Some fresh smears right before the finish line

Given how construction of the St. Clair Ave. W. dedicated streetcar right-of-way turned into a debate dominated by John Sewell’s braying against the re-election of Joe Mihevc, the third contender in that race has been forced to work a new angle. John Adams, a councilor through the 1990s looking to bring hysteria back to city hall, distributed a last-ditch letter to voters in the substantially Jewish neighbourhoods of St. Paul’s pointing out Mihevc’s support from CUPE Ontario — the same group that recently called for a boycott of Israel, a decision the left-leaning Mihevc and Sewell have both spoken out against. John Lorinc’s column on this desperate development at Spacing Votes generated a comment thread that swerved into a discussion over mudslinging against Adam Vaughan, as he battles to take over the seat vacated by rival candidate Helen Kennedy’s former boss Olivia Chow — Vaughan has been critical of the role of NDP party politics in Trinity-Spadina, especially on matters of urban planning, and has spent many days defending himself against accusations of “heterosexism” due to repeated arguments about how the shoebox condo culture is stifling opportunities for families to be raised downtown. This weekend, Vaughan posted “a special message” refuting the content of Kennedy flyers being distributed around Ward 20, which attempt to hang him based on a suggestion that laneways should have gates, presumably for the sake of safety. A lengthy thread at Rabble also delves into whether Vaughan is being surreptitiously backed by the Liberal Party — he got a hearty endorsement on the ever-strategic blog of Warren Kinsella — while another Rabble babbler tries to make sense of whether Vaughan’s sophisticated website is within the boundaries of campaign spending limits. Meanwhile, over in Davenport, candidate Fred Dominelli fired off a press release boasting of his verbal shots at incumbent Cesar Palacio and challenger Alejandra Bravo in Ward 17 during a debate on the Rogers Television show Goldhawk Live. Dominelli dragged out the matter of Palacio getting his campaign office space donated by the Police Community Partnership charity, accusing Bravo of withholding the information she obtained on the deal until after she was able to use it to her own political advantage, thus closing the window on a proper investigation. Bravo was also accused of “embellishing her involvement in local achievements and taking credit away from local residents” according to Dominelli.

Church polling stations ‘offend’ some Jews, candidate says, is a close rival to the John Adams smear of Joe Mihevc for the most far-fetched invocation of anti-Semitism in the municipal election. Elliott Frankl, a city council candidate in Vaughan, earned some ink in the National Post by claiming the low voter turnout in Thornhill was due to such feelings about having to vote in a house of somebody else’s worship. (Frankl’s name is also tied to a long term abuse history on Wikipedia.) Meanwhile, back in Toronto, an advert in The Jewish Tribune newspaper for Eglinton-Lawrence candidate Howard Cohen cites a mysterious “latest poll” that puts him at 41.5 per cent public support to just 27.8 per cent for TTC chairman and legendary lout Howard Moscoe, underlining the claim that Ward 15 “voters have had enough of 1) Arrogance 2) Secrecy 3) Embarrassment”. [* Toronto signage pic snapped on Beaconsfield Ave., north of the Drake Hotel, by Joe Clark]