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The scandal engulfing Toronto city hall gets sadder and sadder as each day passes. As the embattled mayor, Rob Ford, fights to hold on to his last crumbs of power, the notoriously penny-pinching politician gave each member of his staff a hefty raise Friday.
As the old saying goes, "loyalty isn't bought, it's earned, but don't tell that to the crack-smoking Rob Ford, who lined his staff's pockets with some extra cash Friday ahead of two votes that stripped him of almost all his authority. In two overwhelming displays of defiance, Toronto City Council voted nearly unanimously to remove Ford of his power of appointment and to limit his emergency powers. Prior to those votes, though, the Toronto Sun reports Ford gave each of his staff members a $5,000 raise. Such is the cost of doing business with a crack-smoking, pot-smoking, hard-drinking, well-fed mayor.
Which is hilarious considering Ford's solution to every issue he faced over the last six months is always moving forward, and continuing his fight to "save the taxpayer's money." Apparently that ideology is selectively applied.
But Ford refuses to go down without a fight. His latest counter move against city hall involves threatening costly legal action if his powers are dismantled any further. To help with this effort, he hired a new lawyer to advise his usual representation, Dennis Morris. The Globe and Mail reports:
Mr. Ford told councillors he has hired veteran municipal lawyer George Rust-D’Eye at his own expense to seek a way to challenge council’s attempts to strip him of his power. On Friday, council overwhelmingly supported two motions to remove the mayor’s ability to appoint standing committee chairs – who make up his cabinet-like executive committee – and whittle down his powers during an emergency.
On Monday, council will call a third special meeting to pass a motion that will "delegate to the deputy mayor all powers and duties which are not by statute assigned to the mayor," the bill reads, according to the Globe. Mayor Ford wouldn't be much of a mayor after that.