The Globe headline “Giambrone to stay in mayoral race despite ‘inappropriate relationship’” has about as much shelf life as an open can of tuna. I’d say about 24 hours, or less.
It’s one thing to be brazenly optimistic. It’s quite another to be completely utterly politically naive. As soon as Mr. Giambrone comes to fully appreciate the gravity of his public predicament, he will be forced to do the only thing which public opinion will otherwise take care of in very short and brutal order.
Don’t get me wrong, the Toronto electorate is on a different curve when it comes to “house on the prairie” values. No other city in Canada has a adult classifieds listing longer than the used car section. The city is likely filled with a disproportionate share of everyday folk who think it’s okay to have one partner for getting elected and another for getting erected. No argument here.
But when otherwise every day people come out from under whatever particular fantasy turns their crank, they still have to be fine upstanding citizens who hold honest jobs, raise families, pay taxes, and when called upon to do so, elect best suitable candidates to public office. Toronto may be as avant-garde as they come, but folks still vote and fantasize with different parts of the brain.
It doesn’t take more than a scant read of the comments section the Star to assess how public opinion is reacting to the Giambrone story. Some of the very same people who may share an equivalent fantasy, or reality, will condemn sanctimoniously when given the opportunity. What better pretence than the safety and security offered by an anonymous comments section?
The Globe’s usually politically seasoned Adam Radwanski must have a personal stake in this issue, for it seems according to todays post he’s “just fine” with it because “it’s difficult enough to attract good people to run for office.” Excuse me? Canada’s biggest city is so void of public office talent that Giambrone’s behaviour is something to overlook because there is no one else?
Some may argue this space appears to apply a double standard when it comes to Tiger Woods versus Adam Giambrone. Not entirely the same situation. When Mr. Giambrone can shoot 64 from the back tees he’ll have my vote to play in the Masters, and if Tiger emerges to run for Mayor of Toronto he won’t.
Being a Torontonian for many years now I can say there is decent people here but as you point out, morality is at a lower level in general. I too expect Giambrone to resign, simply because he cannot win and going on will make him the farce of the whole election. All the same I expect liberals (if they are not already behind this issue on Giambrone), to start the mud slinging as they do anything possible to get their boy george into the mayor’s chair.
It was already over. This lad is too green to be elected Mayor.
Maybe in a few years.
He certainly needs more education in reality.
Awesome. Finally something to get excited about in Toronto City politics. Inside an impotent city council, we now know that someone’s got the juice! I think he’s got exactly what this city needs. A bit of spunk behind the reigns!!! Look how he’s handled the TTC. Absolutely brilliant!
I think not. I mean, really. If Rob Ford can dream about it, despite his drunken loutish behaviour, and sundry other just plain weird happenings, why cannot Giambrone shrug off a peccadillo in the intervening months?
I’m not saying that Giambrone is anything other than a long shot, but this won’t have much impact should he stick it out. It’s frankly a boring story, about a single guy, who probably cheated on his girlfriend. Geez, I can really see that dominating the headlines 6 months after the non-story breaks. I’m sure that won’t stop Pantalone, and Smitherman from trying to push it, but at best a few throw away, one liners can be stored away for future use.
And just remember, some will attempt to lower the bar to this ridiculous standard of behaviour, but that won’t change public indifference towards quasi infidelity. It’ll just leave the attacker vulnerable to the slightest hint of impropriety. For a single guy to screw around isn’t politically significant, but if the critic is caught in ANYTHING, an accusation of hypocrisy is truly damning.
