Not long ago Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford, was ordered removed from office by a lower court judge on conflict of interest charges. This was appealed by Mayor Ford's lawyers and, today (January 25th), the verdict came in. The three judge panel reversed the decision and Mayor Ford was allowed to keep his job. Finally, some common sense.
The whole incident was totally ridiculous as far as I was concerned. It was over a matter where Mayor Ford used City of Toronto letterhead (I believe) to solicit funds for his charity, youth football team. Around $3,000 was raised. This was in violation of city policy (using city letterhead to solicit funds).
The integrity commissioner became involved and there was a debate in city council in which Mayor Ford participated in (also a violation of city policy). What came next was a court challenge late last year which Mayor Ford lost.
How it even got that far is beyond me. One news reporter said that the incident probably shouldn't have even gone to court. That the integrity commissioner didn't have the power to take it that far. That Mayor Ford should have only gotten a reprimand and that's it.
So much time and money has been wasted on this circus. Not to mention the distraction from conducting important city business for something this trivial. And it was trivial - They wanted to remove a democratically elected mayor from office possibly triggering a $7-$10 million by-election over a $3,000 charity fundraising misstep? Are you kidding me? Yes, he was wrong. Yes, he made a mistake. But, does the penalty fit the crime? It's like sentencing someone to 10-years in jail for shoplifting. Think about it.
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