The Doug and Ari Goldkind

“As much as Mr. Tory and I disagree on almost every policy, I appreciate what he’s done and his support for the democratic process,” Mr. Goldkind said. “If Doug is going to act this way unelected, how unfortunate the affairs of this city will look if he is elected.”

 

Doug Ford has said he is prepared to debate John Tory any where, any time.  That's all fine, except for the fact that Ford doesn't debate - he takes potshots and pushes out platitudes.  Ford shows no in-depth understanding of the issues, nor interest in them beyond how they feed into his soundbites.

 

Ford's interest isn't discussing issues and presenting visions - it's in tearing people down.  He's a bully.  Like most people, I'm not over fond of bullies.

 

It's fitting, then, that Doug has found his foil in Ari Goldkind.  Ari, a defense lawyer (and Jewish, too, so you'd think Doug would be friendly with him), is used to standing up against bullies on behalf of those less well-off.  He's got a powerful personal story of why he's running for mayor, too.

 

Ari is an ideal voice to hear from at a debate that focuses on the issues faced specifically by Neighbourhood Improvement Areas - he's studied these issues and debated these issues and brings important ideas to light around them.

 

At a recent Why Should I Care?, for instance, he dug beneath the headlines around police carding and explained why it's not just the practice, but the whole database of information already collected needs to go.

 

Given his chosen narrative as being the guy to protect "common folks" from City Hall, you'd think Ford would relish the opportunity to wade in to all the issues and depth Ari will bring to the Inner City Union debate.

 

Which leaves the question - why did he back out?

 

Doug Ford doesn't care about the issues or the substance of the debate.  What he cares about is taking down rivals to win - and not being taken down himself.

 

Ford is afraid of having his integrity torn to shreds by Ari in front of a supposedly friendly audience.  Ford is afraid of the headlines another encounter with Ari could produce, yes, but he's got to be terrified of having his brand as "fighter for the little guy" exposed for the lie it is.

 

Rather than engage with an opponent over issues that matter in front of an audience he needs to win, Ford has run away.

 

Yes, Ford continues to take his pot-shots at Tory and is trying to bait-and-switch the story from being about his weaknesses, but it all comes across as so much posturing in light of how desperate he is to avoid another confrontation with Ari Goldkind.

 

Tory knows full well that he's going to be square in Goldkind's sights in debates where Ford is absent - but supports his participation in the Inner City Union debate on principle.  The narrative here is clear; John Tory has the back of the underdog whereas Doug Ford does not.

 

Bullies rely on the appearance of being undefeatable to succeed.  Doug Ford has been publicly bested by Ari Goldkind and is now clearly running away from him.

 

We're not going to end up with Doug Ford as mayor, folks - and for that, you can thank Ari Goldkind.

Politics Done Different: Why We Should Care

 

 

If you live in Toronto, you may be aware that there is a municipal election going on.

 

As candidates for Mayor, Council and Trustee all jockey for position, endorsements and votes, we're being bombarded with soundbites and potshots on the airwaves and via social media.

 

This one stood out for me this morning:

 

Doug Ford Campaign @DougFord2014  ·  12h 12 hours ago

Tonight Mr. Tory said he doesn't support tolls, but in 2013 apologized for fighting against them #Whatsthestory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VkWBZ3Xl8A …

YouTube

While I appreciate Doug Ford's team giving some free promotion for Why Should I Care, the civic engagement group founded by Ward 20 council candidate Terri Chu, I would suggest they missed the point.

 

If you actually listen to the clip, what you hear isn't John Tory talking about road tolls, but rather John Tory talking about the silliness of gotcha-politics and the corners it backs politicians into (which is exactly the stunt Team Ford attempted with their tweet).

 

I was there that night in January, 2012 in my role as a WSIC board member.  I was very impressed with what I was hearing from Tory - a kind of self-reflection that's unfortunately not that common in politics.

 

John Tory took a strong stance against the kind of simplistic populism Doug Ford tends to champion.  Tory admitted to having played the game earlier in his political career, but as he has matured as a public person, he has recognized the destructive and demoralizing nature of crass partisanship.

