Hoping for two more years of mayor Rob Ford

I’ve got a confession to make: I hope when the judge releases his verdict on Rob Ford’s conflict of interest trial Monday morning, he uses the words “not guilty.”

Even as someone who hasn’t been much of a fan of the mayor’s policies, I’m pulling for two more years of Ford Nation.

Ford doesn’t really deserve a “not guilty” verdict, mind you. On the witness stand in September, his defence did a lousy job of rationalizing an incident in council earlier this year in which the mayor effectively voted to save himself from having to pay back $3,150 he had originally improperly solicited for his football foundation.

Attempts to paint the whole thing as inadvertent or an error in judgment were undermined by evidence showing that Ford had known to declare a conflict of interest in the past. And given the mayor’s legendary thriftiness, there’s no way the judge should believe that Ford — who gets frustrated when cashiers attempt to charge him five cents for plastic bags — would regard three grand as an inconsequential amount of money.

If the municipal conflict of interest law were written differently, the verdict would be a lot simpler. If Justice Charles Hackland could simply levy a fine or suspension today, I don’t think there would be much room for debate. But, unfortunately, the law doesn’t give much latitude — unless Justice Hackland decides that the Act doesn’t apply to Ford’s case, a guilty verdict will automatically boot the mayor from City Hall.

And, to put it bluntly, that could really suck for Toronto over the long-term.

Yes, Ford is a mayor who has attracted a lot of derision. I understand why the idea of hitting the eject button on this administration could be appealing. But the reality is that, just two years ago, 383,501 people stepped into a ballot box and cast a vote for Rob Ford as mayor of Toronto for this council term. Tossing him out means disenfranchising those voters.

And a removal scenario risks leaving this city mired in further political gridlock and divisiveness. Instead of being remembered as the guy who couldn’t effectively lead this city, Ford’s legacy could easily be recast as a politician whose waste-fighting ways so enraged the left that they ran him out of office on a rail. That’s the kind of narrative that could propel a range of Ford successors into city hall.

By the time you read this, the die may have already been cast. Ford could be out. If so, there will be no reason to celebrate. Ford’s supporters will have lost the person they voted for, while his detractors will have lost the opportunity to beat this mayor the way he should have been beaten — at the ballot box.