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ParkdalePetunia said:
Actually if my memory serves, this conversation started when you stated that his alcoholism should somehow be off of the table and we should all be empathetic towards the plights he's been through. You know who I actually have empathy for? His children. Because regardless of what he's done in office, he has created an unstable environment within their home, has made disgusting public statements about his wife, and treated his entire family as social props. His children have been subjected to his behaviour both at home and in the media. He has absolutely no care or concern for what they are going through or for what they will go through as this will haunt them for the rest of their lives. He is self-centred, narcissistic, irresponsible, and I'm sorry, does not seem capable of loving or caring about anyone beyond himself (seems like the MO for his family). As a parent, especially as a parent, I can not feel sympathetic, empathetic, or compassionate towards him. Ever. Regardless of his public position, he is a terrible human being. But regardless of all of that, I don't want to see him dead, and I would venture to guess that the majority of us here don't want to see him dead. Because we have compassion for his children and the people who, despite everything, still love him.
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Your memory is wrong. You are confusing me with another poster. I have a great deal of sympathy for the people who have had to deal with Rob Ford, especially his kids. Regardless, thanks everyone for the reminder that the internet brings out the worst in people. And that many people have poor reading comprehension. I'm going to stop posting here so that this distraction can come to an end, but I will still be reading so feel free to take your parting shots. :)
 
Actually Dottie, your first response was quoting someone who was directly commenting on the alcoholism. That's where this conversation came from, that's where you decided to self righteously tell us all about empathy.

Every few months someone like you pops up and tells us how we should feel sympathy/empathy for him, and every time that happens we push back because feeling sympathetic/empathetic/compassionate towards him is what has allowed him to get away with everything he has. You can rewrite the conversation as much as you want, you can paint us all as assholes if you so choose, but maybe you should take your own advice and try to understand/empathize with our perspective.
 
John_Dee said:
I'd like to pick up on a (relatively) undiscussed detail from a few pages back.



Well, like calls to like, dunnit? They're just supporting a fellow criminal. Not exactly a shock.

Whenever the Hell's Angels come up in discussion with Rofo, it reminds me of a wildly speculative thread that appeared at Gawker after the Globe & Mail published their investigation of the Fords' involvement in the drug trade. Several contributors there claimed that the HA were - and still are? - very heavily invloved in drug dealing here in Ontario (and possibly Canada as a whole), and that the chances were quite good that Doug, at least, probably had some prior 'business' relationship with them. This was all speculation, obviously, and I'm far from an expert myself, so I really can't say one way or the other...but according to the Globe, Dofo's little operation actually was fairly significant, with genuine criminals involved. It wasn't just a matter of some callow young punk peddling a few reefers to his high school buddies for pocket money. There was real criminality there.
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I think where HA might come into play with this story is through that tow truck company--the one where the guy Ford wrote the reference letter for works. During that speech I saw Donovan give last week, he claimed they were threatening reporters on Ford's behalf and that some with the company have ties to HA.
 
Dottie said:
Your memory is wrong. You are confusing me with another poster. I have a great deal of sympathy for the people who have had to deal with Rob Ford, especially his kids. Regardless, thanks everyone for the reminder that the internet brings out the worst in people. And that many people have poor reading comprehension. I'm going to stop posting here so that this distraction can come to an end, but I will still be reading so feel free to take your parting shots. :)
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I hope you do develop the responsibility for comments you make.
 
typezed said:
I know this is the common belief, and partly why he was elected Mayor, but I've never really seen much proof of it.
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Robyn Doolittle mentioned Rob Ford's constituency work in Crazy Town -- see excerpts below. As well, she specifically mentioned it during her appearance on the George Strombo show, when asked how Ford built such a huge following pre-2010 election, when he seemed to have so many issues (even back then). So I am no fan of this guy (to put it mildly), but the constituency work reputation seems deserved.

