Gord Lisa

If you want to know what is really going on in this City there are three places you have to look (other than reading my BLOG):

1. The Star's Letters to the Editor... they are fascinating seeing who writes, which ones are published and where the letter is positioned on the page
2. The Star's Editorials which will either signal what the City wants or where the Star wants the City to go
3. Gord Henderson's column since so many at City Hall seem to be afraid of him and think their careers hang on what he says.

Obviously everything revolves around the Windsor Star in Windsor since it is the major media outlet (a well-known politico told me that 80% of the people get their information about the City from the Star). The Star knows this and has to be careful not to act as the 800 pound gorilla.

I had my fights with them when I was General Counsel of STOPDRTP. I thought their coverage at times was unfair since they were pro-DRTP and told them so in the strongest terms. To be fair to them, they explained what they did and how they felt they were even-handed. We met with their Editorial Board to express our position, their news coverage was generally even-handed and eventually they changed their point of view. It was like changing the direction of an aircraft carrier but change they did.

Which all brings me to Gord Henderson's column today, his Report Card. It's not clear when he is going to assess Eddie, if at all, but if you read his column closely, he is hedging his bets. Perhaps the Editorial Board is not too happy with the Mayor either.....the recent Eddie "boy scout" editorial cartoon was rather vicious I thought....or maybe Gord and the Editors are teaching him a lesson again as they did with the secrecy issue.

Gord has a great facility for attacking Eddie but not blaming him. Read the first few paragraphs again. Who is responsible for the Council being "dysfunctional" and not getting along. Who is the head of Council. Who is the leader. That is the Mayor's job. It is no excuse by saying he is "trapped." If Council does not work, there is only one person to blame.

But it is more than that. Let's look more closely at what he wrote and how he wrote it. He started at Ward 5 and worked backwards. Did you find that order as odd as I did? Was it just for fun or is the explanation that he knows that not everyone will choose to read to the end. He wanted us to know that Joanne Gignac is "sterling!" She is an "A" performer. No one else is ranked that highly.

And why Joanne, because the word is that of all the Councillors, she is the biggest risk to Eddie to run against him. Is Gord encouraging her to run? Perhaps. Hedging his bets if Eddie flops even more? Perhaps.

Or is he chasing away competitors as he has done before? Eddie could beat her easily since she is no threat to him. More importantly, she is a good third candidate if Bill Marra or some other credible candidate decided to run. She would split the anti-Eddie vote.

Gord made sure that Councillor "I am never going to run for Mayor" Brister really meant it by demoting him one notch. (Poor Dave must be gulping oxygen now he is so upset). As for the only other potential Mayoral candidate, Joyce Zuk, she got a D+, Tom Wilson's ranking! (Oh Drew and Charlie, you can run now too since Joyce is vulnerable). So they are no threat to the Mayor and can wait for three more years

So another well-written column by the Master. Everyone can read what they want into it. As for Gord, he is just smiling that smile. I wonder if he is Mona's relative.