Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story (36 page)

I later learned that the whole interview had been a surprise to everyone in the family except Kathy. She’d personally phoned LeDrew and invited him to the Ford house. Diane had come home and found television crews in her living room. She’d thought she better sit in on it. Doug and Rob were apparently both furious.

The next Monday, November 11, Ford spoke at the city’s Remembrance Day ceremony. A veteran refused to shake his hand, but most of the people who approached him were supportive. He vowed to stay the course. He spent all of Tuesday in the lobby of City Hall signing novelty Rob Ford bobble-head dolls for twenty dollars each to benefit the United Way charity. People lined up for hours to meet the mayor. The toys sold out that afternoon. Many landed on Kijiji and eBay, going for upwards of five hundred dollars.

By Wednesday’s council meeting, City Hall had become a circus. Hundreds of raucous protestors marched on Nathan Phillips Square, demanding the embattled mayor resign, while inside the chamber, Doug Ford was screaming at Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong to confess whether he’d ever used illegal drugs. Minnan-Wong, a trained lawyer, veteran councillor,
and once one of the administration’s most devoted soldiers, was now the author of a symbolic motion calling on Ford to step aside. It was high treason as far as the Ford brothers were concerned. At one point, Ford seemed to confront Minnan-Wong on the floor, standing nose-to-nose to him, blocking his path, while CNN and ABC livestreamed the meeting. That afternoon Minnan-Wong questioned the mayor directly: “Mr. Mayor, have you purchased illegal drugs in the last two years?” Ford froze. After eight seconds of silence, he replied, “Yes, I have.” City council voted 37–5—including nay votes from Rob and Doug Ford—for the mayor to take a leave. Ford pledged to ignore the toothless edict.

And just when it seemed that Toronto City Hall couldn’t become more dysfunctional, Justice Ian Nordheimer released another chunk of the Project Brazen 2 documents.

Police had interviewed half a dozen of Ford’s former staff members. Their stories turned a drug scandal into something much more troubling. There were allegations of physical abuse against staff, marijuana use, drinking while driving, and sexual harassment. Ford’s former deputy communications officer, Isaac Ransom, had told police that Ford was “totally out of it” the night of St. Patrick’s Day and that his mood swung wildly. Staff said one minute he wanted to dance, the next he was breaking down and crying about his late father. Then later, according to Ransom, he made lewd comments to his policy adviser Olivia Gondek. According to Ransom, Ford had told Gondek that night, “I’m going to eat you out” and “I banged your pussy.” Gondek categorically denies this occurred. Ransom also claimed Ford “told a female guard at City Hall that he ‘was going to eat her box.’”

That same night, according to interviews with Ford’s former staff members, the mayor popped an OxyContin pill and was partying at City Hall with a woman they believed was an escort. According to Ransom, that night Ford also used a racial slur to refer to a cab driver, calling him a “Paki” and making fun of his accent. Former chief of staff Mark Towhey had told detectives he believed Ford was an alcoholic. Young staff members described Ford handing down menial tasks like changing light bulbs at his home. That may not seem scandalous compared to hard drugs and prostitutes, but in Ford Nation abusing the public purse is an unforgivable sin. Former Ford aide Chris Fickel told police that he was once summoned to the mayor’s home to fix the family computer. He brought his girlfriend, thinking it wouldn’t take long. Detectives spoke with the girlfriend, Victoria Hills, about the incident.

Hills told police that sometime in January 2013, Fickel was picking her up for dinner around 6:30
P.M
. when the mayor called about his computer. They drove to Etobicoke, and when the mayor learned that Hills was sitting outside, he insisted she come in. She was directed to the downstairs living room and took a seat next to Renata Ford. The Ford children were playing upstairs.

“The Mayor asked HILLS if she would like something to drink, like a beer. HILLS declined,” the Project Brazen 2 document said. Ford then asked her if she smoked marijuana and if she’d like a joint. She declined. Ford lit up alone.

“HILLS became uncomfortable after the Mayor began smoking the joint. He was the only one smoking it and he only offered it to her. She was uncomfortable because the Mayor of her city was offering her ‘weed’ in his house,” the document said.

