Mayor Ford’s key players approved

City Council gives nod to mayor’s picks for choice roles
Chairs of important committees and Ford’s inner team chosen
Left, downtown and women mostly shut out
Kris Scheuer
(Written for Town Crier Dec. eight)

Mayor Rob Ford. Photo by Francis Crescia/Town Crier file image.

Mayor Rob Ford got a key win today at city hall as the councillors he’s hand-picked for key committees were approved by council.
But the 39-6 decision to endorse the slate with some minor amendments did not come easily.
Some complained none of the 12 councillors on Toronto-East York community council were appointed to serve on key committees including the executive, TTC, budget, police services board or Toronto Community Housing.
The make-up of the mayor’s 13 member Executive, for example, includes five Scarborough reps, three from North York, three from Etobicoke and two from York. Of the nine councillors on the TTC, none represent downtown.
Several politicians argued that these committees and other boards should include not just different ideologies but a geographical representation from all corners of the city.
“There are practical issues about how to make the city functional that require input from people (politicians) from different corners of the city,” Councillor Adam Vaughan told the media this afternoon. “Because different corners of the city are built differently.
“There is no ideological argument about which time of day you pick garbage, but there are practical reasons why you pick it up in Kensington (Market) and not at a certain time in Scarborough,” he added. “If you don’t have a cross section of people weighing in on city wide issues you lose that intelligence.”

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Decision time for Rob Ford

Will new mayor appoint only his allies to key council posts?
Or will he share the wealth and reach out to the left?
(Column written for Town Crier Nov. 5)

Mayor-elect Rob Ford and his transition team have 44 councillors, including 14 newbies, to please.
The new mayor’s team must now decide who will head council committees and sit on boards and key commissions. Will he reach across the political aisle and pick councillors based on expertise, geographic representation (downtown versus suburbs), diversity, etc. or will he only pick his allies?

Mayor-elect Rob Ford and his transition team headed by Case Ootes (standing) will have much influence over what kind of committee appointments 44 councillors get. Photo by Francis Crescia/Town Crier.

This will be one of the first indications of what type of council we will see.
Ford and his team have said they want this new term to be about working collaboratively with all councillors based on expertise not merely ideology.
Many councillors I’ve spoken to, including newcomers Josh Matlow and Jaye Robinson and stalwarts Karen Stintz and Joe Mihevc, have repeatedly said that people want a council that works together for Toronto.
While it is an oft repeated message is that Mayor David Miller brought mainly like-minded councillors into the powerful executive committee and for key roles there were times he did stray from a partisan path such as appointing David Soknacki as his budget chief in his first term. Mel Lastman reached out to lefties for help like former councillors (and current NDP MPs) Olivia Chow (children’s advocate) and Jack Layton (homelessness).
So now that Ford is no longer in the political wilderness will he look beyond the left and right divide and reward people with important jobs based on their strengths and experience?