Jackie DeSouza is the City of Toronto's new communicator-in-chief

 Back in June, Kevin Sack, the voice of City Hall during two garbage strikes, the great blackout of '09 and countless other crises over the past 11 years, decamped to 407 ETR, the toll highway company, as vice-president of communications.

While there was hot internal competition for his job, the city is replacing him with Jackie DeSouza, most recently of Mount Sinai Hospital, Team Canada at the Commonwealth Games and the Canadian Olympic Committee.

She takes the reins two weeks before Rob Ford officially becomes mayor. Best of luck!

Here's the announcement that went to city staff from the city manager:

I am very pleased to welcome Jackie DeSouza as the City's new Director of Strategic Communications, beginning November 15, 2010.

Jackie brings impressive skills and experience to the role. After graduating with a degree in Journalism from Ryerson University, she began her career as a journalist, moved on to publishing and then communications consulting. Subsequently, Jackie served in several progressively responsible communications positions at several Ontario Ministries, including Cabinet office, Ministry of Citizenship Culture and Recreation and the Ministry of Solicitor General and Correctional Services.  Jackie then spent six years as Director of Communications for the Canadian Olympic Committee. During her time there, she led the creation and implementation of communications strategies for three Olympic and two Pan American games.   

Most recently she was Senior Director, Communications and Marketing (Acting) at Mount Sinai Hospital, where she led a full-service team providing leadership and expertise in strategic planning, media relations, issues management, advertising and marketing. In September, Jackie also served in a voluntary capacity as communications lead for Team Canada at the Commonwealth Games, providing clear-headed leadership and advice to Canadian officials and serving as media spokesperson in challenging circumstances.

I am confident Jackie will make a valuable contributor to the City and I know you will assist her in any way possible. Please join me in making her welcome.

Joe Pennachetti

The "Dieter" tape, queensquaykaren and the Star

A story in Maclean's, "How Rob Ford won Toronto", has some interesting behind-the-scenes dish on the ups and downs of Ford's remarkable campaign, including a report that Ford campaign official Fraser Macdonald created a fictitious Smitherman supporter on Twitter named "queensquaykaren".

Macdonald did it, according to the story, after being ordered by deputy campaign manager, and now Ford chief of staff, Nick Kouvalis, to get a copy of the now-famous telephone recording in which Ford seems to entertain the idea of helping Dieter Doneit-Henderson, an HIV-positive man, illegally buy OxyContin.

Posing as a Ford foe, Macdonald/queensquaykaren quickly cajoled Doneit-Henderson into turning over the recording. Doneit-Henderson had earlier provided it to the Star, and we asked Ford about it privately. He stated he was only humouring a troubled man and never had any intention of trying to help him buy drugs.

The Maclean's piece states:

"No one on the Ford campaign had heard the recording, and the Star was sitting on the material. Kouvalis and others feared the Star might release it at the worst possible moment—a week before the election, say—for maximum damage. “I won’t deny it,” says spokeswoman Adrienne Batra, “we thought it was over.”

In fact, at the Star there was vigorous internal debate about whether to write a story about the tape from the time Doneit-Henderson emailed the link until Macdonald/queensquaykaren surreptitiously got it, and Kouvalis leaked the recording to a Sun columnist he hoped would give it the most sympathetic airing possible.

On one hand, there was the bizarre nature of the conversation and the questionable judgment of a potential mayor who would make such remarks. On the other, there was the question of whether Ford was set up by somebody introduced to him by the Star, and the fact that there was no evidence that Ford was doing more than humouring Doneit-Henderson.

The options discussed at the Star were "publish now" or "don't publish." To sit on a story for months with a calculated intent to harm a candidacy would be an enormous, shocking ethical breach. It never happened, nor was it ever entertained.

Interestingly, Macdonald/queensquaykaren kept posing as a supposed Smitherman supporter on Twitter long after obtaining the recording. Many of the tweets are critical of Sarah Thomson, sometimes profanely so, after she quit her mayoral bid in September and endorsed Smitherman.

 

 

Toronto cycling advocate passes the torch

 
Yvonne Bambrick, the enthusiastic and civically engaged head of the Toronto Cylists Union is cruising to greener pastures, although she's not saying which way she's pointed.

