So, Toronto news today is abuzz with the fact that Rob Ford won his Conflict of Interest appeal. And there are lots of people who are upset. And you know what? I’m one of them. As a mayor, the man is a failure. He’s a bully. He’s a crybaby. He’s lazy. And he shirks his duty (I don’t know what else to call skipping the job he’s PAID TO DO, to go coach football).
But all that aside, I think we have to look on the bright side here. Let’s look at what might have happened if he had lost the appeal. First, there would have been the epic tantrum from both Ford, his brother, and the Sun. The requisite rants against activist judges and the theft of the people’s democratic choice would have ensued. The Sun would probably have offered Ford a weekly column, in which he would rant about the waste at city hall and how he’s the only one that can protect the taxpayer from it; you know, all stuff he says every day. He’ll probably get to keep his radio show, in which he’ll say the same things he always does. But the difference will be he has this thing of having been “unjustly” removed from office going for him. And then in 2014, he will run again and the same people who voted him in the first time will vote him in again.
No its better this way. Let him stay in office for the next two years and bury himself under his own incompetence. And then in 2014, those of us who want better, will have to commit ourselves to backing a candidate and making sure that Ford answers for every gaffe, lie and embarrassment. It will be up to use to make sure he doesn’t get in again. And we’d better do everything we can to make sure that he doesn’t.