Stepping out of my usual role

This blog is primarily about me, my kids and our domestic bliss. What you don't know about me is that I'm a bit of a political junkie. I love politics. Okay, it's more love/hate. I love to talk about it, read about it but I hate what most politicians do and I certainly hate what this current government is about. I started to become a junkie when I started working at Foreign Affairs. When your job is closely tied into what the government is doing you can't help but pay attention and form opinions. That's doubled or tripled when you are working in Ottawa. And when you start working, almost directly, for a minister of the Crown. Even on leave I'm still into it although I pick my issues of interest a little more selectively now.

What I don't do so far is write about it. Lately, I've been wanting to change that but it is a bit intimidating to put my political stripes out there. So, I'll start small: with our municipal issues at the moment.

Ottawa has captured the nation's interest with the fact that our mayor, a total and complete dimwit and, it seems, political moron (I could go on and on listing his faults, but who has that kind of time?) has been charged with two criminal counts in relation to bribing a mayoral opponent to drop out of the mayoral race held last year.

I did not vote for Larry O'Brien. If I had had the time, I would have been out there campaigning for the Anyone But Larry O'Brien Campaign. I dislike him that much. He has no vision for the city. He cancelled light rail, the one thing the city seemed to be doing well in regards to having a plan for our future. He stupidly promised a 0% tax freeze (how can you really have 0% when there is any inflation? That actually means that the city will then spend less than it did before) and then cried victory when taxes were raised by almost 5%. His only platform was 0% and he couldn't even achieve that. He's a terrible mayor. He's up on criminal charges. While it is permitted to continue to hold office while in court, I hope that in some way the city can use it as an excuse to get him out of there. Because.... he stole the election, he tried to use contacts to get his opponent a plumb federal appointment and he offered his opponent $30,000. If he's willing to do all of this when he isn't mayor and doesn't have the job to lose, what has he done while he has been mayor and what is he willing to do to keep the job?

As for the people who voted for him (and there were lots), we told you so. Lots of us saw the potential for this kind of thing in this guy. How didn't you see it? And how could we be so right?