Hall Marks with Emma Reilly

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Blunders

What's up with mayoral candidates and poorly planned media events this week??

First, the mayor holds a press conference at Tim Hortons -- something he wasnt really supposed to do.

Then, Edward H.C. Graydon, who is a lesser-known mayoral candidate, didn't show up at his own press conference this morning.

It started yesterday when Graydon sent the following press release in response to the mayor's campaign to visit all 80 Timmies in the city.

"Although visiting every Tim Hortons in the city is a noble idea, I believe that it is more important to visit each person in need .Tomorrow Starting at 9:00am Sept. 24, 2010 Edward HC Graydon will be visiting every homeless shelter in the city along with every food bank. It all starts at the Salvation army on York street and ends when we have visited every one. I believe in all citizens, and believe they should all be made aware of the political process."

Off I went this morning to the Salvation Army to meet Mr. Graydon. I waited until about 9:45 and asked several staff members if I had missed him, but no one from his campaign showed up. I've tried to call him for an explanation but haven't been able to reach him yet.

So, let this be a lesson to candidates out there. It's all well and good for you to invite media to events -- but if you can't walk the walk, you should think twice before you talk the talk.

 

 

He's always got time for Tim Hortons

Mayor Fred is turning to Timmies to help him get re-elected.

The mayor wants to visit every single Tim Hortons in Hamilton between now and the election. Here's a few lines about it from my web story:.

“That’s about 80 Tim Hortons from Flamborough to Stoney Creek and Winona to Ancaster,” Eisenberger said. “We’re going to try to drop into all of them to say hello to folks and share with them what our plans are for the future, and get a sense of how we’re doing.”

Eisenberger kicked off his coffee trek this morning at the very first Tim Hortons on Ottawa Street North. That location opened in 1964.

Eisenberger says he’ll aim to hit a couple Tim Hortons every day while he’s on the campaign trail. Each stop will last for a few minutes, but “if people want to talk, I want to talk to them,” he said.

And what does the mayor take in his Timmies?

Milk and one and a half sugars.

Here are my questions for you: as voters, does this appeal to you? What would you say to the mayor if you ran into him in the Tim's line?

Pay cut

Should councillors's pay be docked if they miss meetings?

A Toronto mayoral candidate thinks so.

Remember our friend Sarah Thompson (formerly Sarah Whatmough, who ran for Hamilton city councuil in 1997?) She says Toronto city councillors should be docked pay if they don't attend committee and council meetings.

I saw this article today and thought of Margaret McCarthy. I don't have a running tally, but if I had to guess, I would say McCarthy would be the Hamilton council member who would be most affected if a rule like this was implemented in Hamilton.  She has been absent for several key votes, including yesterday's big Pan Am vote and the Aug. 31 meeting when council directed staff to look at the MIP site.

As you can see in the Star article below, Thompson's targeting her rival, Rob Ford.

Cut pay for councillors who miss meetings, Thomson says
Toronto city councillors who don’t bother to show up for work should have their almost $100,000 annual pay reduced accordingly, says mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson.

Even the Senate of Canada, not noted for stellar attendance, deducts pay if senators are absent, Thomson told reporters Wednesday.

“We can and will have similar accountability at city hall,” she said.

Thomson said if elected she would work to bring in penalties so that if a councillor missed a three-hour committee meeting, he or she would lose three hours pay.

Councillors currently make $99,620 a year.

Thomson singled out front-running mayoral candidate Rob Ford for particular criticism.

She said Ford, a tireless critic of the city’s spending priorities, has been absent from budget committee meetings where issues are thrashed out and recommendations passed that go to council for final approval.

“This is a man who’s built his platform on budgetary restraint and yet hasn’t attended even one budget committee meeting in over a year,” she said. “Even I have attended more budget committee meetings and I don’t even work there.”

Thomson said committees – on budget, parks, planning, roads and other issues – allow councillors to influence policy and persuade other council members.

“Hard work isn’t just about being present when city council is sitting.” she said.

“I go to committee meetings to find out what’s going on, where the budget’s being spent and how it’s being spent. You really have to be educated to know. You have to go and educate yourself.”

Ford did not respond to a request for comment.

 

Ouch!

What do you think?

Follow me

Just wanted to point you to my Twitter feed for live updates on today's meeting. I'll be providing live updates as the day progresses, so come visit me here.

What do you think about the new site for the Pan Am stadium? Is it doable or is it a hail mary?

