May 13, 1999
Public pain now public shame
By MICHELE MANDEL
Toronto Sun
Oh, Mel, Mel, Mel.
The little mayor that could had been doing so well lately, winning over even those who worried he was more bombast than action, as he tirelessly championed this city with his trademark motormouth.
But inevitably, that infamous mouth has landed him into a storm of controversy.
Mayors, even outrageous and endearing ones, simply can't go around threatening to kill people.
Yesterday, looking somber and strained, Lastman attended a city council meeting and refused to talk about his outburst against CBLT-TV reporter Adam Vaughan.
Instead, he seemed a beaten man who hadn't lost the sad irony that in threatening a reporter to keep quiet Tuesday, he had unwittingly opened the Pandora's Shoplifting Box himself, exposing his wife to the very publicity and shame he was nobly trying to prevent in the first place.
For weeks, some media had sat on the story, but thanks to Lastman's outburst, every media outlet is now running with the news that his wife had been picked up for shoplifting and that the mayor believed Vaughan was the one leaking the story.
According to Vaughan, the mayor stormed up to him in the council chamber Tuesday and said, "I've heard you've been talking about my wife. Stop talking about my wife. Leave my family alone. If you don't f---ing leave them alone, I'll kill you."
Lastman was referring to a bizarre episode last month in which his wife Marilyn, was arrested for allegedly shoplifting a pair of pants from Eaton's at the Promenade mall.
The glitter girl famous for wearing expensive couture dresses was stopped by a security guard with a pair of Jones of New York pants in an Eaton's bag. The police report notes that Lastman was on a prescription anti-depressant drug and was apologetic and concerned about her husband being told. It goes on to say that noting her age (64) and "no outstanding offences," the store decided not to press charges.
It is all very sad and, I think, very private. Did Lastman's name get her off? Perhaps, but then again, statistics for York Region show that more than a third of shoplifting cases investigated by police are handled without laying charges.
So this was a personal problem the fiercely protective Lastman wanted to keep private. You can understand that he wanted to shield his wife from the humiliation of publicity. You can empathize with his rage when he believed a reporter had leaked the story to Frank magazine.
You can even imagine the personal strain he's been under. But no matter how upset or angry, no one, least of all the mayor of Toronto, can go around uttering death threats.
Now given Lastman's reputation for over-the-top hyperbole, I don't think Vaughan needed to buy a bullet-proof vest any time soon. What was more worrisome, I believe, was the mayor's threat to call whomever necessary at the CBC to get Vaughan fired.
That is chilling. Lastman is a powerful man. He can't threaten to wield that power against his citizens when they do something His Worship doesn't like.
Now these two have clashed before: Lastman has been angry with Vaughan ever since the TV reporter nearly cost him the megamayor's job. In an interview Lastman insisted was taken out of context, Vaughan quoted the then-mayoralty candidate saying there was no homeless problem in North York. While Lastman was making his remarks, police were trying to identify the body of a homeless woman found dead in a North York gas station.
Lastman spent the rest of the campaign fighting an unfair image of insensitivity and callousness.
So the mayor doesn't like a reporter -- hardly a first in politics, but leaders cannot go about threatening their detractors. After all his years in public life, Lastman should know that. But even his limp apology soon after the incident reveals a stunning lack of insight into what he has done.
"It was improper to have a private conversation with you in a public place," the mayor wrote. "It was also a conversation inappropriate in tone and language.
"If you have been offended by our conversation then I am sorry for my words ..."
"If you have been offended." That's hardly the language of someone who truly regrets his behaviour.
Lastman, I believe, owes the reporter a more sincere mea culpa. But he must also do more. The mayor owes the people of Toronto a public apology for what can only be viewed as inappropriate and intimidating behaviour.
The city, I think, would quickly forgive him.
It's this uncharacteristic silence they can't understand.
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