For his replacement, I haven't gotten enough insider opinions but it is likely that Councillors will take a cue from the public.
Oh, I can't resist......you mean the public that elected Ford? It would seem that taking the cue from the public is that last thing on anyone's mind here. It is all about getting rid of Ford.
As I have said before, I don't have a horse in this game. If anything, I kinda wish Ford had never stepped up for election.....setting personal politics aside, IMO he has just become such a polarizing figure with one "side" spending all of their time/energy trying to figure out how to embaress/out/dethrone him and the other side seemingly looking for ways to antagonize.
That said, I think (and I may have explained this theory before...so I apologize for repeating it but it leads into what I want to say next) he got elected via a really, really, simple mechanism. He came out with one platform/statement..."get rid of the Gravy Train"....playing right into the mindset that the general public has that all politicians do is spend/waste their hard earned tax dollars. Anyone with any idea of the cost of government would know that there simply could not be that much waste.......but the public does not take that much time to understand...alll they "know" is they pay taxes and politicians waste them.....Ford (having never used his office expense budget) was the one guy that could sell that stance legitimately. The other candidates (all of them...which is really shocking) made a simple error.....instead of finding another topic....instead of forcing Ford to talk about something else....they went on this rampage of calling/hinting/insuating that Ford was a simpleton...in other words "dumb"....the implication was that these "elitists" were calling anyone that could think of voting for Ford "dumb" also....I am no expert, but calling someone "dumb" is hardly the way to ask for their vote......seriously, I think that was the total summation of that election (sure there was a lot of fighting/debating....but it was between the other candidates....Ford just was gonna cut the gravy, man!).
Here is a bit of outisde observer advise to people who want, for whatever reason, to rid the city of Mr. Ford long term. Convince Mr. Madger to drop this case, tell Mr. Ruby to back off.........Ford's opponents are making the exact same mistake again. While it is possible (possible, but not a "for sure") that this case will lead to Mr. Ford losing his job for the balance of this term, there is no chance he gets a ban from holding the office again.
So, his next campaign....."To get his job back"....."I raised $3k for kids football....they kicked me out of office for it"....seriously, the whole "conflict of interest" angle will only play to people who take the time to follow this stuff.....but they/we are, by far, not the majority of people....the general public read headlines (if that), the catch soundbites, there is a reason a short messaging system like Twitter is so popular............remove him from office now and Man of the People Ford will be back in two years telling the everyday guy to vote for him as opposed to the guys who hijacked democracy over $3k in donations to minor football"......if they couldn't punch holes in "Cut the Gravy"....good luck to them with that!