Giorgio Mammoliti was the freest of free spenders, the conductor of the gravy train and a sworn enemy of Rob Ford—now he’s the mayor’s most insanely vocal ally. Who exactly is this guy?
Toronto City Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti’s political presence is so expansive that his thumb has become one of the most iconic and controversial symbols of Mayor Rob Ford’s administration.
Whenever the bells in the council chamber ring, signalling that the time to vote has arrived, The Thumb appears. Seated at the right hand of the mayor, Mammoliti raises his fist and, indicating the will of Ford to supporters confused about how to vote, extends his thumb upwards or downwards.
This imperious gesture is a method of circumventing procedural rules that prevent discussion during voting, and it continues to provide amusement to Mammoliti’s supporters and inspire irritation and outrage among his opponents.
A reporter in a media scrum once asked about The Thumb after a contentious vote earlier this year. As Mammoliti began to respond, downtown councillor Adam Vaughan shouted, “I’ve got a suggestion for where you could stick that thumb, George!”
Mammoliti turned towards Vaughan. “I can give you a different finger instead,” he said, holding up all five and wiggling the middle one.
“No thanks,” Vaughan replied, “I know where it’s been.” Mammoliti let out a bellowing laugh and returned, grinning, to the reporter.
We’ve seen a lot of Mammoliti in the news this summer. There was the time in July when he filmed topless women at the Pride Dyke March, on the prowl for hate speech by participants. Another time, he called those who spoke against possible service cuts paid union stooges; then he called opponents of the mayor “communists” and engaged them in a brief, ill-considered war on Facebook. Another recent hit came when he proposed a homeless tent city on the lawn of Queen’s Park and a city-wide ban on panhandling.
As many entry points into a discussion of Mammoliti as there may be, simple anecdotes like The Thumb and his exchange with Vaughan offer a concise sketch of Mammoliti’s political persona: his love of the spotlight and of the grand, theatrical gesture and the kick he gets out of knowing he’s pissed off the other side. And of course, they illustrate his willingness to use these qualities in the service of Mayor Rob Ford. Over the past year, the mayor has had no more enthusiastic and vocal a supporter than Giorgio Mammoliti. Given their history, that may be one of his most outrageous political positions yet.
For a decade at City Hall, Mammoliti and Rob Ford were bitter rivals. Beginning in 2001, they traded insults frequently, calling each other, at various times, “big goon,” “idiot” and “snake.” Ford said Mammoliti was a “Gino Boy” and “an outright scammer” who “abused taxpayers.” Mammoliti filed complaints against Ford with the Human Rights Commission and to the Integrity Commissioner’s office, and once rallied an anti-Ford demonstration. During the 2010 mayoral campaign, in which Mammoliti was originally a candidate, Eye Weekly reporter Chris Bilton suggested that his candidacy was nothing but an “anti-Ford kamikaze missile.” At one debate, Mammoliti reportedly told the crowd, “If you want a city run for and by the rich, vote Rob Ford.”
Given Mammoliti’s acrimonious history with the mayor, his most-loyal-soldier routine seems particularly odd. But when he announced his endorsement of Ford in September 2010, not everyone who knew him was surprised. Toronto Star City Hall columnist Royson James wrote: “Above all else, opportunistic Giorgio lives to be a player…. He hates being in opposition and outside the power tent more than he hates being punked.”
That’s a sentiment echoed by Councillor Shelley Carroll, who served with him on the Executive Committee under former mayor David Miller. She adds, however, that at his core, Mammoliti is a pure populist—an ideology that rests comfortably in the Ford tent. “I think this is one of those cases where they battered away at each other for years and years and then they discovered they had a lot more in common than they thought they did.”
Mammoliti says his ability to preserve political influence with whoever’s in power is a quality he’s proud of: “I have gotten along with the last three mayors of Toronto, and I think it’s within our best interests that we all get along,” he tells me. With Miller, he says, he found common ground through support for affordable housing. “I’m doing the same thing with Mayor Ford. If I find at any given time that I disagree with Mayor Ford, I will do the same as I’ve done with all other mayors, and let him know I disagree. But to this date…I agree with his position.”
Next page: Mammoliti’s evolution from NDP candidate to city-council conservative