P.S. Crazy Town is definitely worth purchasing if you are interested in Ford at all. It's become my reference text when reading this thread.

~~~

Crazy Town -- The Rob Ford Story
Robyn Doolittle
Penguin/Viking
ISBN 978-0-670-06811-1

snipped from p. 73, 74, 75:

... In most areas of Toronto, a councillor's assistant would take that call, forward the issue to city staff for investigation, and then the problem would get added to the heavily backlogged capital repair plan.

... "With Rob, they would call, and he'd say 'How's next Thursday,' then have the guy from public works at your door", said a staffer from Ford's council days.

... Soon, news of Ford's first-class constituent work got around Toronto, and he began getting calls from residents living outside Ward 2 Etobicoke North, to the immense annoyance of other councillors.

... He helped people in Scarborough and North York and downtown Toronto with the same vigour as he did with his own residents. Councillors grumbled and complained.

... Resentment snowballed. Eventually, a handful of councillors decided they needed to do something about Ford's meddling. It backfired on them in spectacular fashion.

... It was February 2005. A fed-up council asked the integrity commissioner to review whether it was appropriate for councillors to intervene in matters outside their wards.

... In September, Integrity Commissioner Mullan concluded that there was "no compelling reason" to ban councillors from helping in other jurisdictions.

~~~
 
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John_Dee said:
...but according to the Globe, Dofo's little operation actually was fairly significant, with genuine criminals involved. It wasn't just a matter of some callow young punk peddling a few reefers to his high school buddies for pocket money. There was real criminality there.
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Well, he would have had to have a wholesaler to get his stock from. And from the scale of his operation, it would've had to have been a pretty substantial organization that supplied him. I won't pretend to know how many organizations like that there are/were in Toronto, but the HA are going to be one of them.
 
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Lucinda said:
Robyn Doolittle mentioned Rob Ford's constituency work a number of times in Crazy Town -- see excerpts below. As well, she specifically mentioned it during her appearance on the George Strombo show, when asked how Ford built such a huge following pre-2010 election, when he seemed to have so many issues (even back then). So I am no fan of this guy (to put it mildly), but the constituency work reputation seems deserved.

P.S. Crazy Town is definitely worth purchasing if you are interested in Ford at all. It's become my reference text when reading this thread.

~~~

Crazy Town
Robyn Doolittle -- The Rob Ford Story
Penguin/Viking
ISBN 978-0-670-06811-1

snipped from p. 73, 74, 75:

... In most areas of Toronto, a councillor's assistant would take that call, forward the issue to city staff for investigation, and then the problem would get added to the heavily backlogged capital repair plan.

... "With Rob, they would call, and he'd say 'How's next Thursday,' then have the guy from public works at your door", said a staffer from Ford's council days.

... Soon, news of Ford's first-class constituent work got around Toronto, and he began getting calls from residents living outside Ward 2 Etobicoke North, to the immense annoyance of other councillors.

... He helped people in Scarborough and North York and downtown Toronto with the same vigour as he did with his own residents. Councillors grumbled and complained.

... Resentment snowballed. Eventually, a handful of councillors decided they needed to do something about Ford's meddling. It backfired on them in spectacular fashion.

... It was February 2005. A fed-up council asked the integrity commissioner to review whether it was appropriate for councillors to intervene in matters outside their wards.

... In September, Integrity Commissioner Mullan concluded that there was "no compelling reason" to ban councillors from helping in other jurisdictions.

~~~
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Thanks for that, Lucinda.

It reminds me of something that happened recently.

I attended an awards banquet in Ward 10 where Councillor Pasternack was the invited guest speaker. I had the chance to tell him that even though I did not live in his ward, I appreciated the work he
was doing for the city.

He gave me his business card and said I could call his office if he could ever be of service. I thought it was a kind and generous gesture on his part.
 
rbt said:
He was actually a pretty good city councillor outside of City Hall (got things fixed, guided people through bureaucracy, etc.).
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He can handle the micro issues of returning calls and showing up to scream at potholes, but in terms of actual ward-wide accomplishments, he's done nothing. Rexdale has stagnated under him and his brother. No significant improvement to community housing, to employment, to transit (that he had any hand in), and he has consistently voted against motions that would actually assist his ward.

This myth of him needs to die. He was a terrible councilor.
 
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JWBF said:
Thank the gods, I was worried that Robbie would have trouble with finding new talent.
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they had a job fair in April, too. They must be offering crap pay if they can't find people. so they're cheap like the Fords, too. :p

Happy Birthday, Cooper.

I don't think Dottie's a troll at all and don't think s/he was asking anyone to cry for the Fords. S/he isn't the only one here who has been preachy about what others here should or shouldn't do/feel/think, so stop throwing stones.
 
tiffer24 said:
Don't tell me Rob lost his phone AGAIN.
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jml said:
A man who can barely go a full year without losing his phone is expected to run a city of 2.7 million people.
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"Lost" as in by accident??? Or "lost" accidentally on purpose?

Y'all remember PB2 investigation is "still ongoing", right? And now that phone is conveniently at the bottom of lake!?!
 
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