Of all the ships in all the world you got on mine ; Moscoe, Kelly find themselves on same cruise

The Skinny

at City Hall 

When Councillor Howard Moscoe decided to take a relaxing winter cruise in the sunny Caribbean over the holidays, he thought he'd left politics behind in snow-bound Hogtown. 

But of all the ships in all the seas in all the world, who should Howard spot across the casino floor of the luxury liner but colleague Councillor Norm Kelly and the ineffable Charlotte Ting, Kelly's spouse and former executive assistant. 

(Charlotte, as we know, had to bid bon voyage recently to her $60,000-plus salary after council banned the practice of allowing councillors to hire wives and family members.) 

"This is the first time Kelly's travelled not on the public purse," cracked Moscoe, an allusion perhaps to the $26,000 the well- travelled Kelly and the missus spent travelling to Barcelona in the dying days of the Toronto Harbour Commission.

Takes one to know one. Howard's no slouch when it comes to getting the public purse to pony up for his out-of-towners. 

If there was ever a time for the centre-left to solidify its base on council, this seems to be it. 

The Adams Mine debacle which caused a humiliating about-face for Mayor Mel Lastman gave the unofficial opposition on council a sense of unity it's never had before. 

Now the mayor is facing the messiest personal scandal of his career and Harris & Co. at Queen's Park blame the Mel-mouth for jeopardizing the big bucks needed to save city homeowners from a whopping tax increase. 

But alas, it appears a happy new year is not in the cards for council's progressives. Post-election, husband-and-wife team Councillors Jack Layton and Olivia Chow held a powwow chez eux and even managed to persuade centre-independent Councillors Michael Walker and Anne Johnston to drop by for some dubious dip and stale crackers. 

At the meeting, life-time lefties Chow and Councillor Pam McConnell were urged to find common ground on who would be child and youth advocate. 

When Chow refused to bend on the issue and ruled out a compromise that would have split the headline-grabbing portfolio in two, McConnell had some choice words for her at a subsequent meeting in the office of fellow social democrat Michael Prue. 

Some disaffected NDPers on council refer with scorn and derision to the "Jack and Olivia Show" and fewer of them than ever are planning to attend regular luncheon meetings with colleagues. 

Earlier this week, two people on two separate occasions have suggested a future mayoral bid may be in the cards for the handsome couple. 

But they were not talking surprisingly about Jack (who tried and failed once before in a mayoral bid in the former city of Toronto) but about Olivia. 

Our advice in that case is for the two to brush up on their team- playing skills. 

He's ba-a-c-k. 

Freshly deported from the Land of Tulips, former (and groan probably future) mayoral candidate Tooker Gomberg issued a news release to announce his return to his home and native land. 

After garnering 50,000-plus votes in the November campaign, Gomberg immediately jetted off to the Netherlands to the international conference on climate, only to burn his Canadian passport to protest our country's weak-kneed contribution. 

The media missive goes on to say Gomberg and anti-nuclear activists "allegedly" cut a hole in a fence at a NATO base and entered "for reasons of civilian surveillance." 

The Tookster then spent nine days in the klink before authorities, deciding he was no Dutch treat, decided to send him packing. 

"Gomberg is looking forward to getting back into the trenches in Toronto," the statement concludes (threatens?). 

Plans to pass the hat around the city hall media gallery to fly Gomberg off to another foreign destination (a one-way ticket only since funds are short) is under serious consideration. 

Politics is a hard habit to break, especially for ex- politicians. 

So it's small wonder that former councillor Mario Giansante, defeated in November's municipal election, has been beating the bushes to persuade former colleagues to appoint him to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority. 

Word is Giansante faces stiff competition from super-lobbyist Jeff Lyons and parking authority chair A. Milliken Heisey for this seemingly innocuous post. 

(It makes one wonder why this appointment is suddenly such a hot ticket.) 

The rumour mill also suggests former councillor Bill Saundercook may be returning to city hall as a consultant (read: lobbyist). 

Consulting pays better (a lot, actually), has better hours and there are no more Sunday morning pothole complaints from irate residents. 

Lobbyists (sorry, consultants) also have a special place in the power structure at Mel's twin towers at Bay and Queen, as city hall watchers are learning with growing alarm.

Source: Of all the ships in all the world you got on mine ; Moscoe, Kelly find themselves on same cruise: [Ontario Edition] 2001, , Toronto, Ontario, Canada.