Well, the #TOpoli twittersphere, as it so often does, has crystallized the dilemma efficiently.
If Rob Ford’s found to be in violation of conflict-of-interest guidelines, the remedy is removal from office. John Michael McGrath and Hamutal Dotan provide the background.
On the one hand, there’s the Javert approach: There is only the law.
@sol_chrom @GraphicMatt The goddamned political consequences do not trump the laws that every politician needs to be accountable to. #TOPoli
— Corey Caplan (@CoreyCaplan) March 12, 2012
On the other hand, there are the political and optical considerations.
All you’ll do is turn Rob into a folk hero, run out of office by rabid leftists who couldn’t deal with his election win.
— Matt Elliott (@GraphicMatt) March 12, 2012
And the middle is a surprisingly inhospitable place on this one.
I think if we sat back and said this conflict of interested doesn’t matter, we’d be inviting bigger problems in the future #topoli
— Nadia S (@madhatressTO) March 12, 2012
What’s the right thing to do here? What are we trying to accomplish? Is this a question of tactics, or of strategy?
While I don’t have an answer (over to you, #TOpoli), I do wonder what else is going on …
Related posts:
- @jm_mcgrath, Rob Ford, and municipal governance | #TOpoli
- #TeamFord and our city: Can no one talk sense to these guys? | #TOpoli #transit #TOlabourdispute
- Beyond the Port Lands: Dragging Swamp Ford for the remnants of civic engagement