Bambrick was the first executive director of the union since that was established in 2008. When she decided earlier this year it was time to move on, she stepped into the role of communications director while Andrea Garcia, director of advocacy and operations, got her feet firmly planted on the union pedals.

Under Bambrick's direction, the union has become an influential voice not just for cycling in Toronto, but for walking and transit. She has lent her energy and support to the upcoming Bixi bike sharing program, cycling lane expansion and projects like the Union Station bike station and on-street bike parking.

Although she is a fierce advocate for cycling as a means to a healthier city, Bambrick is also a patient listener even when others' views aren't necessarily aligned with her own.

Here are her closing remarks.

Pantalone releases his campaign donor list

Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone has followed the recent Toronto tradition of releasing his campaign donor list before the civic election. Rob Ford's campaign has vowed to do so, although the clock is ticking, while George Smitherman says he plans to wait until after Monday's vote because donations are still rolling in.

Pantalone raised about $850,000, well under the $1.3 million limit, says campaign spokesman Mike Smith. Unions and corporations are banned from donating. Individuals can give up to $2,500 to mayoral candidates. The name of everyone who gives more than $100 must be disclosed. Smith said the list is not available online but those who ask the campaign for a paper copy will get one.

Here are some of Pantalone's donors:

Stephen Diamond (lawyer and president of Diamondcorp, a real estate development and consulting business, picked by George Smitherman for John Sewell-headed panel on government reform)

Bronwyn Krog, developer and retail and planning consultant

Russell Lazar, general manager of Honest Ed's

Cynthia MacDougall, development lawyer

Michael McClelland, heritage architect

Alan Menkes, condominium developer

Howard Moscoe, city councillor

Ben Rothman, Irene Sepp, assistants in Moscoe's office

Brad Butt, president, Greater Toronto Apartment Association

Ian Connerty, vice-president and area manager of Parsons Brinckerhoff, project manager for initiatives including Transit City

Sandra Bussin, city councillor

Claire Copeland, executive and chair of Toronto Hydro

Glenn De Baeremaeker, city councillor

William Duron, Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

Joe Halstead, outgoing Caribana CEO

Gord Perks, city councillor

Paula Fletcher, city councillor

Anne Johnston, seniors' advocate and former councillor

Chris Korwin-Kuczynski, lobbyist and former councillor

Joe Mihevc, city councillor

Paul Sutherland, lobbyist and former councillor

Andrew Weir, vice-president, Tourism Toronto

Olivia Chow, MP and former councillor

Jack Layton, NDP leader and former councillor

Mike Layton, environmentalist and council candidate

Adam Brown, development lawyer

John Laschinger, Pantalone's campaign manager

Eb Zeidler, renowned architect

Rosari Marchese, NDP MPP

Sam Sniderman, founder of Sam the Record Man

Peter Soumalias, Walk of Fame president

Lyle Hall, managing director, tourism consultants HLT Advisory Inc., past chair Tourism Toronto

Bruce Scott, chief of staff to Mayor David Miller

Kevin Beaulieu, former aide to Councillor Adam Giambrone, current council candidate

Nick Dominelli, council candidate and former aide to several councillors

Gay Cowbourne, former councillor

Andrew Pask, lobbyist and former executive assistant to Rob Ford

Peter Kormos, NDP MPP

Frank Lewinberg, architect and former city planner

Robert Millward, former planning commissioner

Richard Peddie, chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment

Brian Iler, lawyer and a leader of opposition to the island airport

Austin Cooper, lawyer

Debbie Field, local food advocate

James Harbell, development lawyer)

Ann Ball, Pantalone aide

Alan Brookes, organizer, Scotiabank Waterfront Toronto Marathon

Paul Pellegrini, president of lobbying and public affairs firm Sussex Strategy Group

Sol Wassermuhl, architect

Alfredo Romano, principal, developers Castlepoint Group

Catherine Leblanc-Miller, school trustee

Peter Tabuns, NDP MPP

Matthew Kellway, union rep

Arnold Amber, former president of CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild

Patchen Barss, communications professional, former David Miller spokesman

Peggy Nash, NDP MP

Angela Bischoff, outreach co-ordinator of the Clean Air Alliance and partner of the late activist and mayoral candidate Tooker Gomberg

Did Smitherman seek Miller's endorsement?