 

The story behind the New York FOI

OK, folks. There's been a lot of chatter on the election trail over the past few days about the Freedom of Information request that revealed the mayor's trip to New York City to visit Gary Bettman. Larry Di Ianni says the mayor was being secretive and it shouldn't have taken an FOI for it to become public. The mayor says he would have fessed up to it if someone had asked him directly.

Since I was the one who filed that FOI, I thought I'd tell you my perspective - then you can judge the situation for yourselves.

It all started back in March when the city released information about councillors' expenses. As you can see in this report, all that was provided were the total amounts each councillor spent. It didn't give any breakdown of those expenses at all.

I asked the finance department if they could give me a more detailed breakdown of how much each councillor spent, which was provided. This list was slightly more detailed. It included the mayor's New York trip as a "business meeting," but didn't specify with whom. To be honest, this item didn't really stick out at the time. I figured he was attending a conference, which is very common for both the mayor and councillors.

Even though I had received more information about councillors' expenses, I still wasn't satisfied with the level of detail I was getting from the city. I was looking for really precise records of councillors' expenses - like itemized receipts for each purchase - and was told I would have to file an FOI for that level of detail. I did just that on March 31, asking for all records for expenses for the mayor, Dave Mitchell, Robert Pasuta, Russ Powers, and Terry Whitehead. I chose Whitehead and Powers because they had the highest expenses of all councillors. Pastua and Mitchell were included because I wanted to see how much they were charging the city for mileage. The mayor I threw in because -- well, because he's the mayor.

So, fast forward to May, when my FOI documents were ready. As I was glancing through the records, I saw that the mayor's trip to New York wasn't a conference at all - it was to visit Bettman. As you can imagine, my interest was immediately piqued. That day, I called the mayor's office and asked him about it. He was very cooperative and told me all about the trip.

Here's a little snippet of my story from that day: (I would link to it, but a lot of stories posted before the website redesign have vanished into the ether. If you want the full text, email me and I'll send it along).

Though details of the meeting only emerged through the Freedom of Information request, Eisenberger said he wasn't intending to keep it a secret.

"It's difficult to have fruitful and confidential relationship-building discussions with the media in tow, " he said. "There's no reason to be cute or quiet about it, but as I've said on many occasions, loose lips sink ships."

So there you have it. I did not ask the mayor specifically about the meeting before I filed the FOI, because the intent of that request wasn't to find the details of that meeting. It was one of those interesting tidbits that you don't expect, but are interested to know more about.

The mayor says he would have owned up to the New York meeting if he had been asked about it directly before the FOI was filed, and there's absolutely no reason to doubt that.

But I will say this -- the meeting with Bettman was in December, and by the time I approached the mayor about it, it was May. Though  Eisenberger says the meeting wasn't intended to be a secret, it definitely wasn't his choice for that information to become public. So in that sense, it did take an FOI for the mayor to talk publicly about that meeting.

What do you think?

Bratina for mayor

Things just got interesting.

Bob Bratina announced this morning that he's running for mayor. Not only  does that add an interesting personality to the mix, but it frees up a council seat in Ward 2. I can't wait to dig my teeth into the election - it's going to be a crazy ride.

My question for you, readers, is how you think Bratina's candidacy will influence the mayoral race. I've had some very preliminary discussions about it in the newsroom and several possibilities have been floated. Some say votes will split between Eisenberger and Bratina and Larry Di Ianni will come up the middle. Others say Bratina and Di Ianni will split the vote and Mayor Fred will come out on top.

Then, of course, there's the possibility that Bratina will become Hamilton's Rob Ford and take the race.

What do you think?

 

The road to Longwood

Wow - who knew that when I got back from my vacation, there would be a brand new stadium site on the table.

I'm still digesting the news about council's decision to investigate the Longwood and Aberdeen site for the Pan Am stadium. On the surface, it seems to have it all - highway access, an inner-city location, and the potential to make both the city and the Ticats happy.

But dig a little deeper and you'll find some serious concerns about the site. First, the land isn't city-owned and the city has only a short time to negotiate with McMaster. Second, there's the recurring issue of parking and neighbourhood traffic. There's also a question of how the local residents will feel about the development and whether they'll launch any complaints to the OMB. Finally, the footprint the city's looking at for the stadium is only 15 acres - very tight for a stadium and 5 acres less than what the city said it needs.

Everyone wants to see a happy ending to the stadium saga. But, in your heart of hearts, do you think it will work? And if it does, will it be good for the city?