November 3, 2003
As Toronto Free Press was going to press, Toronto mayoral candidate John Nunziata was still getting front-page play for an allegation of bribery yet to be proven.
Sad for already apathy-plagued municipal elections, sad for a long suffering electorate and a tragedy for democracy.
Why is the Toronto Star continuing to give front-page coverage to Nunziata’s unproven allegation of bribery against a rival?
Given how mayoral candidates Barbara Hall and David Miller continue to be quoted on the bribery allegation, is this a convenient means to hallmark second-in-election-polls-candidate John Tory as a "backroom boy"?
Could this be a thinly veiled attempt to kill off any hope of victory for the only right of centre candidate left in Toronto’s 2003 mayoral race?
Unless York Regional Police come up with proof one way or the other before November 10, that’s the reality.
It was back in November of 2002 that TFP first identified John Nunziata as a potential spoiler in the mayoral race: "Some pundits say Nunziata’s presence in the race all but guarantees the election of a left-wing mayor by splitting the vote against any right-wing candidates."
Even though he’s down to the core Liberal, and an ex-Liberal MP at that, the mainline media continue to present Nunziata as a candidate from the right.
But then, this has been an election campaign dominated by media manipulation.
From the outset, the mainline media touted Barbara Hall as a sure winner with a 54-point lead in election polls.
Incredibly, both the Toronto Star and Radio CFRB suggested that there needn’t even be an election as Hall was the absolute guaranteed victor.
When in October Hall dropped to third place behind Miller and Tory, there was no mention about how these major news outlets had missed their cue.
Branded a liar because of his flight to an out-of-town Leafs game, former budget chief Tom Jakobek may as well have been an axe murderer. By late October, his press conferences were guaranteed media no-shows with his name barely mentioned.
Sue-Ann Levy, of the Toronto Sun got it right when she called Jakobek "the best mayor we never had".
Now it seems to be Tory’s turn.
It was like tossing a bomb over his shoulder as he was leaving a room, when down-in-the-polls Nunziata let loose with his bribery allegation.
According to the former Liberal rat packer, in late September, senior representatives of an unnamed rival had offered him a $150,000 "bribe" to drop out of the mayoralty race.
Nunziata kept this secret close to his chest until spilling it out in an October 22 interview with CFRB reporters.
Was the former Liberal MP toying with the rest of us when he said: "Those who made the approaches--made the offers--know who they are and I’m calling on them to come forward."
It was never too likely that the bribe makers would be stepping out of the closet anytime soon. Where was the impetus with Nunziata being so adamant about refusing to name names?
In chapter two, he got to go legally mum, saying that investigating police told him not to drop names. (At press time, police were naming names).
In opening chapters of the saga, Nunziata said representatives from a rival camp approached members of his campaign and offered the bribe back when nominations were closing at Toronto City Hall. Claiming that he found the offers to be completely unethical, he says he rejected them.
That was John’s story when the scandal broke and he didn’t stick to it for long.
Nunziata points to John Tory’s camp were the front-page headlines in the following Saturday’s Toronto Star.
Why Nunziata didn’t call rape before the rapist got away remains a matter of speculation.
Could it have been all that surprising that the genuinely right-wing Tory was the candidate Nunziata’s charges happen to hurt most seriously?
"As an officer of the court," Tory wrote Nunziata, "you are under an obligation to immediately provide police authorities with every piece of evidence you possess to validate this extraordinary claim.
"You should also be aware that, had any person in my own campaign ever behaved in such a fashion, my first call would have been to the police and not the media."
(Both Nunziata and Tory are lawyers.)
Does it give the Toronto electorate any comfort that candidate Barbara Hall views Nunziata as "a man of his word"?
(If what he said is true) "The candidate responsible must answer some hard questions to the people of Toronto and to the police," said Hall.
Hall herself only recently escaped police investigation into allegations that the Friends of Barbara Hall group had raised money before she had officially registered as a mayoral candidate.
At press time, York police had only a week to wrap up investigations.
Should they, as expected to find no proof for the widely publicized charges, police should promptly charge Nunziata with public mischief.
And if they find no proof for his now widely publicized charges, they should promptly Meanwhile, with its unrelenting overtones of media manipulation, Toronto’s municipal election race of 2003, has been the strangest one to date.
Here at TFP, we’re not the only ones bound to be relieved when it’s mercifully over.