Mayor?s brother Doug Ford the tip of an iceberg

Robyn Doolittle

and David Rider Urban Affairs Reporters

As the perpetually undermined Ford administration struggles to find its footing, some have suggested that getting control of the mayor?s polarizing brother will solve the problem.

But according to those closest to the situation, Doug Ford is the symptom, not the solution, of an administration in trouble.

Related:?Subway the clear choice at loud Scarborough transit meeting

As of this week, only one-third of city council actively supports Rob Ford?s agenda. Those within the mayor?s circle pin much of the blame on the elder Ford, who as councillor Peter Milczyn says ?sometimes speaks before he thought.?

In reality, the problems are much deeper. Interviews with Ford allies and political staff paint a picture of an understaffed and overworked mayor?s office in chaos, where no one knows exactly who is in charge.

It?s the kind of environment that stokes a bad case of sibling rivalry.

?Some days they love each other. Others it?s like they hate each other . . . but what are you going to do? They?re brothers,? said one Ford supporter. ?Doug Ford is here to stay.?

Sometimes he comes in handy.

Recently, when the mayor began floating road tolls and new taxes to pay for underground transit, it was Doug who went on air to do damage control.

Said one centrist councillor: ?Sometimes I think they use Doug to float ideas and see how they pan out. Then the mayor doesn?t wear it.?

Regardless, he?s not going anywhere. So rather than try to fight the losing battle of silencing him, the Ford team is just trying to quiet him down.

There are other problems to deal with.

?He got elected because he?s cheap, and he?s in deep trouble because he?s cheap,? said one member of Ford?s inner circle, noting that the penny-pinching mayor has rebuffed attempts to convince him to hire more staff.

Ford?s office operates with about half the man power that David Miller had. And the good cop bad cop routine doesn?t work with one guy.

This is the case for the mayor?s ultra conservative policy advisor, Mark Towhey, who is deeply unpopular with councillors of all stripes.

Most of the right-wing blame Towhey for the transit fiasco. The stern-faced policy advisor had spent the last year working on a funding strategy for Sheppard. Those close to him say he struggled in dealing with TTC bureaucracy, which favoured the light-rail strategy.

But Towhey is also the man Ford leaned on to keep his allies in line. For those barely-there supporters, Towhey?s always uncompromising position ? as directed by the mayor ? and sometimes harsh tactics led to bad blood. When it came time to negotiate on transit, he wasn?t someone people felt they owed a favour.

From the left to even some on the right, councillors have called for his head. In the in-camera TTC meeting that led to Gary Webster?s dismissal, a common theme ? according to those in the room ? was that Towhey should be the one getting fired.

Ford?s staff thinks this is just an opposition strategy to cause friction in the office.

The mayor has a senior staffer to councillor relations, Earl Provost, but ? back to the brother ? Provost?s diplomatic work is often trumped after a visit from Doug Ford.

When faced with a refusal to back the Ford agenda, Doug Ford has threatened to run candidates against various waffling councillors. He told Ana Bail?o in Ward 18 Davenport he would find an NDP candidate to oust her.

And to Gloria Lindsay Luby, an independent-minded conservative whose Etobicoke Centre ward is home to both Fords, Ford recently told her shocked assistant he?d like to ?execute her in the next election? after Lindsay Luby fell out of line with the transit vote. Doug Ford has denied this and also apologized to Lindsay Luby.

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The path forward is a rocky one for the Ford administration. His team says the goal is to get back to basics, with cutting spending and customer service ranking as the number one and two priorities.

And even though the current battle lines are officially drawn at 29-15 ? which was a vote earlier this week to dissolve the TTC commission ? right-wing councillors say it?s not this severe.

Councillor John Parker, a conservative councillor who very publically split with the mayor over transit, suggested he will happily settle back into the Ford fold once the subway issue is over with.

?The mayor and I see eye to eye on a lot of things. And when you?re trying to package a general legislative direction that means you work with people and sometimes that means supporting someone with a vote in hopes they?ll support you the next time,? he said. ?On this key item I could not support him. And it will soon be over and hopefully things settle down.?

Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/cityhallpolitics/article/1143467--mouthy-doug-ford-the-tip-of-an-iceberg

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