The day after this second release of documents, nine days after Ford had admitted to smoking crack, the mayor announced he would be suing some of his former staff members who had spoken to police. He said they were lying. “I have no other choice. I’m the last one to take legal action. I can’t put up with it anymore.”

Speaking to reporters outside his office, Ford denied using prostitutes, cocaine, and OxyContin, but conceded he may have driven while impaired. “I might have had some drinks and … driven, which is absolutely wrong,” he said. (In a subsequent interview, Ford clarified that he didn’t mean to suggest he’d driven drunk. In fact, Ford said he’d never been impaired behind the wheel—despite having been convicted of drunk driving in 1999.)

Then Ford cheerfully turned the conversation to an upcoming Canadian Football League playoff game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

“I want to call Mayor [Bob Bratina] in Hamilton and tell him that we’re going to have to spank their little Tiger-Cats.… Oh!” he added, apparently remembering one more issue he had with the Brazen 2 documents. “And the last thing was, Olivia Gondek. It says that I wanted to eat her pussy.… I’ve never said that in my life to her. I would never do that. I’m happily married. I’ve got more than enough to eat at home.”

The mayor then left to attend a regularly scheduled council meeting.

On
The Daily Show
that night, Jon Stewart played the clip, then pushed his chair back and screamed, “What? What?! What?!! WHAT?!! WHAT?!!!,” which seemed to sum up everyone’s reaction.

The mayor held another press conference that afternoon to apologize for using “unforgivable language.” And this time he did so with his little-seen wife, Renata, by his side. He asked for privacy for his family. The mayor said he was consulting a “team of health-care professionals,” but he wouldn’t elaborate. He then asked the media to respect his family’s privacy. He made the request just before dragging Renata through a wall of reporters and television crews rather than take the side-door exit he typically used.

With the threats against staff members who cooperated with police, the free use of vulgar language, and the spectacle Ford created with Renata, it felt like a new low. The mayor had been exposed as a hard-drinking crack user and a liar, but now he was coming across as a bully beyond redemption.

After weeks of watching from the sidelines, Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne was finally forced to do something. “The things we are seeing and hearing about Mayor Rob Ford are truly disturbing,” she said in a hastily called press conference. “The City of Toronto has a mayor and council that were elected by the residents of Toronto and must be accountable to them.… It is not the provincial government’s role, nor its intention, to impose its preferences upon that government.” But, she said, city council must be able to function. “If council were to clearly indicate that they lack the ability to function as a result of this matter, the province would respond to a request from council to be provided new tools, depending on what that request might be.” There was one caveat. Because of the “extraordinary and unique nature of this type of intervention,” Wynne would want all three provincial party leaders on board, which was unlikely, given the fact that Progressive Conservative
leader Tim Hudak had closely aligned himself with the Ford brothers in the past.

While Wynne’s threat was significant, in the end nothing had changed. City council was on its own. Councillors scheduled a series of special meetings, two on Friday and one on Monday, to strip Ford of much of his authority.

Keeping up with the developments over the next few days was dizzying work. Canadian Football League Commissioner Mark Cohon encouraged Ford to stay away from the Grey Cup playoff game. Iceberg Vodka officials released a statement distancing the brand from the mayor after Ford’s comments on drinking and driving. Newstalk 1010 cancelled the brothers’ radio show.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the scandal in Toronto had knocked Obamacare off the news cycle. Ford was the opening skit on
Saturday Night Live
. Friends of mine living or vacationing around the world—in Asia, Europe, and Australia—sent me text-message updates about the Ford coverage abroad.

The Ford brothers seemed increasingly unhinged by the attention. With Doug at his side, the mayor went on an American media blitz. He told Fox News he wanted to run for prime minister of Canada one day. He lost his temper with CNN’s Bill Weir after the reporter pressed him on his behaviour. “I’m not an addict!” he said. “You guys can spin it every way you want.” In the background, Doug Ford could be heard saying, “Okay, settle down.” In an interview with
The Today Show
’s Matt Lauer, Ford seemed to contradict himself again about the video. This time, he said he could “barely even remember” when it was filmed—meaning he actually did remember.

