SIDEBAR - Former Mississauga councillor breaks her silence
And some other Hot Takes on various topics from me...
Welcome to another edition of #munipoli Matters, where we cover the often under-reported arena of municipal elections, local politics and the happenings in civic government.
Some six months after leaving the post she held since 2014, former Mississauga city councillor Karen Ras has finally spoken up on the incident in which her car was keyed several times during a two year period by Councillor Ron Starr.
Along with this story, I have some other hot takes.
Karen Ras responds
In an exclusive interview with CityNews’ Cynthia Mulligan, Ras said what really scared her was not knowing who was doing it, being a woman during nighttime at an underground parking lot.
“I find that he (Starr) engaged in harassment against Councillor Ras. Damaging someone’s property, especially their vehicle, is behaviour which is demeaning, offensive and unwarranted,” Mississauga Integrity Commissioner Robert Swayze said in his report, which was made public last week on the city website.
“I have decided to recommend a relatively higher suspension of compensation paid to him as a member of Council because his action was mindless, vandalism and devoid of common decency,” Swayze’s report concluded, which recommended Starr’s pay be suspended for 60 days.
City Council launched the investigation which led to this report only after Ras resigned her Ward 2 council seat to take up a communications job with the Electrical Safety Authority.
While Ras acknowledged that Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie’s interventions afterwards was “too little, too late”, she did add that she understood the mayor’s hands were tied in terms of what actions could have been taken. City Council does not have the authority to remove one of their own from office.
“It was not easy (to leave). I got 93% of the vote in the (2018) election. I loved what I did,” Ras said when asked how difficult this whole ordeal has been.
Mississauga Councillors met and received the IC report on the July 6, 2022 council meeting and voted 9-2 to impose the 60 days of suspended pay on Starr, with Ward 5 Councillor Carolyn Parrish and outgoing Ward 11 Councillor George Carlson being the sole dissenters.
Zero f**ks given
Meanwhile, Starr had tried to stop the IC’s report from being released, blamed ‘a piece of paper’ on how he was seen on video leaning against Ras’ car…and continues to deny that he keyed Ras’ car or harassed her.
Starr, who served on Mississauga Council from 1978-1980 and again since 2010, has also registered to run for reelection again in Ward 6.
While he may not be as modern media savvy, even Starr seems to notice that his public image has taken a pounding. The following are a series of recent tweets of Starr out and about the community, obviously trying to rehabilitate his image:
The councillor also has an occasional enabler…that either is oblivious to the news during the past six months, or is okay with it.
A seminar. On anti-hate…with a message coming from this guy. Alright then…
I’ve even noticed that there is a leeriness towards Starr’s presence from other politicians. Here’s Mississauga Centre MPP Natalia Kusendova’s tweet of the same Shalimar Islamic Centre event attended by Starr.
One can’t help notice how far she’s seated away from the Councillor. In the same event, while it may be coincidental Mississauga Centre MP Omar Alghabra opted not to include any pictures with Starr at all.
But Alghabra has endorsed Joe Horneck, who is running against Starr so take that as you will.
There may be some who believe this to be a classic play for the embattered incumbent rallying support against those who are persecuting him, in order to elicit sympathy.
From my experience, this could work…if the subject was Rob Ford or Donald Trump. As odious as those figures were, there were people who actually liked, if not loved, Ford and Trump. “He’s an a@$hole….but he’s OUR a@$hole,” is the prevailing sentiment.
However, in Starr’s case, I don’t get the sense that there are devoted followers willing to die on the hill for this guy.
Windsor mayor uses city hall for self promotion, critics argue
Speaking of giving zero f**ks, it seems Mississauga isn’t the only city with an elected official who doesn’t let ‘the rules’ or conventional practices stop him from ensuring his reelection is secure.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens has caught some recent flak for using the resources of the municipal government to distribute what appears to be a campaign flyer disguised as part of a tax bill.
“I’m not a candidate; I’m the mayor. I’m worried about governing and I’m going to continue to do that until the very last moment when I have to make a decision,” Dilkens told the CBC. "I do not apologize for communicating with the residents in my city and telling them about all the great things that are going on here.”
Dilkens hasn’t yet registered to run for reelection. There are two others running for that job: Ernie Lamont and Benjamin Danyluk. But that hasn’t stopped questions raised about the ethics of this exercise.
"I think it's highly unusual for there to be campaign advertising in with your tax bill and it does raise questions about ethics, about you know, is this proper use of taxpayers' funds to essentially give free advertising to the mayor?" asked University of Windsor political science professor Lydia Miljan.
“It gives the mayor an unfair advantage compared to other candidates, just from a financial aspect," said Don Merrifield, a realtor and co-host of the Rose City Politics podcast, calling it blatantly a piece of campaign literature. On the pod, Merrifield said an average mailing of this quantity averages around $17,000.
Clearly Mayor Dilkens is planning to seek a third term as mayor; to say otherwise is disingenuous and dishonest to his residents.
Should elected politicians be blocking…anyone?
Long before I started this Substack, I often engaged with elected politicians on Twitter. Let's just say the conversations didn’t always end amicably.
The screenshots above are from four Toronto City Councillors that have, for reasons I no longer remember, blocked me.
Josh Matlow (Ward 12, Toronto-St. Paul’s)
Gord Perks (Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park)
Mark Grimes (Ward 3, Etobicoke-Lakeshore)
James Pasternak (Ward 6, York Centre)
I’ve also been blocked by a former Toronto council candidate, Tiffany Ford:
To my recollection, I got into an argument with Matlow early in his tenure on Council over how he approached his method of opposition in the Rob Ford era. The councillor has gone from a ‘Mighty Middle’ centrist to someone clearly on the ‘progressive’ left, although on housing policies some may differ.
Perks rose to relevancy when he protested in front of former Ontario premier David Peterson during a live television broadcast. I might have called him Gord “Guards His” Perks one time. He did sound rather entitled and full of himself during the year of 2010.
And I’m not even sure what the deal is with Grimes, Paternak or even Ford, who should be one of those fresh voices that Toronto City Council actually needs.
Based on my account, it’s not like I was threatening anyone or spouting racist/ offensive epithets at them. It’s baffling why I was (and continue to be) blocked, and as elected officials they really shouldn’t be doing it in a democratic space unless under extraordinary circumstances.
Cover photo courtesy of CityNews.
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#challenge
Instead of just being one of the 'oh I read it on the internet....' you should find out why the other 2 councillors voted against it, and why, he wasn't charged by the police (you can't charge someone who's not guilty).
Maybe Bonnie's just covering her buttocks from her inaction of 3 years, when voters were demanding action.
Like seriously, the dude's been in politics forever, like he's going to be dumb enough to key a car on camera. And for what reason? Anybody talk about a motive?
Which, by the way, there isn't any footage of that....which is why they (the City) won't release the video.
There are a bunch of missing pieces.
I challenge you to find them.....I'll wait.