Toronto Mayor scandal reaches new lows
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Mayor's brother is encouraging him to take a leave of absence, a source says
- "When you attack my integrity as a father and as a husband, I see red," Mayor Rob Ford says
- Ford apologizes for lewd remark about oral sex on live Canadian television
- Mayor and his brother will begin their "Ford Nation" TV show on Monday
Not so, if you ask Ford. But a growing contingent in Toronto's City Council seem to think it's time for him to go.
The council is scheduled
to meet Friday to begin mapping out a plan to usurp much of Ford's
power. Despite admitting last week that he had smoked crack cocaine in a
"drunken stupor" about a year ago, Ford has defiantly said he will not
leave his job.
But while fighting for his job Thursday, Ford added to his growing list of missteps.
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Early in the day, a scrum
of reporters approached Ford to ask him about new allegations of
drunkenness, drug use and the verbal and physical abuse of aides.
In the course of
answering, he denied a female staffer's allegation that he sought to
perform oral sex with graphic language of his own, stunning reporters.
Later in the day, he backtracked.
With his wife at his
side, he went back before reporters to say he had been under
"tremendous, tremendous stress" and was getting unspecified support from
"a team of health care professionals." But he called the latest
allegations "100% lies."
"When you attack my
integrity as a father and as a husband, I see red. Today I acted on
complete impulse in my remarks," Ford said. He took no questions from
reporters, who shouted sharp inquiries at him as he entered the office.
"Mayor Ford, why should we believe you? Why would you subject your family to this?" one asked.
"What's the matter with you, Mr. Mayor?" another said.
Plan to take power
The Toronto City Council
voted 37-5 on Wednesday to ask Ford to take a leave of absence, and
most members turned their backs on him when he addressed their Thursday
meeting.
His brother, Doug Ford, a
city council member, is urging him to take a leave of absence, a
council source told CNN on condition of anonymity. The source did not
want to be identified.
The meeting Friday could
lead to more Monday where the council says it expects to consider a
motion to delegate duties not assigned by statute to the mayor. If
approved, the motion would strip Ford of most of his duties.
Among other things, the
motion calls for reallocating the operating budget of the office of the
mayor to the city clerk, according the council's agenda published online.
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Plans for a TV show
But in a new twist,
Canada's Sun News Network announced that Ford and his brother Doug will
begin hosting their own TV show on Monday. The show, "Ford Nation,"
picks up where the two brothers left off on a talk radio show that ended
its run last week, the network said on its website.
A headline on that site
posed the question, "Canada's Ultimate Reality Show?" And it quoted Doug
Ford saying, "Rob is like Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh" and "You just
never know what he is going to say."
"Mayor Ford seems to be in a no-holds-barred mode," the network said. "There is no filter. There is no careful treading."
Critics of Sun News Network have described its conservatism as "Fox News North," according to a story about its launch in 2011 by the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Plans for legal action
The mayor recently
confessed to purchasing illegal drugs in the past two years, while he
was in office. But he has steadfastly refused to step down, saying the
voters of Canada's largest city should decide his fate in 2014.
The latest allegations surfaced Wednesday in more than 500 pages of court documents
that police used to get a search warrant for Alexander Lisi, Ford's
friend and occasional driver, whom police accuse of marijuana possession
and trafficking.
Ford responded Thursday
morning by threatening legal action against former staffers who claimed
the mayor brought a woman appearing to be an escort to his office and
drank alcohol while driving. The documents include police interviews
with former staff members, information obtained from surveillance crews
and cameras, and even an examination of the mayor's garbage.
Several staffers said
they were asked to buy alcohol for the mayor of Canada's largest city.
One incident described by a former staffer alleged that Ford, while
driving, stopped the vehicle, guzzled some vodka, and drove on.
The allegations have not
been substantiated by investigators, and Ford faces no criminal
charges. He called the allegations "outright lies."
On Thursday, Ford also
said the so-called "escort" wasn't a prostitute but a family friend. He
added that such allegations "hurt my wife."
"It makes me sick," he added. "I've had enough."