On Monday, November 18, city council met once again to
make Rob Ford Toronto’s mayor in name only. The previous Friday, council had taken away his control of the committees and his power during an emergency. Now it was time for the more contentious restrictions. After consulting with city lawyers, council felt it could legally transfer the mayor’s staff to Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly as well as reduce Ford’s office budget to a point where it couldn’t function properly. The final blow was a motion to ban Ford from setting key matters of the legislative agenda. Kelly would run the executive committee. With a skeleton staff, minimal funding, and no power over policy, Rob Ford would be little more than a figurehead, and a disgraced one at that.

The Fords weren’t going down without a fight. The meeting was the most bizarre in the chamber’s history. The Ford brothers got into a shouting match with the audience. At one point, while charging to his brother’s side, the mayor knocked over Councillor Pam McConnell, a grandmother. The brothers refused to follow the speaking rules. They heckled the crowd. It was vintage Rob Ford, but now there were two of them.

Before the vote, the mayor rose to speak. “This is nothing more than a coup d’état,” he said angrily. “This, folks, reminds me of when—and I was watching with my brother—when Saddam attacked Kuwait and President Bush said, ‘I warn you, I warn you, I warn you, do not.’ Well, folks, if you think American-style politics is nasty, you guys have just attacked Kuwait.… Mark my words, friends. This is going to be outright war in the next election, and I’m going to do everything in my power—”

“Mayor Ford, your time’s up,” Speaker Nunziata interjected.

“—everything in my power to beat you guys.”

“Thank you, Mayor Ford.”

The mayor’s mic was cut, but he continued to talk. “… What goes around comes around, friends. Remember what I’m saying.”

The motions passed overwhelmingly.

SIXTEEN

FORD MORE

YEARS

W
hen Toronto voters chose Rob Ford to be their mayor on October 25, 2010, they knew full well they were electing a flawed man. Ford’s temper and extensive catalogue of offensive speeches had been well documented. Voters knew he’d been embroiled in a high-profile domestic assault case, that he’d been convicted of drunk driving and charged with marijuana possession, and that security guards had had to drag him out of a professional hockey game after he drunkenly berated a couple from out of town. And voters also knew that when this loud, stranger-than-fiction character from Etobicoke got into trouble, his instinct was to try to lie his way out of it. He was elected anyway. Because, weighing the pros against the cons, Ford was the best candidate in the race. He ran the best campaign, he stayed on message, and he talked about issues people cared about.

When those same voters head to the polls on October 27, 2014, they will be evaluating a very different Rob Ford. Ford has now admitted to using crack cocaine while being mayor of Toronto, and then lying about it—vehemently— for months. He faces accusations of assaulting his staff members, using racial and homophobic slurs, being drunk
at work, partying with prostitutes, sexually harassing female city employees, and driving while intoxicated. Questions about whether the mayor was being blackmailed continue to linger. Ford has been linked to a dangerous street gang that is alleged to have been part of a massive gunsmuggling ring. He seems to spend much of his free time socializing with criminals. And he may even be paying the bills at a known crack house. All that’s just the stuff we know about at the time of publication. There will no doubt be more revelations, I suspect in the same vein.

A lot of people thought Rob Ford would step aside once the chief put an end to the debate about the video’s existence. But those of us who have watched Ford closely over the last few years knew that would be entirely out of character. Now some pundits and politicos are speculating that he won’t run for re-election, if something really damaging surfaces. If Toronto police directly link him to the extortion charges against Lisi, for example. I think the only thing that will prevent Rob Ford from putting his name on that ballot will be death or jail time. And if it were possible to run from prison, I think he would.

The question is: Can he win?

I believe it’s possible, for a long list of reasons.

For one thing, it’s hard to ignore the fact that after Ford admitted to smoking crack, an Ipsos Reid poll showed that while 76 percent of Torontonians wanted him to step down and get help, 40 percent still had a favourable view of his performance as mayor. Another survey by Forum Research taken the day Chief Bill Blair announced that police had the crack tape—but before Ford admitted to having used the drug—showed the mayor’s approval rating at 44 percent. Up 5 points. Keep in mind, Ford
was elected with 47 percent of the vote. Since February 2011, Forum Research has sampled Ford’s approval rating more than thirty times. The average: 44 percent.