Michelangelo Spensieri

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Michelangelo Spensieri, also known as Michael Spensieri, (born January 2, 1949, in Molise, Italy) is a former politician and lawyer in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1981 to 1985, as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Spensieri moved to Canada as a child. He was educated at the University of Toronto, receiving a Bachelor of Laws J.D. degree in 1972, and Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, where he was awarded the Master of Laws degree in 1992. He practiced law in Toronto until October 26, 1989.

Spensieri joined the Liberal Party in 1963. He first ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1975 provincial election, and lost to New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate Odoardo Di Santo in Downsview by sixty-eight votes. He was elected in the 1981 election, defeating NDP candidate Mike Morrone by 1,187 votes in Yorkview.

Spensieri supported David Peterson for the Liberal Party leadership in 1982. In late 1984, he was forced to issue an apology after sending out a newsletter which portrayed the New Democratic Party as "as a group of socialists committed to the destruction of the separate school system and the murder of unborn children".^[1] He served one term in the legislature, and was not a candidate for re-election in 1985. He sought the Liberal nomination in Downsview for the 1987 election, but lost to Laureano Leone.^[2]

Spensieri returned to his law practice after leaving the legislature, specializing in government relations work at the provincial and federal level. He asked permission to leave the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1989, after losing count of two million dollars worth of unclaimed moneys. Spensieri cited a manic-depressive Bipolar I illness as his defense before convocation, and was granted leave to resign for his own well-being.^[3] After this, he wrote a number of letters to Toronto newspapers describing prominent Italian-Canadian figures in the Liberal Party as cultural misfits. In 1998, he wrote that "voters of Italian heritage ... have erred too often and too long by electing mostly Liberals".^[4]

In 1999, the socially conservative Family Coalition Party announced that Spensieri would be its candidate in York Centre for the upcoming provincial election.[5] Due to persistent cardiovascular health concerns, however, he was unable to participate.[6] He remains active with the FCP, and is scheduled to introduce party initiatives dealing with both electoral reform and the family unit at the party's April 2006 Annual General Meeting.

Shortly after the creation of the "Ontario Association of Former Parliamentarians" in June of 2000 by special Act of the Ontario Legislature, Spensieri became a founding member and contributes to the Association's work on democratic reform. He is the only former MPP affiliated with the Family Coalition Party of Ontario.

Describing himself as a "Law Coach," Spensieri currently leads a "Faculty of Legal Advisors", offering co-counsel, law tutoring and coaching, through the legal consultancy Lexpertise Consulting, Inc.

Spensieri also contributes to the Italian newspaper Vinchiaturo. In the 2006 Italian general election, Spensieri is a strategist for a group of candidates in the overseas electoral district of "Nordamerica est", including parts of Canada, United States, and Mexico, where over 300,000 Italian citizens are eligible to vote.

[edit] Notes

^ Robert Stephens, "MPP Spensieri offers apology for newsletter", Globe and Mail, 12 October 1984.
^ Sterling Taylor, "2,000 Downsview Liberals pick candidate", Toronto Star, 8 June 1987.
^ Rick Haliechuk, "Lawyer can resign from bar in mishandling of $2 million", Toronto Star, 27 October 1989.
^ Michael Spensieri, "Cultural Misfits", Globe and Mail, 11 May 1998.