In the upside down world of municipal politics in Toronto, councillors who pay office expenses from their own pockets have been ordered to stop.
The councillors who care enough about the well-used public purse to pony up on office expenses from their own pockets, are few and far between. But, of course, their brand of fiscal restraint makes the others look bad, so they have to be punished.
In future, councillors must only blow taxpayers’ money on their most favourite things: the postage by which they deliver announcements with their latest photos, photocopying in which they sometimes propagandize against their election opponents and the prolific printing of flyers.
It has been decreed.
Councillors overwhelmingly voted yes to a new flurry of policies and did taxpayers the gallant favour of letting themselves "be allowed" to spend their own money on some things such as computers and cellular telephones--but only if their bells and whistles are reported to the auditor.
If, like a lot of them, they blow their entire $53,100 taxpayer-provided, over-and-above their significant salaries first, then they "will be allowed" to spend their own money for any office expense.
How many of you reading this editorial really care?
We just know that long-suffering taxpayers will rest easy knowing that councillors are not allowed to take money from a third party like their ward ratepayer president, mother-in-law and favourite developer.
All of this was accomplished on your behalf with staff spending most of one day hammering out the new policies in order to stifle penny-pinching Councillor Rob Ford, who represents Etobicoke North in Ward 2.
Ford--right up there with Coun. Doug Holyday--when it comes to protecting the public purse--has this peculiar habit of insisting on paying for most of his city hall-related expenses out of his own pocket.
Ford simply must be reined in by colleagues because he had the audacity to spend just $2.04 of his office budget in the first six months of this year. Standing firm against the others, he says he won’t be forced to change.
Defying the city’s new office expense policy could land the outspoken Etobicoke councillor with a $5,000 fine.
He can depend that councillors Joe Mihevc and George Mammoliti, caught in the glare of media publicity as council’s biggest spenders this year at $35,000 and $30,000 respectively, will ensure he’s slapped with the fine.
As Toronto Free Press recently learned, Ford can be a pain in the butt. But he’s usually right and his respect for taxpayers' money is nothing less than admirable.
Meanwhile, making it illegal for local politicians to spend money from their own pockets could only happen at greedy, politically correct, hypocritical Toronto City Hall.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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