Angry Robot

Notes from Mayor Ford's Crack Pipe, Update 428

Funny that I thought I could “deal” with this matter, in terms of posts to the site and in terms of time spent, by updating once a day. The story is too unstable though, unscripted, as unpredictable as a… well, as a crackhead. Notes made early yesterday seem almost quaint by the end of the day, after Doug Ford’s attacks on Police Chief Bill Blair, Rob Ford’s stunning admission of crack use, and then a teasingly dramatic press conference in which Ford failed to resign. Good summary of the day here, but odds are you know what happened.

What happens now? When Ford made his admission after months of stonewalling and lying, it came to mind that the timing must indicate some upcoming disclosure he was trying to get ahead of. There was news from the courts indicating information gathered in the wiretaps of Projects Traveller and Brazen 2 could soon be released. This would include alleged Ford dealer Lisi’s cellphone wiretap transcripts, so that will almost undoubtedly be more bad news for Ford.

City Hall is essentially trying to route around Ford at this point, with two different motions proposed – one that would strip the mayor of his powers to appoint the executive and committee chairs, essentially demoting him to lone-wolf councillor status. The other would force him to take a leave and seek help. Both have the support of his once-allies, but the former seems more likely to work. The longer he stays in, the more dirt will surface, the more negative international attention will accrue to our city, and the more unanimous the desire to get rid of him will be.

Other things of interest: that Vice article I posted yesterday has been disputed by both Towhey and Massoudi. Also, read Robyn Doolittle’s account of how the crack video story began.

One last thing: will Ford get re-elected? A lot of people are worried about this because there was the Forum poll that reported his support had gone up since Blair confirmed the crack tape exists. That was a 5% increase, within the margin of error and part of a poll that also reported a majority wanted him to resign. There is a more recent poll that has Ford losing all hypothetical 2014 races. Yes, Ford Nation still exists, but the borders are receding as time and dirt wears on. Ford won election with the support of a number of visible minorities, to say nothing of soft support across Toronto (including some 30% of downtowners who may not have realized just how much he was at war with them). As the dirt in the news wears on, no longer dismissable as some bizarre conspiracy, the contradictions in the Ford myth become harder to sustain.

OK, the fun part. The Daily Show’s take, and Colbert. Chris Farley tribute mayor!!

Rob Ford Gangland Notes Update 427

The Star has a couple good ones: Rob Ford may have paid bills for 15 Windsor Road, the crack house, and a mysterious email gap in Ford’s office in the days after news of the crack tape broke. Also, Ford was encouraged not to attend the police chief’s annual gala. That’s what happens when you dare the police to arrest you, I guess (although wouldn’t that be a nice spot for it?).

The story is back in the international media and figures heavily in US talk show monologues yesterday, although I don’t have video for any of those yet.

UPDATE: here’s a link to The Daily Show’s coverage.

Rob Ford Spiraling Towards Jail News Update Number 426

So, where were we? When he was tailed by a news helicopter on Friday I thought we were in the climax to Goodfellas and figured he would get busted soon, ideally after a horse chase with the Mounties. But no, he stopped to get a pepperoni stick and pronounced it “hot” and “good”. His executive council held a press conference where they basically said they were worried but wouldn’t say what they were going to do. Then on his radio show sunday he apologized, but not for what you were thinking maybe? Seems like he was apologizing for public drunkenness and distracted driving, but won’t quit drinking, isn’t an alcoholic or a drug addict but won’t say whether he’s ever done drugs, or what was in the packages he exchanged with Lisi in parking lots, forests and gas stations across Etobicoke.

This is why that’s not good enough – but you probably know that.

What happens now? First off, the Lisi ITO still contains some crazy redacted stuff, including the actual transcripts of Lisi’s wiretap and the interviews with the mayor’s staff. And, while the police can’t release the crack video while it’s evidence in a court case, there is another video that could theoretically be shown. Blair has said that Brazen 2 is still ongoing. This matter will hang over Ford and City Hall and indeed Toronto, until Ford is history.

Interactive: Toronto Transit – choose your better way

Here’s a fun transit construction doodad that allows you to participate in the great lines-on-maps-that-never-amount-to-anything fantasyland of Toronto transit planning, by choosing which Toronto transit lines to build, talling up the cost, and then getting discouraged and building nothing. Mine is below, and is fairly conservative, if a complete pipe dream – all currently underway Big Move projects, replacing the Scarborough subway extension with the originally planned LRT, and adding the eastern jag of the DRL. So really only $5-billion of extra construction, despite what the thing says. The big question mark is what in the hell we are doing building this Pearson-Union Express nonsense when it could probably function as a proper transit line and do a lot more good.