The Joe Pantalone campaign says George Smitherman tried to get Miller's endorsement. Miller's office says Smitherman asked to meet the mayor for coffee and an endorsement request was apparently coming. The Smitherman campaign says not only didn't the former deputy premier ask for Miller's blessing, he would not have taken it if offered.

All this starts with Pantalone campaign manager John Laschinger calling to react to a Star-Citytv poll that found Miller's endorsement was a net loss for Pantalone. He explained why he sought the endorsement and is airing radio ads featuring Miller urging Torontonians to vote for his deputy mayor because rivals Smitherman and Rob Ford want to "slash and burn public services."

The gruff-voiced "Lasch" said his research told him Miller is actually positive for Pantalone because, while Ford supporters (who made up about 40 per cent of decided voters in our poll sample) are not going to be influenced by Miller, those left over could be swayed by the mayor's opinion.

And then Lasch drops this: "One day before Miller endorsed Joe, Smitherman called Miller asking for his endorsement."

OK, we'll bite.

To the mayor's office, where spokesman Stuart Green says: "I do know that George called the mayor requesting a sit down 'for coffee' to discuss issues (earlier this month). I heard the voicemail.
"His tone was clearly that of trying to reach out for support from the mayor but he never explicitly asked for the endorsement ... although we know through very reliable sources that he was going to ask for it. The mayor chose not to call him back."

Such a request would be a shocker. For much of the early part of this campaign, before the Ford phenomenon came into focus, Smitherman seemed to be running against the retiring Miller, criticizing waste and inefficiency at city hall and blasting the Miller regime's "sense of entitlement." On the other hand, as Smitherman himself said Monday, "You take support any way that it’s offered."

It's all a load of rubbish, says Erika Mozes, Smitherman's spokeswoman. "At some point, I think back in the summer, George reached out for a chat. George talks to politicians of all stripes ... he just wanted to catch up with Daviid."

"George respects the work David has done but never sought his endorsement, nor would he have taken it ... (Smitherman) feels the city needs new leadership, and that includes David Miller."

UPDATE: More from Miller spokesman Stuart Green:

"We had also heard that George was going to seek help in getting Joe Pantalone to drop out of the race.

If anyone needs reasons why the Mayor would not call George back or consider endorsing him, I'd say this...

The Mayor is a city builder while Mr Smitherman has spent the campaign running the city down.  The Mayor has for 7 years pushed for transit renewal and Mr Smitherman sat on his hands while the Premier gutted Transit City.  The Mayor has made the difficult decisions of raising taxes so we can invest in the city while Mr Smitherman has promised tax cuts and tax freezes which will result in cuts.  The Mayor has invested in the priority neighbourhoods and Mr Smitherman wants to do a rethink even though everyone agrees including the United Way and other agencies that we are making a real difference.

Clearly there really was not much to talk about.

Ouch. If Smitherman wins, we suspect the torch won't be passed, as much as brandished.

 

 

Barbara Hall "horrified" at Smitherman fundraising email snafu

George Smitherman is like a son to Barbara Hall. He was the former Toronto mayor's chief of staff and campaign manager, and is like a "surrogate grandmother" to Michael, the son that Smitherman and his husband Christopher Peloso are in the process of adopting.

No doubt, Hall would love for Smitherman to be Toronto's next mayor, and wishes she could do everything in her power to make that happen. However, she is also the chief commissioner of Ontario's Human Rights Commission, and as a provincial appointee she is not allowed to get involved in election campaigns. Officially, she's neutral in Toronto's civic election.

So eyebrows were raised when the following email was sent late Sunday night from Hall's private email account, soliciting $30,000 for Smitherman's campaign to print a flyer advertising the Star's endorsement of the former Ontario deputy premier. The email, obtained by the Star's Robert Benzie, is signed by Max Beck, Hall's husband, a prominent Liberal and chief executive of Easter Seals. He sent it to himself and numerous others, whose emails don't show up. We have redacted the first part of the email addresses for privacy reasons.

