“EHealth is a complex affair with many avenues and many authors. Mr. Ford has turned it into a simple tale of waste and corruption to pin on his rival. Crude simplification – it’s the Ford way.”

Read the rest of his column here.

“Giambrone’s brief bid to become Toronto’s mayor started with an amateur video, ended in amateur hour, and hurt a lot of people in the 10 lacklustre days in between. The pre-launch video did note a candidate must have a token prop. Who knew that prop would be his partner?”

Read the rest of the article here. 

Related: Adam Giambrone’s electronic skeletons unleashed (Toronto Sun)

Photo courtesy: www.drinktheglitter.com

The National Post has a lengthy piece on how each party in the Giambrone/Lucas affair approached social media and used it during the this week’s explosive events:

“He was a supposedly new-media-savvy 32-year-old man who wanted to be mayor. She was a 20-year-old woman scorned and evidently in need of vindication. They couldn’t both get what they wanted, and whoever played his or her media hand more deftly would win.

As we now know, Kristen Lucas was destined to get the better of Adam Giambrone, thwarting his campaign for mayor by using new — not to mention old — media more skilfully than he did.”

Read the rest of the article here.

“[T] he story of Giambrone’s campaign amounts to one thing: he had not thought through the way he’s treated others would contrast directly with the campaign narrative he was trying to set up — a narrative he and his campaign were in complete control of. And those campaign decisions and his relationships with other people (friends, lovers and enemies alike) were what brought him down, not his appetite for sex. And those relationships and those campaign decisions are a direct reflection of his political skills, or his lack of them. And the political skills of the mayor are a public issue, not a private one.”

Read the rest of the column here.

“In an e-mail to at least one supporter hours after dropping out of the mayor’s race on Wednesday, Mr. Giambrone said he doesn’t plan to run again in Ward 18 Davenport, which he has represented since 2003.

But a spokesman for Mr. Giambrone said the councillor hasn’t made a firm decision about his future in municipal politics.

“Given the events of the week, Adam is away,” Kevin Beaulieu said. “While he’s not running for mayor, no decision has been made about whether to run in Ward 18.”

Read the rest of the article here.

“Forgotten in this downward spiral of anger and accusation is public transit itself. True, the TTC is topic No. 1 right now in Toronto, but does anyone dare believe the commission will benefit from the outrage? Quite the opposite; it has been demonized and demoralized. Ask anyone: the TTC is an example of all that’s wrong in the city today.”

Read the rest of his column here.

“What amazes me about these people is why they think they won’t get caught – especially in a tell-all age when every contact leaves a digital trail.

“Did he learn nothing from Tiger Woods? The moral of that story ought to be engraved on the cellphones of cheaters everywhere: Whatever else you do, don’t have text with that woman!”

Read the rest of her thoughts here.

“Not unlike his TTC union buddies, he also thought himself “entitled.” He felt he could use his City Hall office for sex, he could text his harem (likely during city meetings), he could pillow talk TTC trade secrets — in other words he could do whatever he damn well pleased.

Like his mentor David Miller, he thought himself untouchable.”

Read the rest of her column here.

Photo courtesy: Shot7.com

After the bombshell resignation of mayoral candidate Adam Giambrone yesterday, Toronto Election News brings you full coverage of what the media, pundits and City Hall insiders are saying this morning.  We start where it all began – with the Toronto Star’s Linda Diebel and the account of how the decision to quit was made:

Political strategists John Laschinger, Lecia Stewart and Robin Sears had sat hunched in his living room, talking about a rapidly developing scandal over sex, missteps and untruths until there was nothing to do except leave him to make up his mind.

When the team returned at 9 a.m. Wednesday, walking through freshly fallen snow, it was done.  Giambrone, city councillor, Toronto Transit Commission chair and the great hope of so many experts who believed he’d be mayor, told them it was over.

Nobody remembers his exact words. They would all get written apologies anyway. What they remember is the weight of it, the emotion that seemed to suck the oxygen out of the room.

Read the rest of the article here.

The Globe offers a full account of when Giambrone told his team what really happened

Peter Kuitenbrouwer at the National Post gives a first-hand account of Giambrone’s resignation announcement

The Toronto Star offers a personal profile of Giambrone and talks to friends: “We haven’t seen the last of him”

NOW Magazine’s Enzo Di Matteo says it wasn’t the sex that got him, it was the lies and fumbles

Kristen Lucas talks about why she came forward

The Toronto Sun reports on the online reaction to Giambrone’s resignation

The younger crowd are disappointed with Giambrone’s decision to leave the race

Adam Giambrone has failed Toronto’s young people: Madawo

“What remains to be seen is what kind of precedent this sets. If it’s a very narrow one – candidates who give their partners a high profile, then belittle them to other partners in writing, will be exposed – that’s defensible. But if it’s instead taken to legitimize or even necessitate prying into other candidates’ personal lives, in Toronto’s mayoral race or elsewhere, that’s a different matter.”

Read the rest of his thoughts here.