James: Unorthodox Rob Ford coated in Teflon

The first thing to acknowledge about Mayor Rob Ford is that the normal rules don’t apply with this politician.

He doesn’t seem to care much about his image, speaks in absolutes, and contradicts himself when he needs to. And, like the one-time Bad Boy mayor Mel Lastman, Ford rolls on in spite of gaffes and utterances that might sink most politicians.

Ford says one thing — I’m here to respect taxpayers’ money — and does the opposite, as is the case of wasting tens of millions of dollars to stop Transit City.

He told voters he would hire 100 more police officers once he became mayor. He quickly dropped that promise after the election. And now, his appointed police watchdog, Councillor Michael Thompson, is asking Chief Bill Blair to consider chopping as many as 500 officers from the force.

He declared that all departments must tighten their budgets, had a showdown with the police chief, nipped a little off the police budget, still gave them more than the year before, and then seemed to have no problem with double-digit salary hikes for the cops. They are wary of the mayor and embrace him all at once — a massive achievement for a chief magistrate.

Ford promised to uncover vats of gravy at City Hall and do so without cutting a single service, except for maybe a few unwanted bus routes. And yet, here we are at nightly “service review” public meetings asking residents which services should go and which should stay.

A man of the people, Ford practises retail politics with the best of them. This created a connection with citizens as he returned phone calls and went to bat for them, taking on the civic bureaucracy. Citizens remembered this and elected Ford mayor.

But now, the mayor doesn’t want to listen to the many citizen advisory committees that inform politicians on a number of issues. Too many, Ford says. Too costly, he adds.

A bit of a populist, though not a classic one that enjoys the public stage, Ford purports to answer every telephone call and encourages citizens to call him. Yet he is not the glad-handing type who hasn’t seen a baby he won’t snuggle and kiss.

He trumpets accountability and transparency and simultaneously shuts out city council from major decisions like the ending of Transit City.

Ford screams against sole-source contracts, getting the best deal for taxpayers, potential corruption at City Hall and the need for open government. Then he sets up his buddies to study private-sector involvement in transit-building, without any public process his council can rely on.

In the strangest of proposals — designed, he says, to deliver as much as $3 million — Ford pushed council to let staff negotiate and approve the proposed new private-sector garbage contract, without political oversight. On that, city council rose up and saved the mayor from himself.

Ford spent 10 years on council as an outsider, rarely getting a motion approved, never fostering allies. As mayor, he is no more a consensus builder. He’d rather cuss out potential allies — as he did during the garbage privatization debate — than curry their favour.

A businessman who says he is always looking to save the taxpayer a buck, the mayor has given us the deal of the ages. With his brother, Doug, elected a rookie councillor in Etobicoke North, Toronto has two mayors for the price of one.

If you think any of the above has diminished Ford’s popularity, six months after the election, you are probably thinking this guy is a regular politician.