[Eug]

... I think he's forgetting that he's most likely lost his "political asset" Sarah and a lot of his supporters don't want to be seen backing him after this. I think the chance of his campaign lasting until October is less than 10%.

I know you put that in quotes but would anyone actually have considered her an asset?

 

[Roy G Biv]

Clinton's not the best role model here. No question he was a brilliant politician and a smart and well-intentioned president but his lack of judgement and self-control seriously undermined his agenda. Ask how much he accomplished in his second term because of the distractions caused by his personal behaviour. As a progressive, would you want some tawdry sideshow sidelining the initiatives your dream candidate capmpaigned on?

Any sane left-liberal will want Giambrone out of the race ASAP.

Oh, give it a rest with the hyperbole. The "distractions" had more to do with a blood-thirsry Republican party, and Kenneth Star.

Giambrone just needs to keep his campaign together for the next few weeks. After that, time will kill this story. He should bury his head and work on mending the damaged relationship between the public and the TTC.

 

[kEiThZ]

I'd consider myself a supporter of Giambrone, and am definitely disappointed by this. It was indefensible behaviour. At the same time, I don't think it affects Adam's ability to be mayor, or how he would perform in the job. As Northern Light noted, many of our most successful leaders have had turbulent personal lives. I still feel that Giambrone is the mayor who would build the city I want to live in, and is by far the best of the current candidates. Whether he can pull a Clinton and recover from all this is now the question.

So in your opinion, the claim that he possibly divulged confidential information to a woman he was having an affair with should have no bearing on our judgement of his potential to be mayor?

Gimme a break. If he can't keep his mouth shut about a fare increase, how will he do when he gets the big chair and is handling multi-million dollar contracts?

Forget the sex. What he did bordered on insider trading. That's the scandal. While he's lecturing the public about hoarding tokens, he's giving people he knows the heads-up so they can save money.

 

[WillC]

Good thing his union goons didn't know how to spell. ... Their all comatose from his prose and spin but can't see what he's really about.

Hey sorry, I know spelling flames are cheap shots, but this post is asking for it. I guess it was written by a union goon.

 

[SimonP]

So in your opinion, the claim that he possibly divulged confidential information to a woman he was having an affair with should have no bearing on our judgement of his potential to be mayor?

Gimme a break. If he can't keep his mouth shut about a fare increase, how will he do when he gets the big chair and is handling multi-million dollar contracts?

Forget the sex. What he did bordered on insider trading. That's the scandal. While he's lecturing the public about hoarding tokens, he's giving people he knows the heads-up so they can save money.

Really I think this specific allegation is minor, verging on ridiculous. Your opinions of Giambrone are well known, and I think they are clouding your response to this. It is nothing like insider trading. For one you actual have to trade to commit insider trading. I'm sure the wife of a bank CEO knows all sorts of things she could trade on. The crime is not the CEO telling his wife, it is the wife trading with that information. Telling your partner about things happening at work is universal.

A fare increase is hardly a state secret. Even if Lucas had wanted to take advantage of it, how was she going to do so? Let's say she immediately did a tour of nearby subway stations and bought $1,000 worth of tokens. After a few months that would have made a grand profit of about $120. Compare that to insider trading where the amounts are usually in the tens of thousands, if not millions.

 

[Eug]

Yeah, while I think he should have kept his mouth shut on TTC issues with the mistress, the implications of his "insider trading" are pretty minimal. That's probably why very few in the public are actually complaining about that.

And like I said, it's not that I am a prude and disapprove of such relationships either. I just think it's braindead to have done that right up to just before the announcement that you're running for mayor, just after you've announced you've got a long-time partner. He comes across as a two-faced old guard politician, not as energetic fresh new blood.

He's basically destroyed any advantage he had. His campaign is finished.

 

[kEiThZ]

Has no one here ever provided their significant other with information from work that they technically weren't supposed to share? When you go home and your partner asks "so what went on at work today?" you say "stuff..." like you're a 15 year old high school student speaking to their mom? Sharing rather trivial (and to me, that's what the fare hike was, really) information with your significant other (and for all we know, Giambrone saw the 19 year old as his significant other as much or more than Sarah) seems to me to be a norm in any relationship. I know many of you will disagree with this point, but I don't think simply because someone shares something trivial with someone else, that it means he's likely to share things that you ABSOLUTELY shouldn't be sharing with anyone.