 

The reason he was there to speak at Why Should I Care wasn't for political gain - he wasn't running for anything at the time - but because he believed in the principle of civic engagement.  Tory candidly recognized that people have lost faith in the political process and suggested that less messaging and more engagement is required.

 

Which, of course, is why Terri Chu founded Why Should I Care, and why it's become such a popular event.  We bring in speakers from across the political divide, from the public service and from the grassroots to discuss the issues rather than pick apart personalities.

 

Turns out there's a healthy appetite for conversation.

 

Busy as we are, as bombarded by data and advertisements and political soundbites as we are, people get that the issues facing society are complex and require complex answers.  A frequent reason given for why people don't vote is because they recognize they aren't as knowledge on issues as they could be and don't want to make ill-informed decisions.

 

The role of leaders isn't to stoke populist emotions and polarize society, but to empower people to get informed, get engaged and be part of the democratic process every day, not just once every four years.

 

I give John Tory props for having the guts to chat directly with people about issues and for bringing an open mind to the table.  He takes the time to understand and communicate context, which shows a level of respect for us "folks" lacking in certain other candidates.  That's the kind of engagement we, as citizens, should be encouraging.

 

We can't solve our current structural problems with the same gotcha politics that landed us here in the first place.  We all need to care enough to get informed, get engaged and make a difference.

"Respect for taxpayers" is a bumper sticker.  Respect for citizens involves engagement.

 

If we want politicians to take their job seriously and move beyond sound-bites, we have to be willing to do the same.

 

"We far too often reject things before we open our minds to consider them."

 

       - John Tory, Toronto mayoralty candidate

 

 

Ari Hits Home

“I would start on the issue of anti-Semitism by not having a mayor who refers to us — the Jewish people in this room — with a derogatory name that starts with ‘k,’” he said. “We cannot have a mayor like that because that is where it starts.”

 

Ari makes a damned good point here. 

 

Bigotry is something that exists in every society, seething just beneath the surface.  It's particularly prominent in places where a population or subset of the population feels like they're getting the short end of the stick.  Bigotry is always looking for validation by people of position, which enables it to push the envelope that much further.

 

There's a lot of anger out there right now, bitterness at the economy fueled by hyper-partisan populist nonsense at all levels.  And as we all know, Jews are history's favourite scapegoats.  At this particular juncture in history, our leaders don't get the luxury of "being human," if that means setting the wrong example for others to follow - which Rob Ford has unquestionably done.

 

The Fords don't see themselves as bigots, of course - from their point of view, they call a spade a spade.  Black youth are in need of a white saviour, but make for good slumin' buddies; gay people are a menace to society; anyone who believes in social responsibility is clearly a weak-minded fool.

 

That their supporters feel empowered to use the Ford Nation brand when sending in hate-mail to elected officials is deeply disturbing.  For elected officials to brush off or bait-and-switch on such issues of hate committed in their name is truly alarming.

 

While more polished candidates have been hesitant to poke the Ford Nation bear for fear of reprisal, Ari has the guts to call out bigotry for what it is.

 

Good on him.  Now's not the time for good folk to do nothing.  It's the time for them to speak out against bigotry with a strong voice.

 

As tension mounts globally and locally, we're going to need leaders like Ari unafraid to speak truth to power, even when personal risk is involved.

 

Ari's not the kind of guy to pick a fight - but he's certainly showing the willingness to end one.

 

I'm glad he's increasingly being included in the debates - his is a voice we need to be hearing more often.

Doug Ford the Sociopath Gets Challenged

"You can't destroy a community like this.  People have worked 30 years for their home... My heart goes out to kids with autism.  But no one told me they'd be leaving the house."

You might think Doug Ford would take counsel before opening his mouth about issues of mental health and cognition given that his brother is, among other things, a drug addict.  I wouldn't - like many others in Toronto, I have suspicions that Doug Ford is a sociopath.

Sociopaths are:

 - superficial and portray themselves as smarter than others

- delusional

- figure they can get away with anything (like blatant cash bribes)

- they lie, all the time, with ease and confidence

- feel neither guilt or shame

- don't learn from mistakes; they double-down

- their heart "goes out" to no one - not even their own brothers

Does that sound at all like Doug Ford, the Worst Brother Ever?  You see where I'm coming from then.

