Raise the Hammer

Ryan

I apologize for letting my frustration lead to name calling, which I did do today on an earlier post. I won't apologize for being critical, sometimes even sharply, but I do know when I've crossed the line. And I did.

Now, let me speak to the apologists for my "rookie" Councillor.

Jason Farr is new to Council. But, he's at the table where his vote affects what a $1.1 billion dollar corporation does with its money. Our money. This guy didn't just crawl out from under a rock. He did a cable show for years where he interviewed every single Councillor. Presumably, although I never saw him there, he attended and/or watched a fair number of Council meetings. He probably spoke with current and former Councillors in town. Surely, he had some sense for what the job entailed.

He's allowed to hide behind the "rookie" excuse if he's trying to understand an arcane procedural detail, for which Brad Clark seems to be the only person in the know. He's allowed to hide behind the "rookie" excuse if he's trying to understand or explain demolition-by-neglect, or the enforcement of a particular by-law. That stuff takes time to learn. I will give him that time.

Where he isn't allowed to hide behind the "rookie" excuse is when he is simply communicating an opinion. He's been a professional communicator for his entire working career. He's not 19. He has been a paid, and mostly volunteer, master of ceremonies for years. He's not a rookie talker. What we saw last night was someone who did not spend any time thinking about, and obviously no time preparing, what he was going to say. When he was on radio, he had to fill hours of air time and precision of language didn't really matter. You just talked.

When you've chosen to be a Councillor in the City of Hamilton, you have to be held to a higher standard. Lest you think I'm just picking on poor Jason, these comments are from one of his constituents, so I feel entitled to comment. I did not vote for him, but I do respect the fact that he got more votes than my preferred candidate. If other people think there are other Councillors worthy of such criticism, be my guest. IMHO, not only do we have a budgetary gap, we also have a professionalism gap. And let me be quick to forestall anybody who comments that if I know so much, I should have run. I don't want to be a Councillor. I didn't run. They did and did. That was their choice. I've made mine.

So, should we cut him some slack? We can if we wish, but the fact remains that his embarrassing ramblings communicated a lack of lucidity, preparedness, focus, and respect for not only his constituents, but also for his Council colleagues and other citizens. Since he loves to use sports analogies, as evidenced by his chatter last night, permit me to do the same.

This is the big league Jason! I was tired of hearing you claim rookie status the second time I heard you say it. Given that this is now the umpteenth time I've heard it come out of your mouth, my advice is to give it a rest. That's like saying I'm the rookie Executive Vice President when you sit around a boardroom table. It's just not done, even if it's true.

So, we're not only going to build HALF a stadium with ALL of the money, but we're also supposed to feel sorry for Jason because he wasn't prepared to do his job, using a skill he supposedly possesses already? When are we going to raise our own bar and demand better? I, for one, am fed up with this substandard crap.

Apologies for the rant. For me, it's a really bad day in the Hammer. I'll get over it. Promise.