Which is it, is he single or does he have a girlfriend (Ms. McQuarrie) with whom he co-habitates? And what exactly is “quasi infidelity?” Is that similar to Bill Clinton’s definition of sexual relations where BJs don’t count? More to the point, the content and admissions in the text messages to Ms. Lucas and the reported premeditated public staging with his “legitimate” partner while ditching, although allegedly still shagging Ms. Lucas may prove to be more damning than damage control can handle. True, the election is still a long way away and there is plenty of evidence of politicians who go on to successfully resurrect their public image and careers thanks to an electorate that forgets and/or forgives. But most do so after a self-imposed and appropriate period of time out of the limelight and in the penalty box. Not sure Mr. Giambrone can take a forget/forgive timeout AND campaign at the same time. His opponents, MSM, and the blogosphere will do just enough to keep the story percolating at the surface to prevent Mr. Giambrone making any serious inroads. In strictly pure political terms Mr. Giambrone, at the ripe old age of 32, will better serve his long term political aspirations by not making matters worse by committing to more tactical mistakes.
Quasi infidelity indeed. If you are familiar with thebakground, then you know that Giambrone, being young, handsome, and single, had rumours percolating about him that he was gay. Not very damaging for a council candidate downtown, but for a Mayoral candidate? It would cost him dearly in the Etobicoke’s, muslim community etc. so what des he do when he doesn’t really want to ’settle down’ and marry? He finds a fig leaf who will stand by his side. Then he meets what he considers to be a ‘hot chick, and after checking his oath of office, and confirming that there was no celibacy clause, Hi Ho! he puts the puck in the net so to speak. The net gets pissed off a little later, and shares some emails.
There was no ’till death do us part’ in other relationship. Take a good look at our Parliaments, and just try counting all the infidelities, divorces etc. by sitting MP’s. The only story I can think of that really got attention was the Belinda and Peter story, which was all melodrama, no substance. Giambrone wasn’t married to anyone. If your brother, or neighbour, or a colleague at work got caught in a sim ilar situation, you would share a little sympathy, and not think twice about their guilt. Why apply a vastly different standard here?
I think that this is a case of the scandal that was missing some ingredients. In the campaign fishbowl, it got some attention from people like us, but it just doesn’t have a son-of-a-bitch component where people could get upset and remember.
Give it a month, and then see if an obituary is appropriate.
As far as commiting tactical mistakes, Giambrone is on the big stage for the first time, and he’ll make plenty of mistakes. He doesn’t have the profile for it yet, but I guess he figured it was better to run 4 years early than to try and face an incumbent in 2014. He will be making a very difficult choice in another couple months. Should he file for his old council seat again, or stick it out in the Mayoral race? I will observe with interest.
I think the last paragraph of my blog addresses why a double standard may be appropriate in this instance. My brother is retired, my neighbour owns a small manufacturing business, and my colleague designs surveys. Neither of them premeditated a plan to “dress-up” their partners to advance their careers while shagging multiple other women. And even if my brother, neighbour, or colleague did, the greater sympathy I may afford would be personal, not professional. In matters of public office where one is entrusted with the public good, how one behaves in private has some considered relevance; see Peter Kuitenbrouwer’s piece here. I agree we learn from our mistakes. At first blush, however, Mr. Giambrone appears to be trying to fasttrack the lesson with an immediate plea for graduation. Does not always work that way. I too will observe with interest for how we as a society deal with and grow from such issues is what fascinates the hell out of me.
If the crux of your’ argument is that it was a professional error, then the true test of it is whether it will, or can be made to resonate with a significant portion of the electorate. We will find out pretty quickly if that truly is the case. In the meantime, it won’t affect my opinion of Gambrione in the least. I could wish I were 32, handsome, ‘quasi-single’, and some other slightly envious thoughts, but not much angst in my heart over this one.
I do think it’s sad that there’s nothing too personal to merit an attack on a politician though. What the hey, we wouldn’t want people to think that politicians are generally good people, who dream of serving their constituents. Cannot spoil their sordid stereotype with some basic courtesy and compassion.
I guess the world is what it is, and while I try to change my little bit of it for what I think is the better, I cannot turn around the whole darn spin industry singlehandedly.
Singlehandedly, perhaps not. But with the help of fellow-bloggers and strategy folk such as myself, perhaps. Cheers.