Actually, yes, some of us can keep sensitive details about our work to ourselves. Working in the security and intelligence community for years, I had tons of stuff that I could not discuss with anybody outside my immediate colleagues let alone even others in that business. It made for some very boring conversations with my girlfriend some nights and it can feel very lonely at times when you are filled with info but have nobody to tell. But that's what I chose to do and I had to stick to it. My girlfriend learned in time too, not to ask about my work, other than inquiring about the people I worked with.

I fully expect that the TTC Chair will not divulge information that enables his or her family to benefit (say by hoarding tokens in this case) any more than the general public. Other employees and executives can get canned for insider trading and leaks. Why should a politician running a multi-billion dollar operation be held to a different standard.

 

[kEiThZ]

Really I think this specific allegation is minor, verging on ridiculous. Your opinions of Giambrone are well known, and I think they are clouding your response to this. It is nothing like insider trading. For one you actual have to trade to commit insider trading. I'm sure the wife of a bank CEO knows all sorts of things she could trade on. The crime is not the CEO telling his wife, it is the wife trading with that information. Telling your partner about things happening at work is universal.

A fare increase is hardly a state secret. Even if Lucas had wanted to take advantage of it, how was she going to do so? Let's say she immediately did a tour of nearby subway stations and bought $1,000 worth of tokens. After a few months that would have made a grand profit of about $120. Compare that to insider trading where the amounts are usually in the tens of thousands, if not millions.

Sure, I don't like Giambrone for his policies. But I assure you that I would have held any other politician I do like to the same bar because I've been in a situation to have very privileged information and I know what it's like.

If she hoarded even one token in anticipation of the fare hike then it's basically insider trading. Whether it's minimal or not is irrelevant. Today it's the price of TTC tokens, tomorrow he's telling his mistress which publicly traded company is about to win a hundred million dollar contract for the city's next IT upgrade. If he can't be trusted in small things, why should he be trusted with an even larger portfolio?

 

[GraphicMatt]

Yeah, seriously, the fare increase thing is such minor BS. Royson James wrote an article in September 2009 - before any announcement was made - stating, "fares are going up very early next year." source - it was not exactly a surprise.

 

[SimonP]

National Post: Why the Adam Giambrone sex scandal does matter

Councillor Adam Giambrone has a heck of a knack for keeping his name in the news. First, as TTC chair, he takes the lead role in a news conference at which he apologizes to TTC users for a series of photos and videos of TTC workers sleeping and taking coffee breaks. Then he releases a whacky, content-free campaign video of himself on You-Tube, in advance of the launch of his mayoral bid.
And now, he may or may not be shagging a co-ed, although rumours that he is planning a new policy that "those under 20 ride free" on the TTC appear to be exaggerated.
Mr. Giambrone would not be the first politician who successfully rode out a lively romantic life: think Pierre Trudeau, Bill Clinton and, across the Atlantic, pretty much any French president. Sergio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy, seems to use public revelations of his "private" life to increase his appeal.

Link

The one positive I can take from all this is that at least Giambrone won't have to worry about his level of name recognition.

 

[Eug]

Giambrone is no Trudeau or Clinton.

 

[kEiThZ]

Yeah, seriously, the fare increase thing is such minor BS. Royson James wrote an article in September 2009 - before any announcement was made - stating, "fares are going up very early next year." source - it was not exactly a surprise.

Well, it depends how much in advance she knew and how much detail she had. She obviously thought it significant enough to share with at least one family member.

 

[dob467]

Hoarding tokens is now insider trading? This girl must be rolling in cash due to Adam's blabbering! There's a political scandal for ths history books!

 

[Glen]

When Adam dropped of Kristen at home, did he use the TTC?

 

[Blovertis]

The "distractions" had more to do with a blood-thirsry Republican party, and Kenneth Star. Giambrone just needs to keep his campaign together for the next few weeks. After that, time will kill this story. He should bury his head and work on mending the damaged relationship between the public and the TTC.

Of course the Republicans blew it way out of proportion, but my point is, if you are in a position of power and you are trying to advance an agenda, it's best not to hand your opponents a club with which they can beat you over the head for a year.

As for letting time kill this, I don't think so. Before today, Giambrone's competence was under question, now so is his integrity.