Kyle Rae, I can't believe no one cares.

[spider]

I can only assume by the deafening silence on this forum that everyone is just fine with the recent antics perpetrated by this guy. Toronto council, with few exceptions, seems so be in favour as well. Am I the only member here who is at least a little annoyed? If Rob Ford were jetting off to a football coaching symposium in Hawaii would there be any objections?

 

[afransen]

What story are you talking about?

 

[js97]

12k dinner at the the rosewater supper club a 'going away' party...

and another 8 gs to a 'conference' for aids in 'vienna'

 

[SimonP]

The numbers are wasteful, but I am disquieted by the tone of the attacks. When a known homophobe launches a campaign against one of the city's most prominent gay politicians it makes me very ill at ease.

 

[Tewder]

So a public official is beyond reproach because of his sexuality? An attack should be fair game. How it is handled is what is important.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Kyle Rae has been sleeping on the job for years now, seemingly disinterested in the city he serves. These kinds of expenses strike me as inappropriate, but not technically against the rules. Certainly would be a good reason not to vote for the dude, were he running again.

I don't really know what there is to discuss beyond that.

 

[Hipster Duck]

I can only assume by the deafening silence on this forum that everyone is just fine with the recent antics perpetrated by this guy. Toronto council, with few exceptions, seems so be in favour as well. Am I the only member here who is at least a little annoyed? If Rob Ford were jetting off to a football coaching symposium in Hawaii would there be any objections?

Rob Ford is running for mayor.

Kyle Rae is not only not running for mayor, he's quitting municipal politics.

 

[spider]

Approval of one item and non censure of the other is indicative of the prevailing malaise that is the signature of the incumbent councillors. Every one of them should be challenged on the hustings for their failure to do the right thing. If the answer offered is that the whole thing is legal then their contempt for your sense of propriety is all the reason you need to vote for some one else, any one else.

 

[Hipster Duck]

^Yeah, but nobody's going to vote for Kyle Rae because he isn't running for anything.

What he did was wrong, but what are you going to do? Ask him to resign mere months before his formal retirement? If Rob Ford made yet another homophobic comment or one of his trademark gaffes about Chinese people, but was retiring, I probably would let it slide too.

 

[GraphicMatt]

There's also every chance that a formal investigation into Rae's expenses will cost the city double or triple the original total value of these expensed items.

It's a difficult situation because both of the expenses (a party and a trip to an AIDS/HIV conference) could be fully justifiable expenses by other councillors if put into the right context. Rae's abusing the system and being a jerk.

 

[kettal]

Spider, I think the reason you aren't seeing foaming rage might have something to do with this...

Our city will soon be going into lockdown for a party for our Prime Minister and 19 of his friends. That party will cost the taxpayer BILLIONS of dollars. Getting angry about a $12k party in the shadow of G20 is difficult to say the least.

Did Rae even expense the party, or is Ford doing this preemptively?

 

[grey]

Yes he did, and it was perfectly legal under council's spending policy. It was just enormously bad judgment. This is Kyle "Metropolis" Rae we're talking about, after all.

 

[adma]

The numbers are wasteful, but I am disquieted by the tone of the attacks. When a known homophobe launches a campaign against one of the city's most prominent gay politicians it makes me very ill at ease.

I think it's less homophobe vs homophile here, than populist vs elitist...

 

[afransen]

My perspective is that one should get angry at the process, not the people. People will abuse any system that allows it. One idea: create a public expense watchdog that vets council travel expenses for extravagance and elect that person city wide. After each term, have the citizens vote on how effective this individual was in containing waste, and pay a performance bonus accordingly. Even if it doesn't save any money, it might improve the culture of entitlement.

 

[nfitz]

I haven't been following this ...

Let me get this straight. Rob Ford is criticizing another councillor for attending an AIDS conference? Despite being previously criticized for making anti-gay and anti-AIDS comments? I guess his 2 years to apologize wasn't genuine.

Right or wrong, the optics on this are terrible!

What's next, is he going to suggest funding cuts to shelter for women whose husband's beat them?