10 Tough Questions with Former Mayor Larry Di Ianni

Larry Di Ianni, former Mayor of the City of Hamilton and head of Larry Di Ianni Consulting, kindly agreed to be the charter guest for 10 Tough Questions.

1. What is your biggest political regret?

Not winning the 2006 Mayoralty.

2. "Hurricane Hazel", Mississauga Mayor is seeking another term, which she says will be her last. In the last election she won 92% of the vote without running a campaign. Why is she so successful as a politician?

She is a good, strong leader and was in charge of a growing, new community with money to spend. Mississauga does not have the challenges that an older city like Hamilton has. In Hamilton, even Hazel would have had her problems. The post-Hazel Mayor in Mississauga will also have challenges now that some of the same infrastructure issues are beginning to surface there. These problems will also increase Hazel’s reputation even further. However, it cannot be denied that although she hasn't been infallible, she has been very strong.

3. Many Hamiltonians might characterize the present city council as dysfunctional. Is that a fair assessment and, to the extent that there is some truth in that, how would you approach the problem.

I recall that people used to call some of Stoney Creek Councils 'dysfunctional', and now remember those Councils as great. Memory fades. Contention is part of local democracy especially when you have 16 people elected on their own platforms, or lack of same, in some cases. The biggest problem is that Council hasn’t united around one coherent theme that I can tell. The other problem is that the good works are unreported and the fights and tantrums and peccadilloes receive front page treatment. All of this undermines the public’s confidence.

I would not presume to give Council advice but only recount what I tried to do. As Mayor, I selected 10 major issues I would focus on. This list was developed in consultation with community, staff and councillors. I had some level of buy in from the beginning and this helped when I brought issues to the table. I published the list as well to inject some accountability and accomplished or initiated 9 of the 10 items, leaving out only one, the creation of a business/medical park in the West end. I left this out because McMaster Innovation Park came along.

4. What are your thoughts on the recent investigations and their results, where Clr. Clark and the Mayor are concerned?

Read my blog at www.chrisecklund.ca Larry's corner. I dedicate a whole column to this. I also found Mark Cripps’ column in the Stoney Creek News on the issue to raise some excellent points.

5. You lost the election by a very narrow margin. How much of that would you attribute to the Joanna Chapman complaint and how do you feel about it today?

She didn't help but she wasn't the fatal blow. The fatal blow was the 7 days of 'Corruption at City Hall' reportage just before the election by the Spectator, falsely targeting Sam Merulla. That issue splashed on me big time. We were doing rolling polls and the financing issue wasn't registering, but as soon as the Spec stories appeared, my numbers began to go down...as it was, I lost narrowly. I also took bad advice and didn't go after Fred on his vulnerabilities. He got a free ride and won. Good for him. Bad for me and the city,( says he in a very partisan way.)

6. Can you tell us about any projects you are presently pursuing?

I am involved in a few business projects and am doing volunteering and am doing some private consulting and playing golf...very badly.

7. How do you think Mayor Fred is doing and do you have any advice for him?

Being Mayor is a tough job. I understand that Fred is stubborn and won't take advice. If this is true, Fred, take my advice, don't be so stubborn.

8. Do you support the elimination of union or corporate contributions to municipal elections bids- explain.

Sure. One can raise money from individuals as one can raise money from businesses or unions. I did this in the Federal campaign without too many problems. However, eliminating those sources of funds doesn't necessarily improve the system. Tell me what is the difference between accepting a donation from Mrs. X president of ABC company from her personal account or Mrs. X, President of ABC from her business account? Brian McHattie says it is all about perception. Lloyd Ferguson says it is all about integrity in not ‘selling your soul for $750. I agree with Ferguson. What I would really like to see is consistent rules at all three levels of government. Now, the municipal system is different from the provincial, and the provincial is different from the federal. Similarily, there needs to be some recognition that the mayoralty race needs to have different limits than the councillor’s race, only because of the sheer size of trying to cover 5 Federal ridings. The $750 limit for the mayoralty race should be bumped up to Toronto’s limit, or close to it at least.

9. Your style as Mayor appeared to be much more aggressive and some might say, "heavy handed" as Mayor, as compared to Mayor Eisenberger's style. Is the current Mayor aggressive enough and, upon reflection, were there moments where you were too aggressive?

Only my detractors thought I was being heavy handed; I was conciliatory and consensual. I also put councillors on paid boards that I should have been on. This is the Hydro Board where I felt it was important to involve others. The position paid $15 to $20 thousand per year as I recall. I could have kept it to myself, as I suspect the mayors prior to me did and the current one is doing, but I sought others (Merulla, McHattie) to go on the board to spread the expertise. And I didn't make a big deal of this at all. Is this being heavy handed?

However, I did drive agendas otherwise nothing would get done. There were community groups and individuals who criticized me for this, but only because they disagreed with the agenda of support for jobs and businesses in my estimation. Others felt I wasn’t being strong and heavy handed enough. For example, the Spectator criticized me for letting the Maple Leaf deal dissipate even though it was other councillors and some community myopics who fought the deal. I led Council to support Maple Leaf, but the company itself got spooked, yet, I as the Mayor was criticized. Fair enough; it comes with the territory. For example, look at the situation Obama is facing with health care. He wanted Congress to pass the bill before the summer recess and was called heavy handed for ‘rushing it’. He relaxed the timeline and is unfortunately losing some steam. Sometimes people want you to relax your intensity so they can defeat your proposal. If you think what you are doing is right, one must forge ahead with all the support you can get. I never thought unanimity was possible, even though desirable. I always strove for majority.

10. What is Hamilton doing right? What is Hamilton doing wrong?

Hamilton has many assets and lots of challenges. I like the light rail initiative, but we are being shut out by the Feds on funding it. The Mayors getting kicked out of Metrolinx was a real shame. I would not have allowed that to happen without a very public fight. The sitting Mayors rolled over on this one and that is a shame. Having said that, the province is moving in the right direction on public transportation. The Feds are nowhere to be seen. Also, in terms of our problems, our taxes are too high and we are not perceived as being business friendly. That needs to be changed.

Special thanks to Larry for his contribution to "The Hamiltonian" and for his service to our city.

Visit him at http://www.chrisecklund.com/diianni_column.html