The same rules that ensnared our hare of a mayor have entangled this writer in the past. Little sympathy for Mayor Rob Ford’s plight do I feel, and this is from someone who has encountered legal challenges wrought from the unforgiving clauses of Ontario’s municipal election laws.
My transgression? I was one day late filing a second financial statement after losing as a candidate for council in a 1999 by-election. Had I not penned my case, found a judge to hear me and made my presentation to the court within seven days, I would have been banned from running for municipal office for seven years.
Diane Alexopoulous, who sought office in Toronto in November 2006 and came close to winning, didn’t do what I did. Rather than go through the legal process, she didn’t respond to her letter from the elections branch of the city clerk’s office and forfeited her right to try for public office again for seven years. How many others have similarly faced this law full tackle, like I did, or with a defensive fumble like Diane? This was a woman who earned 46.1 per cent of the vote and came within 20 votes of toppling an incumbent titan.
Regular folks affected by election legislation don’t have politicians like Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and his federal cousins demanding an urgent review of the law governing politicians, wannabes and try-hards. Golly, I thought Conservatives were the Law & Order party. What does it mean? That all candidates are treated equally under the law unless they're a big Tory named Ford? Is the next Tory campaign slogan going to be, “Give the big guy a break. The law is an ass.”
The entire Ford Family will be thrilled that I’m not a court justice. When I fought for my rights in court, the law was the law no matter who you were. It was tough, but evenhanded.
My penalty for Ford would be banishment for seven years.
I wouldn’t let that rabbit run away from what he’s done.
My transgression? I was one day late filing a second financial statement after losing as a candidate for council in a 1999 by-election. Had I not penned my case, found a judge to hear me and made my presentation to the court within seven days, I would have been banned from running for municipal office for seven years.
Diane Alexopoulous, who sought office in Toronto in November 2006 and came close to winning, didn’t do what I did. Rather than go through the legal process, she didn’t respond to her letter from the elections branch of the city clerk’s office and forfeited her right to try for public office again for seven years. How many others have similarly faced this law full tackle, like I did, or with a defensive fumble like Diane? This was a woman who earned 46.1 per cent of the vote and came within 20 votes of toppling an incumbent titan.
Regular folks affected by election legislation don’t have politicians like Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and his federal cousins demanding an urgent review of the law governing politicians, wannabes and try-hards. Golly, I thought Conservatives were the Law & Order party. What does it mean? That all candidates are treated equally under the law unless they're a big Tory named Ford? Is the next Tory campaign slogan going to be, “Give the big guy a break. The law is an ass.”
The entire Ford Family will be thrilled that I’m not a court justice. When I fought for my rights in court, the law was the law no matter who you were. It was tough, but evenhanded.
My penalty for Ford would be banishment for seven years.
I wouldn’t let that rabbit run away from what he’s done.
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