So, back to Ford's comments about autism.  He mentions "violent behaviours" like screaming.  How does he feel about punching your own friend, beating a friend, barrelling through an elected official to go join a fight or saying things like "get her a shot right now or I'll fucking break her..."?

Autism is not a cause of violence.  That's a facile, ignorant comment made by simpletons looking for a quick answer.  Violence is not a product of mental illness, the way we tend to view it.  If that were the case, we'd have to label a lot of hockey players and fans as mentally ill, wouldn't we?  They engage in violence and calls for violence all the time. 

As do, might I note, certain politicians seeking more efficient ways of doing away with undesirables that make them uncomfortable.

Violent behaviour is a response to that which makes us uncomfortable, which we feel threatens us.  We respond to threats reactively, the same way we pull our hand back from a hot stove or feel an urge to lie down while in high places; this threat-response behavior manifests as stomping on a bug, smacking a child who talks back, promising consequences to employees to question us or screaming at a world that feels threatening, seems not to make sense.  Like Rob Ford does, or like some autistic kids do - depending on their circumstances.

There's really no difference - the reactive behaviour is the same whether you're flipping out at Pride or screaming because nobody's communicating the way you do.

Which is what happened to Jacob Barnett for ages.  Haven't heard of him?  You will - he's the autistic kid who many think will be the next Einstein/Newton.

Temple Grandin was misunderstood by many - now she does TED Talks.

Winston Churchill had mental health issues.  Abraham Lincoln had mental health issues.  It's quite likely that Stephen Harper could be diagnosed with a "mental illness" - as Bob Rae was.  These aren't weak men - they're dynamos, catalysts, outliers.  You'd be surprised how many "mentally ill" people have shaped the course of human history.

What we don't get - what people like Doug Ford, pathologically incapable of understanding others as they are don't get - is that different isn't bad.  It's different.  It's the interaction that defines good and evil.  The more empathy you have, the less sinful you become.

Being black, or gay, or tall, or autistic doesn't make you good or bad.  These are all aspects of the elephant, one trait amongst the many combinations that make us all unique. 

When we focus on the negative, we become angry, fearful, reactive (and violent) to. 

When we seek comprehension, we are inquisitive, patient, engaging and, ultimately, powerful in that special Ender Wiggin way.

Rob Ford has, through his illness, shaken a status quo that was desperately in need of being shaken.  He is a parody of all the norms we have come to accept of politicians.

Doug Ford is something even more extreme - a glimmer of what we could become, as a society, if we choose to focus on what irritates us instead of seeking common ground.

We can opt to stand against that which we disdain or makes us uncomfortable, as the Fords do - but that's a path that history teaches us has a dead end.

The alternative is to get beyond our own stigmas and learn how to understand, rather than react to.

When we learn to look beyond ourselves, that's when community truly begins.

Doug Ford sees himself as tough, better-than, shiny, independent.  There's nobody better than him - certainly not some autistic upstart.  Why, Dougie could wipe the floor with an autistic nobody, physically or verbally.

Hey Doug - I've been diagnosed as on the autism spectrum; that makes me your inferior, right?  But I'll bet you're not brave enough to go toe-to-toe with me in the arena of ideas.  You've got nothing but bluster; I've got everything, including the facts.

I've called you a sociopath, Dougie - I'm telling you that you're a lesser-than.  Are you going to take that?  Want to prove you're smarter than I am by disproving everything I've written here?

I'm betting you aren't.  Shows how weak your position is, doesn't it?

Doug Ford Likes His Vanilla

Doug Ford on Chief Blair:  "He just doesn't stop.  No one's holding this guy accountable.  He thinks he's in the Wild West, running around, shooting his mouth off any time and whatever he can say and someone has to rein him in.  He's getting out of control in my opinion."

The Police Board holds the Chief to account.  The media holds the Chief to account.  And Council is holding the Chief to account.  The Chief is also highly trained and specialized in law enforcement - he wasn't elected to his post by popular vote, he had to have the skills to earn it.  

These are facts, clearly stated, clearly understood.  But politics isn't about facts - it's about emotion.

It's also not about proving you're right - it's about proving the other guy is wrong.  

Joey Naylor: ... but you didn't prove that vanilla was the best...

