{"id":34902,"date":"2012-11-26T18:36:38","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T23:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=34902"},"modified":"2012-11-26T18:44:01","modified_gmt":"2012-11-26T23:44:01","slug":"lorinc-the-last-stand-of-rob-ford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2012\/11\/26\/lorinc-the-last-stand-of-rob-ford\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: The last stand of Rob Ford"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had nothing on the Ford Brothers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"
\nIn this edition of Lorinc\u2019s Legal Briefs, let\u2019s begin with Exhibit A: the rulebook of the Canadian Football League.<\/p>\n

When Rob Ford leads teenagers onto the gridiron, as he has done on hundreds of occasions, it\u2019s safe to say that he does not counsel them to break the rules, which represent the operating system of the sport he so loves. He does not urge his quarterbacks to cross the scrimmage line and throw the ball. He doesn\u2019t advise the linesmen to grab the facemasks of fast moving running backs.<\/p>\n

Why? Because the referees\u2019 flags will fly, and his team will be penalized. It is not complicated.<\/p>\n

And so, in the wake of Justice Charles Hackland\u2019s bombshell ruling, we must ponder why Ford \u2014 whose day job involves the creation and administration of countless rules, procedures, and policies \u2014 was never able or willing to translate the basic principles of organized sport to the arena of politics. It was as if he lived a double life.<\/p>\n

This obdurate unwillingness to abide by the rules is Ford\u2019s tragic flaw, and it will be the epitaph on the gravestone of his short, unhappy career as mayor (Ford has stated he will appeal the decision). All politicians have these ticking time bombs within their souls. But few have courted disaster with what can be only described as a perverse desire to be caught out.<\/p>\n

If Denise Bellamy\u2019s report about the MFP computer leasing inquiry read like a thriller, Justice Hackland\u2019s meticulous 24-page ruling has the reflective quality of an essay on the intimate relationship between the rule of law and politics.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ford, explains Hackland, ignored the basic laws governing council debates, chose not to familiarize himself with established procedures, disregarded warnings from colleagues and professional advisors, and failed repeatedly to acknowledge the formal authority of an officer of council.<\/p>\n

Those gestures amount to a test of leadership. When the judge quotes at length from integrity commissioner Janet Leiper\u2019s report \u2014 which he called \u201cexcellent\u201d \u2014 on the risks of blurring the lines between private philanthropy and the duties of a public office holder, he includes this trenchant observation from the Bellamy report: \u201cThe Mayor of Toronto has many responsibilities, pressures, and functions, but perhaps the greatest is providing leadership for integrity in government\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn view of the respondent\u2019s leadership role in ensuring integrity in municipal government,\u201d Hackland continues, \u201cit is difficult to accept an error in judgment defense based essentially on a stubborn sense of entitlement (concerning his football foundation) and a dismissive and confrontational attitude to the Integrity Commission and the Code of Conduct. In my opinion, the respondent\u2019s actions were characterized by ignorance of the law and a lack of diligence in securing professional advice, amount to willful blindness.\u201d<\/p>\n

These tough words are directed at the conflict of interest allegation, but they could just as easily apply to any number of Ford\u2019s transgressions: the mishandling of his election finances, the reading-while-driving incident, the attempts to use his office to extract penny-ante benefits for the family business…. The common denominator is an apparent belief that the rules don\u2019t apply to him.<\/p>\n

I personally don\u2019t believe that Ford\u2019s pathologically entitled mindset is necessarily linked to wealth per se. I know lots of affluent people who respect society\u2019s laws. But it is difficult to ignore the lines leading from his reckless conduct to the libertarian form of extreme fiscal conservatism that he has espoused since joining council in 2000. There\u2019s not much daylight between Ford\u2019s shrill calls for less and cheaper government and the na\u00efve belief that society somehow functions most effectively in the absence of laws and regulations and the economic or social obligations citizens have to one another.<\/p>\n

In this view of the world, \u201crules\u201d represent nothing but an externally imposed constraint on the personal freedom to act however the hell one pleases.<\/p>\n

There will always be some people who believe \u2014 out of ideological conviction or due to some private psychological demon \u2014 that they can operate in defiance of the law. But only a very few ever find themselves in a position where they are called upon to govern. As Hackland\u2019s judgment makes clear, politicians must be held to a higher standard of behaviour specifically because they serve the public interest. They can never be above the law, because the law \u2014 much more than an election result \u2014 represents the most enduring form of collective expression in a democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe suggestion of conflict,\u201d writes Hackland, citing a recent divisional court ruling, \u201cruns to the core of the process of governmental decision-making. It challenges the integrity of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob Ford, the football coach, would never tolerate such defiant conduct on the part of his players, and especially from the team leaders. Yet at virtually every turn, Rob Ford, the mayor, insisted on challenging the \u201cintegrity of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was only a matter of time before the referee threw him out of the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this edition of Lorinc\u2019s Legal Briefs, let\u2019s begin with Exhibit A: the rulebook of the Canadian Football League. When Rob Ford leads teenagers onto the gridiron, as he has done on hundreds of occasions, it\u2019s safe to say that he does not counsel them to break the rules, which represent the operating system ofContinue reading “LORINC: The last stand of Rob Ford”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10835,20921,21542,17152,16799,1174,21540,3915,17150,813,426,1637,2627,227,21541,19],"class_list":["post-34902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-charles-hackland","tag-colleagues-and-professional-advisors","tag-denise-bellamy","tag-football-coach","tag-ford","tag-integrity-commission","tag-integrity-commissioner","tag-janet-leiper","tag-judge","tag-mayor","tag-officer","tag-operating-system","tag-rob-ford","tag-the-sundance","tag-toronto"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLORINC: The last stand of Rob Ford - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2012\/11\/26\/lorinc-the-last-stand-of-rob-ford\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LORINC: The last stand of Rob Ford - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this edition of Lorinc\u2019s Legal Briefs, let\u2019s begin with Exhibit A: the rulebook of the Canadian Football League. 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