Will Mammoliti stick with mayoral bid?

LISA QUEEN

February 26, 2010

York West Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti's mayoral campaign website features a to-do list for voters, with four items they should make sure they check off on election day Oct. 25.

Take kids to school, go to work, make dinner and vote for Mammoliti.

Note that the list doesn't urge voters to cast a ballot for Mammoliti as mayor, simply that they should vote for him.

Several contenders in the race to supposedly replace Mammoliti in Ward 7 believe that's not an oversight.

Larry Perlman, Nick Di Nizio, Sergio Gizzo and Scott Aitchison think Mammoliti is using the mayor's race to boost his profile and bankroll his council bid on a mayoral candidate's purse strings.

Mayoral candidates can spend $1.22 million on their campaigns. Council candidates in Ward 7 are capped at $26,000.

Sometime before the Sept. 10 registration and withdrawal deadline, Perlman, Di Nizio and Aitchison are confident Mammoliti will bail on the mayor's race and return to the relative safety of re-election in York West.

"George Mammoliti is not running, effectively, for mayor. I have referred to it on blogs as the Mammoliti ruse," said Perlman, a 45-year-old self-employed equities trade and analyst who is married with one child, Gizzo, who manages York West MPP Mario Sergio's constituency office, is hedging his bets. He believes Mammoliti will drop out of the mayor's race by summer.

Other Ward 7 candidates could not be reached for comment.

Mammoliti, who has represented the ward since 1995, said this week he will stick with the mayor's race, despite earlier comments that left the door open to back out if he failed to raise enough financial support.

"I am committed to run for mayor," he said Tuesday, Feb. 23.

"I can tell you very clearly the individuals who said that (I will drop out of the mayor's race to run again in Ward 7) don't know me very well. They probably wish they did, but they don't. My plan is to run for the mayor of the city. I'm running for the mayor of the City of Toronto. They can speculate all they like."

Mammoliti, 48, pointed out 1,000 supporters were expected to attend the $250-a-plate launch of his mayoral platform Thursday night at Montecassino Place just off Sheppard Avenue east of Keele Street.

Election campaign controversy in Ward 7 is hardly surprising, given this is a ward where municipal politics perpetually raises the eyebrows of outsiders.

"As far as I'm concerned, this is the No. 1 ward to look at, this is No. 1 for a very interesting race," said Di Nizio, a 46-year-old married father of two children and a former account manager with a financial software company.

Challengers hoping to see the end of Mammoliti's political antics in the ward, such as pandering to supporters while ignoring or ostracizing others, say it's time for a new chapter in York West.

Di Nizio points to an incident last month in which Mammoliti wrote a letter to select property and business owners inviting them to a meeting to discuss the revitalization of the Islington Avenue and Satterly Road business community streetscape.

"Please note that you will require to show this letter upon your arrival to the meeting to enter," the letter said.

At other community meetings, Di Nizio said Mammoliti has hired security guards to police the event and has refused to address questions from critics.

Perlman accused Mammoliti of failing to bring together diverse areas of the community, of focusing on pet projects, and of hyping crime reports in the community.

"He has created a lot of controversy for the actions he has done. The backlash has been very vocal," said Perlman, adding the ward needs a representative who has integrity and can bring together diverse groups.

"It is not that he stirs the pot. He caters to a specific constituency. Anybody who doesn't do things his way are his enemy. I think a qualified contender can take the crown away."

Gizzo, a divorced father of two children who declined to provide his age, said he devotes about 20 per cent of his time as Sergio's constituency manager dealing with residents who complain they can't get any help from Mammoliti or his office.

He said Mammoliti has been too supportive of developers, not responsive enough to the concerns of "the little guy," too eager to raise taxes and a big spender on council.

For his part, Mammoliti advised his opponents to stop focusing on him and concentrate on completing the good work in the ward that he and his team started.

Meanwhile, he said he expects to throw his support for Ward 7 council behind a candidate who has yet to register.

"It won't be Larry Perlman or Edith George (a resident who has vocally opposed him) or Nick Di Nizio," he laughed.

Aitchison, not considered a front runner in the race, is 50 years old, single and was laid off from his job in the auto trade last year.

He is focusing his campaign on waste in government, complaining Toronto residents are faced with high taxes and declining services.