuasion and I’d even say bullying to have city staff do the will of the mayor’s office.”
  • The individual said staff is reluctant to stand up for logic. In February, the Ford administration orchestrated the firing of TTC general manager Gary Webster after the 37-year veteran continued to tout the advantages of above-ground light rail over subways.
  • The administration made the controversial move just weeks after ombudsman Fiona Crean warned council civil servants are afraid to speak their minds. Crean has advocated for new laws that would shield bureaucrats from politics.

The Toronto bureaucracy is dysfunctional - we’ve long known this.

Posted in toronto politics bureacracy rob ford fiona crean ombudsman gary webster sue corke ttc rita davies || home
  1. inbonobo posted this