Case Ootes: the scandal grows

Breaking News Dept.

The veteran Toronto Star and Car Advertiser reporter, Royson “Miller Killer” James, writes in Tuesday’s paper about the profligate spending of our esteemed councillor for Ward 29, Case Ootes [rhymes with “odious” –ed.].

letter to the \"ad\" itor? typical Case Ootes advertisement in the East York Mirror and Car Advertiser: Give the man a razor!

Mr. Ootes spent the most of any Toronto councillor in 2006, an election year, for advertising, all on the taxpayer’s tab. At $15,184 for advertising, plus $20,927 for “postage and couriers,” it could be argued that the 20-vote margin that gave Mr. Ootes victory over his challenger last year amounted to an outrageous pay-out of $1,800 per winning vote.

Talk about yer “sponsorship scandal.”

As Case Ootes told the Star’s James, who asked him if having a “huge account to promote his name in an election year” was important: “Arr. And if I’d had another $36,000 to spend, I would’ve won by 40 votes. Now get lost.” [To be precise, his exact words quoted in the Star are “Of course you benefit from that; I’d be the first to agree.” –ed.]

It falls to the ALLDERBLOB to remind Mr. Ootes that for all his spending, he actually earned 3,562 fewer votes in 2006 than in 2003. At that rate, just $200 more spent on “advertising” would have lost even those pathetic 20 votes that gave him his bunion cushion at city hall until 2010.

We urge Mr. Ootes to take charge of advertising at GM or Ford as a post-retirement career. If anyone can put them out of their misery, it’s the advertising genius Case Ootes.

Case Ootes vote total, 2003: 9,352 (62% of all votes cast)
Case Ootes vote total, 2006: 5,790 (46% of all votes cast)

2 Responses to “Case Ootes: the scandal grows”

  1.  

    You will want to know that Jacob Allderdice has been at it again: first he reads the ALLDERBLOB for an idea, then he "poaches" or otherwise half-bakes it, rewrites it in his own inimitable prose stylings, and fires it off to the Car Advertiser. In the latest case, he scrambled the above Ootes analysis, and dumped it at the Toronto Star. Read it here, if you can stomach it: "Councillor paid high price for votes."

    The text follows:

    Dec 09, 2007 04:30 AM

    Council's big spenders hurt image

    Dec. 4

    As Royson James establishes, Toronto Councillor Case Ootes (Ward 29) spent tax dollars extravagantly for advertising and self-promotion in 2006. At $15,184 for advertising, plus $20,927 for "postage and couriers," it could be argued that the 20-vote margin that gave Ootes victory over his challenger that year cost $36,111, or $1,800 per winning vote.

    It falls to your loyal reader to remind Ootes that for all his spending, he actually earned 3,562 fewer votes in 2006 than in 2003. Let's see: He spent $36,000 and lost 3,500 votes. That's about one vote lost for every $10 spent. At that rate, we wish he could have spent another $200 on "advertising." This might have wiped out the last 20 votes that gave him his seat cushion at city hall until 2010.

    Jacob Allderdice, Toronto

  2.  

    [...] 3. Case Ootes There are 20 voters in Governor’s bridge who are kicking themselves whenever they hear his name We urge Mr. Ootes to take charge of advertising at GM or Ford as a post-retirement career. If anyone... [...]

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.