City councillor, a well-paid job for life?
Once you’re voted onto city council, there’s a 90 per cent chance you’ll stay there, something known in politics as the incumbent’s advantage.

thestar.com
Sept. 17, 2014
By Catherine Porter

Imagine if you had a job that paid $105,000 a year, and you were basically guaranteed to keep it.

Caught doing heavy drugs? No problem. Didn’t show up for months? It’s still yours. Break a few important company rules? Don’t worry about it!

The longer you had the job, the better your chances were of keeping it.

Best yet: The company would pay you to take time off to train for your general review.

I am describing the job of a city councillor.

When Toronto Mayor Rob Ford announced last Friday from his hospital bed that he was too sick to run for mayor, but healthy enough to run for his old councillor job, he underlined this point.

Once you are voted into city council chambers, you are 90 per cent assured of staying there, even if you don’t knock on a single door.

Politicians and political scientists call this phenomenon the incumbent’s advantage.

Statistics prove it: Over the past three municipal elections in Toronto, sitting councillors who ran for reelection lost only 10 per cent of the time. The average time in office among the current batch is 12 years. Eleven of them were installed before the furniture - more than 20 years ago - and of those, 10 are seeking reelection.

That’s why the current photo of city council looks like a Saskatchewan Junior Farm club reunion instead of a subway car during rush hour: mostly white, straight, middle-aged males.

The deck is stacked in their favour. Unlike federal and provincial politics, there are no political parties at city hall. That means the race comes down to simple name recognition. City councillors have had four years to broadcast their names - on fridge magnets, newsletters, peewee soccer jerseys. Up until last month, they could officially use taxpayer dollars to do that.

So, we were paying them to advertise for reelection.

“I can’t believe how many park improvements went through in the last six months,” says Jaye Robinson (Open Jaye Robinson’s policard) (Ward 25, Don Valley West). Perfect fodder for a reelection brochure, she means. “It made me sick.”

Robinson was one of five successful long-shots in 2010. She beat an incumbent. Another was Sarah Doucette (Open Sarah Doucette’s policard) (Ward 13, Parkdale-High Park). I asked her about her current advantage. She mentioned she had been out canvassing and “I’m being paid while I do this.”

In 2010, she took a five-month leave of absence from her job to campaign full-time. That’s five months without pay.

Plus, this time, she can offer more than promises at the constituents’ doors. “Yesterday, I had an issue with feral cats, a sewer backup and parkette maintenance,” she said. “As a councillor, I can send off an email asking staff to work on it.” Could you get better advertising than that?

Mary-Margaret McMahon (Open Mary-Margaret McMahon’s policard), another newby-turned-incumbent, points to her spreadsheet of ward knowledge. Last election, when she was running to beat Sandra Bussin, she started campaigning with a fresh city map and some highlighters. Four years later, “I know every street in my ward. I can tell you the key issue on that street. I know the people to contact there and the people to avoid.”

McMahon has vowed to make this her last election. She thinks councillors should be limited to two terms, to break the incumbent advantage. Her colleagues at city hall disagreed last spring.

Bring this up with them on your doorstep, if they come around.

If any other candidates come, give them some time. Just think: They are spending months applying for a job they have faint chance of landing, and they are losing money to do it.

That’s passion.