Like blonde hair, an obsession with football and a love for public weight loss campaigns, it appears the ability to piss off Janet Leiper, the city’s integrity commissioner, runs in the Ford family. A pair of reports has emerged from the commissioner’s office reprimanding both Mayor Rob and Councillor Doug for their sundry misbehaviour. First, there’s the mayor, who, as a councillor, accepted donations to his personal charity from lobbyists. And although council ordered Ford to repay the donors, all he has provided is letters from three of those lobbyists who don’t want to be reimbursed. Leiper says Ford’s stubbornness could constitute a violation of the Lobbyist Code of Conduct. Meanwhile, a complaint filed by activist Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler is keeping Doug Ford busy. After a run-in at city hall, Freudenthaler filed a complaint alleging the councillor threatened him. The councillor called the complaint—and the integrity commissioner’s call for an apology—“a bunch of horseshit” and said the activist is “a little prick.” During the exchange, Doug reportedly told Chaleff-Freudenthaler that “what goes around comes around,” a comment he has now gone to fantastically awkward lengths to explain. Doug’s comments have received more and flashier coverage than Rob’s alleged missteps, but the stories suggest a mutual failure from the brothers to recognize that their actions can have consequences. Or, to put it another way, that what goes around comes around. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
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