From: Barbara <xxxxx@rogers.com>
To: 'Max Beck' <xxxxx@rogers.com>
Cc: 'Pamela Gutteridge' <xxxxx@sympatico.ca>
Sent: Sun Oct 17 22:00:37 2010
Subject: I want George Smitherman to be my Mayor, and I need your help

I need to ask you a very special favour. The election for a new Mayor to lead Toronto into the future is just a few days away.

I have helped recruit 100’s of volunteers….and they are working hard.

George is working hard.

The Toronto Star this morning endorsed George Smitherman as the best choice for Mayor of Toronto.

I want to ensure that every potential voter in Toronto knows about the Star endorsement, so I have promised to raise $30,000 by Tuesday midnight for a special flyer.

I have given all that I am allowed to in support of George, so….

I need you to help me on this. I want you to personally raise $1,000 for George and it will only cost you $100…. after the municipal political contribution rebate.

I want you to fill out the attached form and donate $350 for George’s campaign. And I want you to get two others to send $350: it could be your partner, a family member, a business associate, or neighbour.

The cost after the rebate to you and the other supporters you recruit will be $100. Not a bad investment for the future of our city.

You do not need to live in Toronto to get this rebate.

The urgency, is that I need to be sure that this money has been raised by the end of the work day on Tuesday.

So I ask you to use the Appeal form attached and FAX it back to Pam Gutteridge.

Pam will track donations for me and I will keep at it until I get the $30,000.

I will let  you know the results and I will host a small reception after the election is over and we have won. Hopefully with a special guest!

Thank you for your help….Max Beck

and then on Monday, Beck sent this:

From: Max Beck <xxxxx@rogers.com>
To: 'Max Beck' <xxxxx@rogers.com>
Cc: 'Pamela Gutteridge' <xx@sympatico.ca>
Sent: Mon Oct 18 23:56:19 2010
Subject: FW: Correction of email send last night

I sent you a personal fundraising appeal for George Smitherman last night. You will recall that immediately after I sent a second email with the attachment included. I have just discovered that not only did I make an error in not sending the attachment, much more importantly I used the incorrect Rogers account to send the email. Not sure how that happened but it was a serious error.

Althought the email was written by me and clearly signed by me, the email went out from my wife's account - xxxxx@rogers.com. Barbara as many of you will know has a public position with the provincial government and she is not permitted to have any involvement whatsoever in partisan political activity. I apologize to you for making this error and more importantly to my wife, Barbara Hall, for damaging the politically neutral position that she works so hard to maintain.

With regret.....Max Beck

In an interview Tuesday, Hall said she and her husband share a computer and he mistakenly wrote from her email account. "I was in bed reading when he wrote it and had no idea about the email or what was in it," until Monday when Beck told her about his mistake, she said.

"I've made it totally clear that I can't comment on individual campaigns or candidates. Max knows how hard I've worked at that. He was pretty horrified as was I. My only involvement with George during the campaign has been occassionally babysitting his son or taking him to the park."

Beck told the Star he feels awful about his mistake, adding that personal emails to him and his wife all arrive in a single inbox and he should ask Rogers how to separate them.

"I'm just mortified by this because Barbara has worked so bloody hard to do everything properly."

Beck, a wealthy businessman and former chair of the board of Ontario Place, said he has no official role with the Smitherman campaign. Asked if he has raised the $30,000, he said, "Not quite yet but we're getting there."

Joe Pantalone's punchy poll gets Lasched

The mayoral camps, two weeks away from the end of this 297-day electoral slugfest, are taking wild swings at each other like punchy prizefighters begging for the bell.

As we get down to the final rounds, they are all trying to dance a little faster, to at least appear to have momentum because that can create a bandwagon effect. Endorsements are one way. Opinion polls are another.

The Rob Ford campaign got a newspaper to bite on some of it's internal polling on the weekend. Surprise - it showed his juggernaut still rolling well out in front, thank you very much.The other camps didn't think much of the proprietary poll and neither did the rest of the city's media.

