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Chances are you didn’t know James Pasternak until, maybe, now. Why would you? He’s a rookie Toronto councillor whose name gets mentioned only when observers are counting votes for or against the latest ill-advised or illogical initiative from Mayor Rob Ford. In less than a year,sacs louis vuitton Pasternak has evolved into a fairly safe Ford vote — even to the point of finding virtue in the Brothers Ford’s ruinous waterfront vision when most councillors were frantically distancing themselves from the monorail-Ferris-wheel-megamall fiasco. Apparently feeling his oats this week, the councillor from North York let it be known he wants to — get this — feed councillors at the public trough. Imagine that coming from a Ford ally? It seems Pasternak arrived at city hall one term and one mayor too late. Didn’t anyone tell Pasternak that Ford turns beet red and bullfrog bloated when he goes on a rant about politicians feeding themselves on the taxpayer’s dime? If you are going to challenge the mayor on anything, this is not the hill to die on. Do it defending snow clearing from the front of driveways in your ward. Or in support of police. Or childcare. One of city council’s first acts, under Mayor Ford, was to end the $48,000 habit of feeding councillors at taxpayers’ expense. Only a suicidal politician would want to revisit that vote, won 25-20 by Ford. The councillors get ornery when they are hungry, Pasternak says. So feed them and they will behave during their interminable debates at city council, he argues. They get edgy, poor wretches. Now, when the average worker gets hungry between lunch and dinner they punch the vending machine for a power bar or a stale sandwich and pop. Not Pasternak. He wants taxpayers to quench his thirst or stanch the onset of hunger. Poor misguided fellow. Suddenly, he’s being called Paster-snack. James Paster-oink. And James Pigger-nak. Such things happen when politicians start acquiring a sense of entitlement. Or take leave of their senses. When a city is rolling in dough, it may be okay to pass the croissant and truffles and juice. But when that city tells its citizens they must do without library services, snow clearing, street cleaning, police, fire, daycare and the like, it is unconscionable to be feasting on the taxpayer’s dime. I know James Pasternak; even voted for him in the last municipal election in Ward 10, York Centre. The former school trustee was elected with 19 per cent of the vote last October, winning by only 382 votes. In other words, even in his own ward he is not a household name. Maybe it was a case of media jealousy. After all, Josh Matlow, the other rookie councillor to arrive at city hall from the Toronto District School Board, has so mastered the art of media harlotry that he has his own radio show and is constantly being quoted.
