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!!