Giorgio Mammoliti

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Giorgio (George) Mammoliti (born September 20, 1961) is a city councillor in Toronto, Canada for Ward 7 York West, representing one of the two York West wards. He is Chair of the Affordable Housing Committee and a member of the mayor's executive council. Previously, he served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995. In 2002, Mammoliti switched names from the anglicized George to the more Italian Giorgio.

A landscaper with Metro Toronto Housing Authority, he rose to become head of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 767. At age 28, he ran for the Ontario New Democratic Party in the 1990 provincial election, in the riding of Yorkview. Mammoliti upset Liberal incumbent Claudio Polsinelli by 1,619 votes; the governing Liberals were initially leading in polls but they were beset by several scandals and cynicism from an early election call.

The NDP under Bob Rae won an unexpected majority government in the 1990 campaign, and Mammoliti was appointed as parliamentary assistant to the minister responsible for a provincial anti-drug strategy on October 1, 1990. He later served as the parliamentary assistant for two other ministers.

Mammoliti, along with some other Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP), was criticized for billing the government thousands of dollars to travel from his riding to the legislature, even though he lived close to the parliament buildings.

He also emerged as a leading opponent of his own government's bill to extend spousal benefits to same-sex couples and along with a dozen backbench MPPs they helped to defeat the legislation. Fellow New Democrats accused him of homophobia, and he was heckled in the legislature by his own caucus. His speeches caused a local activist to file a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission alleging that Mammoliti had promoted "hatred, discrimination and physical threats against the gay community." Mammoliti himself received hate mail and death threats. In 1995, Mammoliti claimed he would support a measure to evict children from social housing if anyone in the family was caught dealing drugs. This statement caused further divisions between Mammoliti and his party.

In the 1995 provincial election, Mammoliti was defeated by Liberal city councillor Mario Sergio by almost 3,000 votes. Sergio left North York's city council to take his seat in the Ontario Legislature, and Mammoliti decided to run in the by-election to replace him on city council. He was opposed by his old rival Polsinelli, and won election without difficulty.

On city council, he was noted for his unsuccessful attempt to lure a National Hockey League team to North York. When North York and other municipalities were merged to form the new City of Toronto in 1997, Mammoliti was elected to the Toronto City Council. At around the same time, he quit the NDP and joined the Liberal Party (this decision did not affect his standing on council, as all Toronto councillors are elected as independents). On council, his highest profile role was as the chair of the Toronto Zoo.

He also attracted attention due to a bitter dispute with fellow councillor Rob Ford. The two represent neighbouring wards and generally represented the right-wing, but were frequently in conflict, generally over Ford's fiscal conservatism, and particularly over Mammoliti's office budgets. In one argument, Ford reportedly called Mammoliti "Gino Boy", which was taken as an anti-Italian slur. As a result of Ford's comment, Mammoliti filled a human rights complaint against Ford. Mammoliti's son Michael filed his papers to run against Ford in the 2003 municipal election but withdrew at the last moment.^[1] In 2007, he called for an investigation of Ford and Doug Holyday after they filed total expenses of $0 and $1,471 in 2006, respectively. ^[2]

Mammoliti’s spending and fundraising during the October 2003 municipal election were controversial. His election campaign expenses totalled $73,997 that year (5th highest out of 44 elected councilors) despite the fact that he was running unopposed. The expenses were paid almost entirely with corporate donations. Mammoliti received $69,625 in corporate campaign donations in 2003 - an amount representing over 85% of his total donations and a higher dollar amount than was accepted by any other city council candidate.^[3]

Mammoliti is generally considered a right-leaning and socially-conservative members of council. He was an outspoken supporter of Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino, and spearheaded an unsuccessful effort to pressure the Toronto Police Services Board to renew Fantino's contract. In the 2003 election, he supported John Tory's bid to become Mayor of Toronto.

Since the 2006 municipal election, Mammoliti has been supportive of Mayor David Miller and was appointed Chair of the Affordable Housing Committee and a member of the mayor's executive council. Mammoliti also supported Miller's proposed new revenue measures, consisting of a car registration tax and land transfer tax, and voting against deferring debate on the taxes; however council narrowly voted to postpone the debate.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Giorgio Mammoliti profile on City of Toronto website