July 10, 2008: THE NATIONAL POST

By: ALLISON HANES
      

For eight years Councillor Rob Ford (Etobicoke North) has made himself the de facto watchdog of his colleagues’ discretionary spending by posting their expenses on his Web site.


His exposure of bunny suits and espresso machines claimed under office budgets while touting his own frugality has earned him the enmity of higher-spending councillors — and a rebuke from the integrity commissioner for paying out of pocket for some office supplies.

A new expense account policy going before council next week is as much a nod to Mr. Ford’s hyper-vigilance as an effort to bring the watchdog to heel.

The policy will cap dining claims at $500 a year, restrict alcohol consumption and require councillors to post their own reports online quarterly. But it will also subject councillors who cover their costs from their own pocket, as Mr. Ford does, to the same spending limit of $53,100 a year and identical reporting requirements, with exceptions for mileage, meals, parking and cellphone bills.

Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby (Etobicoke Centre), a member of the executive committee, says the policy goes a long way.

“I think it needed to be clarified for both people who do not utilize their office expense budget as well as those who do,” she said diplomatically. “I think there has to be an honesty about what the costs of being a councillor are. Fine if you don’t believe in putting out a newsletter, but there are other costs. And people need to be realistic.”

The new policy might broker an entente in the ongoing war between penny-pinching councillors who don’t think taxpayers should have to spring for much more than paper clips and their more pragmatic counterparts, who say there are costs involved in the demanding job.

That battle came to a head last year over the firing of a bureaucrat who worked in the city clerk’s offices processing councillors’ expense reports. 

The timing of Tim Ivanyshyn’s sudden dismissal shortly after a scandal over questionable claims by some council members raised eyebrows among fierce critics of city spending, namely Mr. Ford, Doug Holyday (Etobicoke Centre) and Michael Walker (St. Paul’s).

Mayor David Miller says the city needs a new, unified expense policy to decode a confusing array of rules.

The new policy is just one of a slew of measures aimed at bolstering integrity and improving transparency at City Hall. There is a companion conflict of interest policy and a tweaking of the rules governing lobbyists. Geri Sanson, a human rights lawyer, takes over on Sept. 1, as the city’s integrity commissioner, ensuring councillors behave ethically; Linda Gehrke, a lawyer trained in dispute resolution, takes over on Aug. 1 as lobbyist registrar, “to ensure council’s decision-making process is transparent,” a news release from the mayor’s office says.

Already, fiscal hawk Mr. Ford is complaining the new rules don’t go far enough.

“No more lunches, no more dinners, period,” he suggested. “Five hundred dollars for lunch is ridiculous. I’ve never had someone say, ‘Take me out for lunch.’ It’s just an excuse to go out for a free lunch.”

Long-time Councillor Howard Moscoe (Eglinton Lawrence) said meeting with constituents, developers or community groups over lunch is common for a councillor with a packed schedule. And letting someone else pay poses worse problems.

“When I go to a meeting with a developer, I don’t want to be beholden to the developer and have them pick up the tab,” Mr. Moscoe said, noting he rarely files for such meals. “I would rather have me pick up the tab and put it publicly on my account.”

He called Mr. Ford’s embrace of austerity measures political grandstanding.

“You need some basic monies to be able to operate. Councillor Ford has a pickle up his ear. That’s his schtick,” Mr. Moscoe said. “It’s basically denial of reality. If he thinks he can get away without spending any money on his constituents, I’d say he’s not doing very much of a job.”

Councillor Mike Del Grande (Scarborough Agincourt) shares Mr. Ford’s views on restraint when it comes to taxpayer-funded expense accounts. He cuts a cheque each year to the clerk’s office to reimburse free food offered at council meetings and finds most of his supplies at the Dollar Store.

“I think Rob Ford has probably done a better job to bring councillors in line by publishing what they spend,” he said. “Obviously since the policy has to be looked at people have been abusing it.”