MAYOR MEL DOES IT AGAIN

Well, Mayor Mel's at it again.

Rarely does he make headlines for something innovative or worthwhile he's
doing for the City of Toronto. Mostly it is because of some gaffe he's made
on the public stage.

The welcoming hand Mayor Mel Lastman extended last weekend to a Hells
Angels biker at a downtown Toronto hotel was at the same time a slap in the
face to his constituents and a sucker punch to the city's police force.

Would a principal invite a drug dealer into his schoolyard with open arms?
Even if the drug dealer promised to buy new playground equipment? No.

So the bikers came to Toronto on their best behaviour for a weekend. What
about the other 363 days of the year.

Drugs. Prostitution. Extortion. Murder. That's their business. The Hells
Angels is one of the most notorious organized crime operations in the
country. They're to be feared and reviled.

But in Toronto they're given instant legitimacy, made to seem like nice
guys, by the mayor as he mugs for the media. What a public relations coup,
and all it cost the Angels was a T-shirt.

Even more galling is Mr. Lastman's failure to admit he made a mistake. In
his backpedalling, he claims he was "naive" and didn't fully understand the
Angels' involvement in the drug trade.

"I don't know who the hell the Hells Angels are, but evidently they know
me, or know of me," the mayor said after a meeting Monday with frustrated
Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino.

Come on Mel. Who over the age of 10 doesn't know what the Hells Angels are
all about?

Pitifully simple or callously arrogant, we wonder what Toronto voters were
thinking electing him to a second term. One of the largest cities in North
America deserves better and should demand it.