Nick Naylor: I didn't have to.  I proved that you're wrong, and if you're wrong, I'm right.

Joey Naylor: But you still didn't convince me.

Nick Naylor: It's that I'm not after you.  I'm after them.

So, while everyone else is focused on proving John Tory is wrong, guess who's gaining wins?

The Fords: Poverty Pimps vs White Saviours

"Do you know what kills me Rob about all the lefty socialist Councillors?  Um, I call them poverty pimps, because they try to make it look like they're actually helping the most needy people, and I've never seen any of them in the building.  In fact, when you go into the buildings in their area, they're non-existent."

                 - Doug Ford, cutting off his brother the Mayor in mid-sentence

Let's go with this for a second.  

Which buildings?  Which dates and times?  There are a lot of buildings in Toronto - lots of buildings in each riding, in fact.  If the Fords are visiting social housing properties in a given Councilor's ward when that Councilor is, say, performing their duties at City Hall then yeah, there's a good chance they're not going to bump into each other.

One way to really figure out which Councillors are visiting which buildings and when is to open up every elected official's daily schedule to public scrutiny.  As Mayor, Rob Ford could lead by example and put up his itinerary a week in advance.

During the Toronto Strong Neighbourhoods Strategy consultations when a dedicated, community-focused group of Toronto Public Servants went out into the city's priority neighbourhoods to inform residents about the consultation process and solicit feedback, I saw a lot of Councillors attending.  

James Pasternak took the time to sit down with a couple of tables and really get into the weeds of the conversation with his constituents and community groups.  It was clear that many of them had a direct relationship with him already.  That left an impression, but he wasn't the only Councilor to participate - you can check my tweets from the months of the consultation to see who else came out, but there were many elected officials who joined the conversation.

The Fords were not among them.

As for Councilors being in their communities, I can't speak for all of them, but I know for a fact that Ward 15 Councillor Josh Colle is not only in his community, personally - he brings his whole family with him and has instructed his staff to be full partners in community activity.  I'm sure he's not the only one, but I'm equally sure that he and the Mayor have never crossed paths in the buildings of Ward 15, either.

And I find it very interesting that in their chat, the Fords focus strictly on Toronto Community Housing.  There happen to be a lot of low-income buildings in Toronto not run by TCH that do have broken windows and elevators, mold, poor lighting, etc.  These buildings are owned and operated by slum landlords.

There are certain time commitments around building repairs that these slum landlords successfully evade by swapping buildings between themselves; thanks to regulatory loopholes, new landlords don't have to adhere to a previous one's ticking clock.

What are the Ford brothers doing to address this issue and support the poor Torontonians living in these buildings?  

I think we know the answer to this.  They're all about saving money and supporting the private sector through decreasing regulation, after all.

The Fords aren't interested in fixing structural issues - that's too much like committing sociology.  They really aren't all that interest in being Councillors, either, in the sense of being part of City Council.

Here's what the Fords do, as evidenced both by their disdain for collaboration with peers and focus on always being the champion for people of lesser means.

The Fords aren't interested in fixing problems and empowering individuals - they're all about being saviours.

When it comes to football, it was Rob Ford who saved those kids.  All by himself.  When it came to Christmas time, there was Doug Ford, handing out cash like a king throwing sheckles to the peasants.

They have no problem shouting orders down the chain of command and thumping their fists to get what they want, but when it comes to working with, they don't have the time, interest, patience, or possibly even the capacity.

Similarly, when it comes to personal accountability - for their time, behaviour or use of public resources, including staff, they're unapologetic; the simply refer back to the fact that they're saviours, as though that validates everything.

Here's the grand irony - the Fords do have something of a point about how our public institutions thrive on poverty.  Providing services to the disenfranchised is their business; if poverty was eradicated, they'd be out of business.  There's a whole saviour culture within public services at all levels that, in essence, serves to perpetuate poverty as an enterprise.

But that culture is changing.  Partially due to fiscal constraints, partially due to the increasing complexity of poverty (or at least, our awareness of that complexity) there's a shift in attitude and service delivery that's getting away from the handing-out-fish business into the teach-to-fish model.

