Mayor Ford picks team players

Ford announces key roles for councillors
Kris Scheuer
(Written for Town Crier Nov. 29)

Mayor-elect Rob Ford announces his picks among councilors for key roles. Photo by Francis Crescia/Town Crier.

Mayor elect Rob Ford announced this afternoon the team that will help guide Toronto for the next few years.
The were no surprises in the appointments to head the seven council standing committees nor the spate of other plum posts as Ford’s choices had already been widely reported in the media.
The geographic and ideological composition of the group also offered no surprise. There are reps from the suburbs and midtown, but no one from downtown. Leftie councillors were shut out but two newbie female politicians are on Ford’s team.
“This is the team that’s ready to get down to the hard work of bringing accountability and respect for taxpayers back to city hall,” Ford said.

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Toronto councilors and mayor elected

Rob Ford elected new mayor
Some incumbent councillors lose
New faces on 45-member city council
Kris Scheuer

Mayor-elect Rob Ford at the Town Crier's editorial board. Town Crier file photo.

Here’s a run down of the winners, upsets, and top place results for the Oct. 25 vote.
Of the possible 1,546,732 eligible voters, voter turnout was about 52.6 percent, which is up from the 2006 election with 39.3 percent.
RESULTS: Toronto here’s your new mayor and 44 councillors.
Are you pleased with the results for mayor and council seats? Please let me know…
Mayor-elect is Rob Ford with 383,501 votes for 47.11 percent followed by George Smitherman in second with 289,832 for 35.6 percent, according to the city’s website. Of course, 38 other mayoral candidates were on the ballot and results for each can be found here and may vary as the city updates the election results.
Here are the councillors-elect for all 44 wards with a list of each winner and closest runner-up. For a full list of all candidates votes in each race, click here.
Etobicoke-North Ward 1:  Vincent Crisanti won with 40.75% of the vote ousting incumbent councillor Suzan Hall, who got 36.96%.

Mayoral hopefuls debate development

Ideas range from status quo to reducing city planners
Kris Scheuer
(Written for Town Crier June 17.)

MAYORAL CANDIDATES Rob Ford, Giorgio Mammoliti, Joe Pantalone, Rocco Rossi, George Smitherman and Sarah Thomson (not pictured) debated development and design issues at a June 16 forum. Photo by Kris Scheuer/Town Crier.

Six top Toronto mayoral contenders were on the hot seat at a debate on their vision to make the city more development and design-friendly.
The standing-room only June 16 event at the Art Gallery of Ontario preceded the annual PUG Awards for architectural excellence.
Mayoral candidate Rob Ford focused a lot on his skills as a businessman heading his late father’s company Deco Labels and his plan to save the city money by cutting expenses such as cutting council from 44 to 22 councillors.
But he got heckled more than once to answer the questions related to development and city planning.
Ford did mention there needs to be more public input on planning.
“I have had so many people frustrated at the process,” he said. “The residents don’t get listened to at all. I stick up for the little guy. There person who doesn’t have a voice at city hall.”

Toronto election mayoral race

Guide to who’s running for city’s top political job
Mayoral candidates in Toronto election
By Kris Scheuer
(Updated Oct. 21.)

 

Councillor Joe Pantalone is running for mayor of Toronto.

 

The Toronto election campaign officially began Jan. 4 and *40 people are registered for mayor’s race.
Coun. Rob Ford registered March 25.
Coun. Joe Pantalone made it official Jan. 13. Former MPP George Smitherman filed his nomination papers Jan. 8.
They are not alone.
As of Sept. 10 (last day to register or withdraw), here’s the list: lawyer Rocco Achampong, Michael Alexander, George Babula, Christopher Ball, Michael Brausewetter, Douglas Campbell, Jaime Castillo, Kevin Clarke, Keith Cole, Charlene Cottle, Diane Devenyi, James Di Fiore, David Epstein, Selwyn Firth, Michael Flie, Councillor Rob Ford, Abdullah-Baquie Ghazi, Howard Gomberg, Barry Goodhead, Monowar Hossain, Dewitt Lee, John Letonja, Colin Magee, Carmen Macklin, Joseph Pampena, deputy mayor Joe Pantalone, former MPP George Smitherman, Vijay Sarma, Mark State, Tibor Steinberger, Himy Syed, Weizhen Tang, Phil Taylor, David Vallance, Ratan Wadhwa and Daniel Walker.
And Gerald Derome who, on his website that he links to from his Twitter account, has written some disturbing passages about wanting to have sexual contact with girls as young as nine (see blue shaded post with heading Ecto Gamma.)
Also running is Don Andrews, who is head of the Nationalist Party of Canada and a white supremacist. You should know he is a proud racist. I interviewed him when he ran  for mayor in 2003. He has been convicted and done time for hate crimes in the 1970s.
*Businesswoman Sarah Thomson withdrew after the nominations closed, so she’ll remain on the ballot.
*Liberal strategist Rocco Rossi dropped out on Oct. 13, but will still be on the ballot.
Other Withdrawn candidates: Giorgio Mammoliti officially withdrew his candidacy July 9. Adam Giambrone held a press conference Feb. 10 to apologize for affairs while maintaining a committed relationship and by March 10 had withdrawn from the race. Perpetual mayoral candidate Kevin Clarke withdrew March 31 but is now registered again. Stephen Feek, Ange Maniccia, Mark Cidade, Mell Findlay, Wendell Brereton, Nasseb Husain, Carmen Macklin, Jim McMillan, Sonny Yeung and Andrew Barton.

Who do you like for the next mayor?