Ford’s patronage pigginess can’t pass smell test
When voters think the worst of politicians in power, the impulse is to “throw the bums out.”
More often than not, however, the replacement bums are no better at passing the smell test.
And the whiff of naked hypocrisy is almost always worse. Remember Donald Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp?”
Trump won the U.S. presidency by calling his Democratic opponent a criminal — amid chants of “Lock her up!” — while refusing to release his tax returns. Recent revelations suggest a confirmed history of tax evasion throughout his life. Remember Doug Ford’s campaign pledge that “the party with the taxpayer’s money is over?”
Ford won Ontario’s premiership by condemning his Liberal opponent as corrupt — also amid chants of “Lock her up!” — accusing her of enriching fellow Liberals on the public dime. What he didn’t say, however, was that he would fire Liberals merely to replace them with Tories.
And hire them at higher salaries.
The news this week that Ford has rewarded one of his closest campaign cronies with a plum patronage posting to Washington isn’t especially surprising. What is appalling is that he has doubled down on partisan enrichment.
With curious hubris, Ford proclaimed Friday, “I am so happy to announce” that Progressive Conservative loyalist Ian Todd will be Ontario’s new trade representative in the U.S.
What Ford neglected to say is that Todd’s annual salary will be $350,000 a year — $75,000 more than the annual pay of his predecessor, Monique Smith, a former Liberal cabinet minister appointed by expremier Kathleen Wynne.
What Ford also failed to explain is that Todd’s salary will far exceed the salary of the Canadian ambassador to Washington, David MacNaughton, whose pay band is $248,000 to $292,000 annually.
How is it possible for a glorified provincial “envoy” — who essentially rents a desk and phone at the Canadian Embassy while praying that his forgotten phone calls will be returned by Washington power brokers — to be paid that much more than a national ambassador who oversees one of our country’s biggest listening posts with a staff of hundreds under his command, and responsibility for renegotiating NAFTA?
Make no mistake, MacNaughton’s ambassadorship was also a patronage appointment. He is a longtime Liberal who ran the Ontario campaign for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and served as chief of staff for ex-premier Dalton McGuinty (though he gets credit for commendably bipartisan impulses — partnering in business and love with longtime Progressive Conservative strategist Leslie Noble, who worked for ex-premier Mike Harris).
MacNaughton’s CV and savvy made him a natural candidate for ambassador defending the national interest. Neither Todd nor his predecessor, Smith, have ever distinguished themselves as envoy material — never mind meriting more money than a national ambassador.
Lest I be accused of picking on Progressive Conservatives, let me diplomatically point out a column from last year (still online) urging Wynne to replace Smith — her undistinguished former cabinet colleague — with someone better able to represent Ontario’s interests at a time of bilateral tumult: I nominated ex-PC leader Tim Hudak, who studied in the U.S., grew up in a Niagara border town, and can speak the language of U.S. partisans (not to mention college football fans).
But Wynne stood by Smith, and Ford has stooped to his own payoff for Todd’s loyal service. Todd’s claim to fame — and now, fortune — is that he was head of “tour” for Ford’s winning election campaign (after previously working as a political aide in the Stephen Harper government).
There is no great shame in appointing trusted advisers to sensitive positions, but this is one of the biggest displays of patronage pigginess in recent memory, adding up to $1 million over three years.
That’s the same amount Ford quietly awarded to his healthcare czar, Dr. Reuben Devlin, last summer. But Devlin, a former president of the Progressive Conservative party, is no political hack — he headed Humber River Hospital for years, and he has the premier’s confidence. (What’s harder to understand is why the retired Devlin couldn’t follow the admirable example of Wynne’s former business czar, Ed Clark, who worked as a dollar-a-yearman for the Liberals.)
Embarrassed by the publicity over his new Washington envoy, Ford’s staff rushed out a news release Thursday saying that Todd would forgo pension and severance payments.
As if that somehow justifies such lavish pay for so limited a pedigree. As if that helps us forget Ford’s famous political pitch on the campaign trail:
“We have seen this Liberal government make sure that they have taken care of their Liberal insider friends,” Ford said at the time. “But we can tell you one thing, my friends, we will make sure we bring government that respects the taxpayers. You know me, I’m for the little guy.”
Promise made. Promise made up. Promise messed up.