[kEiThZ]

Well, it's certainly been an interesting 30-hours.

So now with Giambrone out of the race, it's going to be interesting to look at all the other candidates, now that we have established the appropriate bar of sexual behaviour.

I assume our relentless media will now be asking about the secual history of all the other candidates. Did Smitherman ever cheat on his partner? Did Pantalone become too friendly with a constituent? Did Ford beat his wife? And who does Rossi sleep with?

Am I the only one who has yet to see a candidate in the race that I'd really want to vote for? (and I can't say that John Tory would do it for me either).

I don't think anybody's that bothered that much by him cheating. It happens. It's everything else. Using a woman as a prop is just disgusting in this day and age. Trying to slander the woman that outs you with fake emails. WTF? Lying when the media outs you. And then lying about lying. That's the kind of stuff that comes across as sleazy. If he just had an affair and admitted to it when he was caught and said, "I made a terrible mistake. I'll do better." nobody would have really gone after him. It's all that followed that shows that he's either sleazy or has really bad judgement.

If the others do get caught doing something inappropriate, I hope they learn from Giambrone's mistake and come clean right away.

 

[TrickyRicky]

The guy has no one to blame but himself but you know my personal opinion is that I really don't care about sex scandals. The fact that this "intrigue" is national headline news speaks as much about the poor character of us as it does about the sexual exploits of Mr. Giambrone. It just so happens that the man had no chance to become mayor in this election anyway and frankly was not qualified to occupy the office on merit. If you vote left of centre his bowing out of the race is actually a positive development. I think many young urban NDP spacing-esque voters and support would have invested futile effort into his campaign.

 

[GraphicMatt]

I absolutely believe that had he handled this better right out of the gate I don't think it would have hurt his campaign much at all.The sex and the cheating were easy to overcome. When you start lying to the media and then backpedaling you doom yourself.

Also, I still think he can easily hold onto his council seat in the fall if he opts to go for it. Despite what some will tell you, he received 70% of the vote in his riding last time and it's an NDP-heavy area.

 

[PinkLucy]

If he just had an affair and admitted to it when he was caught and said, "I made a terrible mistake. I'll do better." nobody would have really gone after him. It's all that followed that shows that he's either sleazy or has really bad judgement.

Agreed. He should have conferred with Letterman.

 

[urbandreamer]

In Italy, Adam would be PM. Shows how prude Torontonians really are with all the attention to this non-story.

 

[nfitz]

I don't think anybody's that bothered that much by him cheating. It happens. It's everything else. Using a woman as a prop is just disgusting in this day and age. Trying to slander the woman that outs you with fake emails. WTF? Lying when the media outs you. And then lying about lying. That's the kind of stuff that comes across as sleazy.

That kind of stuff doesn't happen though until the media outed him on his sexual habits. It certainly demonstrated the inexperience in dealing with the issue which highlighted my original concern with his candicacy.

But it would be interesting to test the other candidates under such situations. Well we have with Ford, who also lied to the media under difficult circumstances.

I'd be interested to hear the tape of the original interview The Star had with him on Sunday night. As far as I can tell, the phoned him late on Sunday, caught him by surprise, and he denied having sex with someone. Given that one's personal life is normally one's business ... I'm not quite sure what the justification was in asking the question in the first place.

 

[Archivist]

First of all, I don't think Italy is anything to emulate. Sexual scandals are hardly the highlight of that basket-case, politically. Secondly, I don't think it's the sexual aspect of the event that concerns most people.

 

[SunriseChampion]

George Smitherman's new campaign slogan should be "Because, seriously, have you seen the other guys?"

It should. This may be why I end up voting for him.

 

[MetroMan]

Best escape strategy?

The more I think about this, the more I realize that Giambrone has one narrow option to save his political career:

1 - End his Mayoral campaign

2- Run for his seat in council. He's very popular in his ward and by October, this issue will have fizzled if he can get out of the city spotlight and focus on person to person contact with the constituents in his ward.

3- Spend the next 9 months working hard to improve the TTC. Have something to show for it to keep the job when the next mayor takes office.

4- Run for Mayor in 2014 as he originally planned.

Step 1. Check.

He needs to step out of the spotlight now and carry on with his duties. Announce in a press release (no parties) that he's running for his council seat and in the months leading up to the election, become more visible in his ward and let his work there do the campaigning.

In 4 years, when shit will have hit the fan with City Hall, he can come in and run against the incumbent.

 

[kEiThZ]

Step 1. Check.

He needs to step out of the spotlight now and carry on with his duties. Announce in a press release (no parties) that he's running for his council seat and in the months leading up to the election, become more visible in his ward and let his work there do the campaigning.

In 4 years, when shit will have hit the fan with City Hall, he can come in and run against the incumbent.

Very true. I actually don't know why anybody would want to be mayor for the next four years. It's going to be absolute hell and probably damn hard for that individual to contest for a second term.

 

[Fresh Start]

That kind of comment is completely and totally uncalled for. There's been no hint of pedophilia in anything.

What kind of human being makes such comments? If you think the comment was wrong, then remove it.

Sorry if I crossed a line, I'll let the man's actions speak for themselves. I took the line out.

 

[MetroMan]

Yes, the next Mayor will be a seat warmer for the Mayor in 2014.

It's going to be a war in hell with the unions, cutting of services and/or raising of new taxes and a very dysfunctional council who will point the finger at the Mayor. Unless we get a federal government, willing to give us our fair share of taxes and a provincial government willing to upload expenses, the next Mayor will do no better than the current one in solving the financial crises we face.

 

[Fresh Start]

But MetroMan, why do you think he's popular in Davenport? Lansdowne's been left to look like a slum and cutting out parking and reducing transit makes it an absolute just passing through bypass section of the downtown. The only thing of merit's he's done there was the railpath public space. I've also heard rumours that he plans to eliminate street parking all over the downtown, he's just testing it in his home ward first.

 

[MetroMan]

But MetroMan, why do you think he's popular in Davenport?

Two thirds of voters elected him to his second term. It's not the visible whiners who represent a constituency. Those pleased tend to be more quiet: they have nothing to complain about.

It took 40 years of councillors to talk about fixing the Dufferin jog. Year one into Giambrone's first term, it was already on the books. In a few months, Dufferin will be re-connected and the surrounding neighbourhood will benefit immensely. In fact, the benefits will be felt throughout most if not all of Giambrone's ward 18 and definitely in Parkdale-HighPark (14) and Trinity-Spadina (19) as well.

 

[Glen]

Yes, the next Mayor will be a seat warmer for the Mayor in 2014.

It's going to be a war in hell with the unions, cutting of services and/or raising of new taxes and a very dysfunctional council who will point the finger at the Mayor. Unless we get a federal government, willing to give us our fair share of taxes and a provincial government willing to upload expenses, the next Mayor will do no better than the current one in solving the financial crises we face.

Now that the federal government is running a deficit again. that argument no longer applies. While traditionally the calculations related to 'fair share' argument are debatable, they are certainly temporal. The city has spent far to much time looking outwards for solutions. It has a a tremendous amount of efficiencies available and room to increase residential taxes and fees in order to straighten up.

The reality of Toronto compared to most cities in Ontario is

It spends more.
It charges less (residents).
It complains the most.