On Tuesday, Joe Pantalone's campaign manager John "Lasch" Laschinger put out a press release touting a third-party poll showing his guy "topping 20 per cent while Rob Ford's support has sunk into the 30s. Between the two is George Smitherman. The sharp rise in Joe's numbers, and the fall in Ford's support, creates a clear three way contest in Toronto's mayoral race." And then something about momentum.

Problem is, despite a few more details, Lasch has no actual poll to shop. Pollster Logit Group told the Star a poll was commissioned by a "businessman" who shared some details with the Pantalone camp. But he won't authorize its release. It's like a press release about a ghost, or Jesus's face appearing on a fridge if you stand in a certain place at 6 p.m.

So this right hook is a little off the target. So, worth a swing, no? But then the George Smitherman team lurches out of the corner with a news release saying this:

Joe Pantalone Campaign manager on what to do when you are running a losing campaign:

 

"One recourse is to leak to the press their internal polls, if they are more favourable, than the public polls. If they are not, another recourse is to fib about (or quote selectively from) the findings of internal polls. A favourite device is to leak results from polling in selected or target ridings and to claim it is a national or, in a provincial campaign, province-wide sample. When all else fails, the final recourse is simply to make it up, to invent a poll."

John Laschinger, Leaders and Lesser Mortals, p95, 1992

Ouch. Asked to punch back, um, respond, Lasch throws the final hook of the night:

I am delighted that they are using my book as a guide for their campaign.
However given the terrible campaign they have run, I hope they don't try and blame it on me and my book after the campaign is over.

Lasch

UPDATE: Prolific tweeter Jonathan Goldsbie notes that one businessman who has apparently used Logit Group to poll in the past is ... Rob Ford. Whoa, is that a jab or an uppercut? Now we're dizzy. http://bit.ly/bOXr1G

 

The Rocco Rossi ad you will never see (except here)

Two prominent members of Rocco Rossi's campaign team were set to urge his supporters to kick in $2,500 each to help buy full-page newspapers ads to give his struggling campaign a boost.

And although both men behind the plan are Rossi campaign co-chairs and one -- Duncan Jackman, mega-wealthy financier and son of Hal -- is helping to spearhead Rossi's fundraising efforts, they wrote to well-heeled Ross supporters: "We are advised that as this is a '3rd party ad,' it is not subject to the election donation maximum rules.  No one from the Campaign Team is involved."

Ads and other forms of politicking by third-party groups are a staple of U.S. politics -- often employing attack ads that can't be pinned directly on a candidate and don't affect their spending limits. Toronto has seen unions and other groups buy election ads focused on a particular issue, but nobody the Star canvassed Thursday could recall a third-party ad promoting a particular municipal candidate.

Patricia Best, spokeswoman for the Rossi campaign, says campaign manager Bernie Morton nixed the plan and the ad.

First, the email obtained by the Star on Tuesday:

From: Vahan Kololian <vk@terranovapartners.com>
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2010  
Subject: Request from Vahan Kololian and Duncan Jackman - Let's Help Rocco Rossi Get the Attention He Deserves - REPLY REQUESTED

Dear Fellow Supporters of Rocco Rossi:
 
While Rocco's numbers are lagging, we remain convinced that he is the best candidate for Mayor of Toronto.  We are also aware that at this point in the campaign in 2003, John Tory and David Miller were lagging significantly behind Barbara Hall.

Rocco continues to work hard. We, along with several other friends feel that a group of us should run a few full page ads in Toronto newspapers, independently of the campaign.  Attached and below is the proposed ad.
 
Currently we are proposing to run it in the Toronto Sun and the Toronto Star as a full page ad with the signatures of business and community leaders like yourselves.  It will be a full page ad and two days of banner ads on their web sites.  The cost of this is $10,000 for The Sun and approximately $40,000 for The Star.

Please see below and/or attached for a copy of the ad.

We are advised that as this is a "3rd party ad," it is not subject to the election donation maximum rules.  No one from the Campaign Team is involved.  
 
Our signatures will have our names in print and a replica of our signatures under our printed names.  
 
We are asking donors/sponsors like you to join us in contributing $2,500 each and to sign the ad.

OR if you are sensitive for business or other reasons to signing and promoting a candidate publicly, you can decline to sign, but support it financially.
 
