The Ghost of Tom Jakobek

Politics...It asks for the highest type of men, and there’s nothing in it to attract the highest type of men. So we have to work with what we get, and we get things like this.

[From The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler, 1943.]

Tom Jakobek was a long time elected member of Toronto’s City Council. He served as a Councilor from 1982 to 2000. Among his many responsibilities, he served as Chair of the Budget Committee beginning in 1990. The position as Budget Chief is considered the third most powerful position at city hall. He ran unsuccessfully for the office of Mayor in 2003 after working for East General Hospital, in Toronto, as its Vice-president.

This past week, it was revealed that Jakobek, while Budget Committee Chair, had taken money, under the table, for a computer leasing contract with the City of Toronto and a company called MFP Financial Services. After an extensive hearing and investigation costing 19.2 million dollars CDN, Jakobek was accused of “flagrant, strategic lying.” He was called to the stand many times to explain a $25,000 payment he received from Dash Domi, a salesman with MFP, who secured the lucrative computer contract with the city.

Jakobek’s political ghost has come back to haunt the people of Toronto. When he was active in municipal politics, he did the glad-handing, baby-kissing and community picnics without much flare. To many, he was a stubborn chair of the budget committee, often losing control of meetings and his temper. Yet, he kept getting reelected every 3 years as a City Councilor in the Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto. Perhaps he mastered the craft of municipal politics: perform a good service for the riding, make sure your election literature has good photograph of it, and hope voters forget your performance at council meetings.

Now we know why voters become apathetic and the right people never step up to perform their civic duty, there’s nothing in it.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.