mayor

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Saturday, April 20, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, April 20, 2013

The nature of ‘conflicting reports’

It started at a transportation conference in Toronto where Spectator reporter Meredith MacLeod bumped into Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina and his chief of staff, Peggy Chapman.

They told her the province was asking Hamilton to make a choice between all-day GO service to Stoney Creek and an east-west LRT line.

“Really,” said MacLeod, surprised, “when did this happen?”

They replied Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne had made it clear at a private function in Hamilton over the weekend.

After MacLeod reported this on thespec.com, the premier’s office denied it, and city councillors flipped – again – over Bratina’s confusing statements and mixed messages about LRT.

The mayor never asked The Spectator for a retraction, never called me to say we’d got it wrong and never responded to requests for clarification of the web story before the print edition went to press.

Instead, he went on CHML radio the following day to deny he ever said it: “It’s not true. It’s a complete Giller Prize for fiction.”

In short, he said, The Spectator had fabricated the story.

This is a very, very, very serious charge, and one we would take more seriously if it weren’t standard fare from this mayor. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Saturday, January 26, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, January 26, 2013

Mayor Rob Ford wins appeal, will stay in office

Rob Ford has won his conflict of interest appeal. He will remain mayor.

In a judgment released Friday morning, a three-judge Divisional Court panel overturned the November ruling that evicted Ford from office over a February violation of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.

Ford’s victory ends an unprecedented period of uncertainty at City Hall — and averts an unprecedented period of upheaval. Had the court upheld the ruling, Ford would have lost his job, Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday would have become interim mayor, and council would have been forced to call a $7-million-plus byelection or appoint a successor.

The lawyer who tried the case against Ford, Clayton Ruby, will now try to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada . The court has no obligation to take the case, and most legal experts believe it is unlikely that Ruby will succeed.

Ford said at a City Hall press conference that the experience has been “very, very humbling.” Asked what he will now do differently, however, he said only that he has learned that he has wide public support. He twice said that he plans to be mayor for the “next six years,” projecting confidence that he will win the 2014 election.

“Folks, two years ago, the people of this great city elected me as their mayor,” Ford said. “It is an enormous privilege and I’m thankful for it every single day. I’m very proud to say that over the past two years, I’ve done exactly what I said I was going to do. The job is not finished yet, and I plan to spend the next six years on getting the job done, moving forward to continue doing the work we were elected to do. We are doing a great job in turning the city around. (Source: Toronto Star)

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Monday May 7, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Monday May 7, 2012

Rob Ford versus the Toronto Star

The great thing about Toronto is how sophisticated it is. A World Class, big league city, as it continually reminds itself, right up there with New York, London and Paris. Major league. So-o-o-o-o cosmopolitan. Hip and cool. Celebrities come here all the time.

So here’s what’s going on in the New Paris right now: The mayor and the city’s biggest newspaper are having a feud. It actually started well before the mayor, Rob Ford, won the last election, when The Toronto Star did everything it could to defeat him, based on their contention that he’s an ignoramus. Ford won anyway and The Star, sulking, has spent much of its time since then lampooning his weight. Yes, the newspaper that’s all about human dignity and respect for the individual can’t shut up about the fact the mayor weighs 300 pounds.

Ford, figuring The Star’s never going to give him a fair hearing anyway, refuses to talk to them. Everything gets very childish, with The Star constantly moaning about being shut out of the communications loop. It’s all about freedom of the press and the mayor’s responsibility to represent all voters, not just those he likes, or the ones who voted for him. They take every opportunity to belittle him, and he gives them lots of material to work with, making a big show of refusing to attend the annual gay pride parade, and treating council like a rubber stamp until its members get fed up and rebel against him, shooting down his cherished plan to expand the subway system.

The Star isn’t satisfied with attacking the mayor’s political record, though. They want to go at him personally. They send a reporter up to snoop around his cottage, because he said he’d prefer to be there rather than at the gay pride parade. When he applies to buy some park land near his house so he can build a security fence, they send a reporter to sniff around the neighbourhood and take pictures.(Source: National Post) 

 

Monday March 19, 2012

 

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Monday March 19, 2012

Peggy Chapman makes sunshine salary list

Peggy Chapman’s salary is once again causing controversy after Mayor Bob Bratina confirmed his chief of staff was paid more than $100,000 last year.

Bratina revealed Friday that Chapman is on the soon-to-be-released 2011 “sunshine list” for public sector employees who made $100,000 or more — even though her salary last year was $90,000.

t’s the second time in several months Chapman’s pay has incited debate. In December, councillors considered slapping Bratina with a formal censure for raising Chapman’s salary by 33 per cent, to $120,000 from $90,000.

“I believe the public will be outraged by the continued drama related to the mayor’s office,” said Councillor Sam Merulla. “We must focus our energy on priorities that matter. Unfortunately, the preceding development and drama is the antithesis of our priorities.”

Rumours were swirling around City Hall this week that Chapman’s name appeared on the sunshine list, but initially neither Chapman nor Bratina could confirm how much she made last year.

Chapman said she hadn’t checked her T4 or done her taxes.

In an email sent to The Spectator Friday morning, Bratina said his top aide was paid $100,967 last year. He explained that most of the extra pay she received last year was an $8,000 payout for missed vacation time, while her raise, which took effect in November 2011, provided the extra $3,000 that bumped her onto the sunshine list. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

Letters to the Editor 

An excerpt of a lengthy email from the Mayor, Bob Bratina, to Hamilton Spectator managers and made public in an Andrew Dreschel column:

“…unrelenting and in many cases completely false or misleading news coverage, editorial comments, and ignorant attacks on my character, and that of my chief of staff through immoral and unethical use of editorial cartoons.”

“I hope some day your wives and family experience the unhappiness you have caused my wife and family, destroying our enjoyment of this past Christmas with the unfounded attacks on my employee’s compensation…”

Monday, October 25, 2010

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday, October 25, 2010

Who will be mayor?

One is a mayor with green policies and staunch supporters who has come under fire for providing wobbly leadership. Another is a popular broadcaster and councillor with down-home charm, a temper and a slim platform. The third is a former school principal and mayor who has run a commanding campaign but can’t shed his past mistakes.

And on Monday, one will be elected Hamilton’s mayor.

Even veteran political observers are having a difficult time predicting whether Hamiltonians will choose Fred Eisenberger, Bob Bratina or Larry Di Ianni on Monday. A Spectator/Nanos poll conducted between Oct. 9 and Oct. 13 found the race was neck and neck, with Bratina holding a slight lead but with the largest block of voters still to make up their minds.

In a race this tight, the best-organized team is the most likely to win, said McMaster University political science professor Henry Jacek.

“The organization really matters at the end of the campaign,” he said. “But it’s really hard for me to figure at this point — they all have strength coming down at the end, but they all have weaknesses. There’s really no clear winner here.”

Unlike Toronto, where several high-profile heavyweights kicked off the race on the first day of 2010, Hamilton’s campaign got off to a sleepy start. Eisenberger has always said he would seek re-election, and though some high-profile Hamiltonians mused about running against him — including former Lakeport CEO Theresa Cascioli and Councillor Lloyd Ferguson — at first, it seemed like Eisenberger would face little competition. (Hamilton Spectator)