There are some great initiatives out there in communities all across Toronto that have empowerment as their focus - advocacy training, entrepreneurship supports, crisis first-response, so on and so forth.  At a high level, the whole Open Government/Open Data Movement is about empowering strong individuals reaching and contributing their maximum potential for a stronger, more dynamic city.

Public servants and the famous "special interest groups" are now actively trying to put themselves out of business and help poorer Torontonians be equal and equitable players in the city.  

These folk want to be sure that marginalized Torontonians are actively engaged and paying attention to things like the decisions Councilors make around the Strong Neighbourhood Strategy recommendations.

Where are the Fords in this process of structural reform?

The Ford brothers are nowhere to be found.  All sizzle, no steak.  

In fact, when it comes to solutions, I'd say they're non-existent.

   

A Stopped Clock and Doug Ford

"It amazes me that all these councillors want to criticize Rob," Mr. Ford added.  "Not one of them has a tenth of the support that Rob has.  Not one."

 

If you message enough, you're bound to land on the truth, even if by accident.

 

Toronto has 44 Wards.  Councillors run in individual Wards and therefore should be spending their time trying to build support among those voters who will hopefully vote for them.

 

As Mayor/Mayoral candidate, Rob Ford is running for the whole shebang - he wants a majority of votes from all over the GTA.  He doesn't need them all to win, though - just more than the next gal or guy.  He therefore doesn't need to win support in every Ward, just enough Wards based on the internal math (assuming it's better math than Ford's financial measurements) of his campaign team.

 

So technically Ford can have ten times more support than any one Councillor, equating to broad support in 10 Wards, but still have little to know support in 34 additional Wards.

 

You're welcome.

Proof Doug Ford Doesn't Believe in the Free Market

"There are some great tree removal companies for sure but I think some of these tree guys are gouging people," said Ford.  "After everything these people have already been through, it's just not right."

So there are some tree removal companies offering a square deal and some who aren't.  How is this "just not right?"  

Clearly, the people who offer the better deal are going to get business; the gougers won't, and therefore will either have to adjust their fees or go out of business (or spend more on misleading advertizing promoting themselves and demonizing their competition).

It's basic free market economics - if a service has value, then more people will want to pay for it, meaning more people will offer it, leading to competition.  As we all know, competition leads to better value-for-money.  

Which, naturally, is why Conservatives are all in favour of equitable competition, transparency of information, debate, so on and so forth.

Then there's this whole "after what people have been through, it's just not right" nonsense.  Look, we're talking about big boys and girls, right?  If they did what they should have, they planned ahead, got insurance, made sure not to have mature trees on their lawn that could drop branches on their roofs, so on and so forth.  Employers played smart and had work-from-home plans in place in case of storms.  

So what if the power went out?  Folks who were prepared had generators and knew better than to buy into the whole leftist, anti-independent functioning crowd and their carbon monoxide talk.  People need to learn to live within their means, spend their money wisely and in a forward-thinking manner; reliance on the State in times of hardship is childish.  Falling victim to gougers, con-artists and their ilk is just a sign of stupidity, and we've no need for this sort of person in the first place.

Because if you're against social housing, welfare, public healthcare, market regulation, organized labour and everything that Doug Ford proudly stands against, then it applies equally to city-wide emergencies as it does to individual ones.

This is the key thing that hard-right Conservatives constantly fail to recognize; there are always people in crisis out there, just as there will always be more broadly impacting crises down the road.  In fact, the more individuals are stuck scraping by day-to-day, the less able we all are to manage big challenges like floods and epidemics.
You can't help your neighbour when you're just getting by yourself.  It also doesn't matter how wealthy you are, if a bad flu bug hits, you're just as vulnerable as the poor person.  The more poverty there is, in fact, the more vulnerable everyone is.

All the public services they stand against exist to help everyone in crisis, whatever and whenever their crisis may come.  Without them, we lack flexibility to adapt and become easier pickings to the gougers and cons.

Yes, we need to do a better job of coordinating and evaluating these services, but the answer isn't cuts but integration.  That's what Open Government, in fits and spurts, is trying to do.

It's good that Doug Ford has recognized the fallacy of the Free Market in times a time of wide-spread crisis; the question is whether he'll internalize this lesson and carry it forward.  The next time social housing, youth programming or emergency funds hit the headlines, we'll have our answer.