$311,000 rubber stamp

There's a reason to question Mayor Miller's appointment of the new -- and solid -- city manager

By SUE-ANN LEVY, TORONTO SUN

Last Updated: 28th September 2008, 4:50am

Mayor David Miller was at his Barack Obama best as he endeavoured to justify the appointment of Joe Pennachetti as the new city manager at council last week.

"We should be honoured that he is prepared to accept this position ... we are lucky that Joe is prepared to commit," preached His Blondness, as if his so-called carefully considered decision was akin to the second coming of Christ.

"Mr. Pennachetti is uniquely qualified ... there is no one else ... there is no one else ... Mr. Pennachetti is unique."

Now this has absolutely nothing to do with Pennachetti, who will replace outgoing Shirley Hoy for the $311,000 job when she leaves the city on Oct. 6 -- or whether his credentials are unique, or not.

I have always found the deputy city manager and chief financial officer (CFO) immensely approachable, conscientious and thoughtful. He earned tremendous kudos when he faced angry citizens over the impending land transfer and personal vehicle taxes at public hearings last June, while Miller and his cowardly cronies ran for cover (as is their wont).

That said, let's cut to the chase.

This appointment is not about a "seamless transition" to ensure the "relentless implementation" of a "very ambitious public policy agenda," as King David so arrogantly claimed. (The only thing relentless or ambitious, in my view, about Miller's agenda is how out of touch his regime is with ordinary taxpayers and how much money the socialists spend on nonsense.)

It has nothing to do either, as Miller contended, with sending a "powerful signal" to the public service that they can advance within the city bureaucracy. (Given the number of senior bureaucrats that have left the city as of late -- and the number grows every day -- the only signal it sends is "you'd better play the game the mayor's way or look for the doorway.")

Besides, the mayor's lapdogs like Gloria Lindsay Luby and Howard Moscoe only make themselves appear ever more foolish and irrelevant when they make such ridiculous claims -- as they did -- about a proper executive search for the job costing oodles of money or being a "ruse" because in years gone by the Mel Lastman regime held a competition and then selected who he wanted anyway.

"You are dripping with hypocrisy," Moscoe, himself the Master of Selective Spin, told opponents of the process.

As Doug Holyday quite rightly pointed out, Lastman consistently struck sub-committees of councillors from every political stripe to select the city's senior bureaucrats, including Hoy.

As he also noted, he and other members of that committee made recommendations back to council.

"It was a very inclusive process," Holyday said, adding quite rightly that for the top municipal job in Canada it would have been far healthier to see what kind of interesting people would come forward in an open competition.

So if one reads between the lines, this appointment (and the lack of a fair competition process) is all about further consolidating Miller's already iron-clad grip on the city bureaucracy and completely blurring the lines between what is supposed to be an objective administration and their political masters.

NO WAVES

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out Pennachetti knows which side his bread is buttered on and will not make waves, that however competent, he will be from this day forward, the "mayor's man."

As Denzil Minnan-Wong told council, there will always be a perception now that the new city manager is the "mayor's person" and council won't get the "dispassionate, independent advice" they should get.

Added Mike Del Grande: "This will have a ripple effect in the whole system (bureaucracy) ... people (civil servants) will think it's fixed and will be afraid now to say what's on their minds."