Rob Ford, the right-wing wacko Mayor of Toronto and John Candy look-alike is not just a crackpot: he's also a crackhead according to a report in the Toronto Star. That Ford has been mired in one scandal or another (including a conflict of interest trial relating to charity fundraising for a kid's football club) throughout his political career is not in question by anyone except Rob Ford. That he recently showed up drunk or high at an official event he was later asked to leave is not in question by anyone but Rob Ford. That Rob Ford is a crackhead, is apparently also no longer in question by anyone but--you guessed it--Rob Ford.
More over the Yankee Divider Doodle Dandy.
Here's how it goes down. Recently, a Somali man acting on behalf of the mayor's crack dealer and his organization (I am not making this up, I swear) approached reporters claiming to have a video of Mayor Ford smoking crack cocaine. The asking price was one million dollars, later reduced to 200k. While no one has paid cash for the smartphone video, three reporters were allowed to view and hear the video during a brief encounter with one of the Somali men while sitting in a parked car in the middle of the night in the Etobicoke (ha!) district Ford once represented as City Councellor. I'll let the Star pick it up:
Throughout the video Ford’s eyes are half-closed. He lolls back in his chair, sometimes waving his arms around erratically. He raises a lighter in his hand at several points and moves it in a circle motion beneath the glass bowl of the pipe, then inhales deeply.
The Star reporters (Donovan and Doolittle) were shown the video on the evening of Friday, May 3, in the back of a car parked in an apartment complex at Dixon Rd. near Kipling Ave. in the north end of Etobicoke. The reporters were allowed to watch and listen to the video three times. After, both reporters separately made written notes of what they saw and heard. Both reporters, prior to watching the video, studied numerous city-hall-related videos of Ford and, to the best of the reporter’s abilities, they separately concluded the man in the video was Ford.
In the video, what appears to be afternoon sunlight is streaming through partially closed window blinds, lighting Ford’s face. The video ends with the ringing of a cellphone (it is not clear if it is the cellphone that is being used to video the scene). The ring tone, which is a song, startles the mayor, whose slitted eyes open a bit, and he is heard to say, “That phone better not be on.”
Now it would be one thing if it were just a little crack. I mean, come on! But what he
says during the video is even worse:
The footage begins with the mayor mumbling. His eyes are half-closed. He waves his arms around erratically. A man’s voice tells him he should be coaching football because that’s what he’s good at.
Ford agrees and nods his head, bobbing on his chair.
He says something like “Yeah, I take these kids . . . minorities” but soon he rambles off again.
Ford says something like: “Everyone expects me to be right-wing, I’m . . .” and again he trails off.
At one point he raises the lighter and moves it in a circle motion beneath the pipe, inhaling deeply.
Next, the voice raises the name of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. The man says he can’t stand him and that he wants to shove his foot up the young leader’s “ass so far it comes out the other end.”
Ford nods and bobs on his chair and appears to say, “Justin Trudeau’s a fag.”
The man taping the mayor keeps the video trained on him. Then the phone rings. Ford looks at the camera and says something like “that better not be on.”
The phone shuts off.
Apparently, Ford's Chief of Staff Mark Towhey, hung up on reporters when called and asked about the alleged incident.
I'll bet he did.
So there we have it. Everyone knows Rob Ford is a bloward, racist, homophobic bully. And a crackhead. Everyone, that is, except Rob Ford.
[Hat tip to user Dopetron for breaking this on Daily Kos last night.]
9:55 AM PT: UPDATE: Things just got a little more strange: at this hour, Mayor Ford has been attending a press conference by PFLAG Toronto. I watched the live stream on the CBC and boy did he look uncomfortable. Was mobbed by the press afterwards. He is denying the allegation though his solicitor.