This e mail is being sent to you as a blind e mail.  Once we have a final list of donors we will share it with those who have agreed to participate.  You will see who else is listed.  
 
Vahan’s colleague, Kathleen Vesely will manage the collection of pledges and the payment to the newspapers.  A full accounting will be kept and any surplus returned equally.
 
REPLY - please send to Kathleen Vesely: kv@terranovapartners.com <mailto:kv@terranovapartners.com> Tel:416 644 6000 x 600
 
INDICATE:
1. Yes I would like to pledge $2,500.  Please send the invoice to: (name, address)
 
2.  Yes I will sign the ad, and I will send you a copy of my signature by scanning and e mail or by FAX;
OR
3.  I prefer not to sign the ad.
 
Let’s do this for Rocco and for Toronto.
 
Best regards,
 
 
 
Vahan Kololian                                                   Duncan Jackman
Managing Partner                                              Chairman, CEO and President
TerraNova Partners LP                                        E-L Financial Corp. Ltd
 

And now, Best's response:

These supporters started this effort as a sincere attempt to help the campaign they believe in further, and then Bernie became aware of the ad, as did a couple of others on the campaign, and Bernie was asked what he thought about it. So at that point the ad ceased to be third party and was nixed. “We follow the letter of the law on this campaign, and so therefore it was pulled.” says Bernie Morton. “The difference between a typical politician--who follows sleazy tactics like trying to scoop our people--and someone like Rocco who stands for honesty and integrity.”

 

 

Anonymous anti-Ford ads jump from online to the grounds of Queen's Park

First there were ads that popped up online asking "Rob Ford for Mayor?" and declaring "Arrested and jailed. Ford lacks the judgment needed for Toronto." they were bought anonymously through Google. Sombody  mischievously added thestar.com below the statement, but the Star had nothing to do with it. In fact, given the Ford campaign's tactic of using a perceived persecution of him to solicit funds, odds are at least even it was a Ford supporter. The ads were scrubbed but not before getting a bit of buzz.

A smear, undoubtedly, but it is true Ford was arrested and later convicted of drunk driving in Florida in 1999. If he was held in a cell even briefly, you could argue the "jailed" part, but it wouldn't get past our copy desk.

But overnight actual physical signs sprang up at Queen's Park that take defamation to the next level. Ford's name doesn't appear but, before the phrase "for mayor!", there are concise and libellous allegations about domestic violence, substance abuse and racial views. The signs have been taken down.

It's a peculiar electoral form of vandalism. And, given Rob Ford's ability in this campaign to absorb attacks and sometimes gain from them, likely fruitless. But expect more as we get closer to Oct. 25.

UPDATE: 680 News is reporting there were about 10 of the signs, along University Ave.

Mayor Miller speech scrapped after only 19 tickets sold

Being the mayor of Canada's biggest city is a big job, with a magnetic pull that draws people -- the important and the ordinary -- to you like iron filings.

But being a lame duck mayor in the midst of a highly competitive election in which the two frontrunners are essentially running against your legacy? Not so magnetic, it seems.

To wit, Miller's Oct. 13 luncheon speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto at the Fairmont Royal York, titled "Our Magnificent City", has been cancelled because of poor ticket sales. According to the email below, obtained by the Star, only 19 people ponied up the cash. The announcement disappeared from the club's website on Wednesday.

Sent: Wed Oct 06 11:15:39 2010
Subject: Mayor Miller Event

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to make you aware that the Mayor Miller event has been canceled due to low ticket sales (19 in total).  Mayor Miller’s office is in support of this decision and it is felt all around that perhaps with the mayoral elections the timing was not the best. 

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to call me.

Best,

Jennifer Koddermann
Executive Director
The Canadian Club of Toronto

Miller spokesman Stuart Green notes that the mayor is speaking to a sold-out crowd of 160 on Thursday -- in London, Ont. Tickets for the Canadian Club of London event ranged from $33.90 to $45.20.

"I'm not sure if they promoted their event differently or better than the Toronto branch, but clearly there's still a demand to hear what Mayor Miller has to say," Green wrote in an email.