Toronto mayor Rob Ford crack scandal, Somalis own the evidence

[Safferz]

Thanks Blackflash, video does work here in the States. I'll watch the episode sometime tomorrow.

 

Americans have been asking me what the hell is going on in Toronto all week. Embarrassing that this is international news at this point.

[GaraadMon]

I've just finished watching it. It's an excellent watch for anyone who doesn't know all the particulars of this scandal so far. I was a bit surprised that the "community organizer" would broadcast his charges and the details surrounding them while his case is still before the courts.

[Safferz]

The Broker: In His Own Words

 

 

Long before the Toronto Star labeled me the 'broker' as part of their story about a video of Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, I was helping young men in my community negotiate a future that did not involve a life of crime.

 

For more than a decade I’ve been a broker of sorts in a struggle for survival among young and vulnerable Canadian born Somali men who live in the Dixon community. I am proud of that accomplishment and I hope to continue serving in a similar capacity long after the Rob Ford story disappears from the headlines.

 

Our community, made up of Canadians born in Somalia or to Somali immigrants, has been marginalized both by politicians elected to help them and by the police assigned to protect them. The media are never in our neighbourhood when families celebrate their children’s many accomplishments. Instead, cameras and live satellite trucks are everywhere on the morning of a raid or the day after a tragedy. By then, we are too busy worrying about our safety or grieving for a lost one to offer intelligent commentary on our social condition.

 

The Toronto Sun profiled me ten years ago and describing the services my friends and I were providing to the community through the Dixon Youth Network, dubbed me the “Peacemaker.” Shortly after the Sun’s profile, my best friend at the time was attacked and hit over the head with an iron bar. Some misinformed thugs apparently did not like what we at the DYN were trying to do. My friend, Mohamed Omar, a budding math genius, survived the attack, but the head trauma left him with difficulties learning and remembering new information. Incidents like these are too frequent and they send a chill down the spine of anyone who wishes to help make a difference.

 

The police was not there to protect Omar when he was attacked and yet today as young Somali men are murdered across the GTA and Alberta, Toronto Police and the RCMP has the gall to say the reason they can’t solve these murders is because no one in the community is willing to cooperate with their investigations.

 

People who don’t share our experience are often quick to judge us and dismiss our young men as drug dealers and gangbangers. For the record, I’ve never been a member of a gang nor have I ever possessed or sold drugs to anyone. I have tried my best to be a role model to young people by becoming a contributing citizen of this wonderful country of ours.

 

I am still burdened by an incident that took place in 2011. A young man approached me asking for my help with a problem in his life. I was apparently too busy with my own affairs to help him. A few days later 24-year-old Abdikadir Khan was killed in one of the Dixon high-rise buildings. The fact that I could have helped him and didn’t has haunted me and since that day I have made it an unwritten policy never to turn my back on anyone who reaches out to me for help.

 

When I was approached by a young man in Dixon earlier this year to find a buyer for a video showing Mayor Ford smoking what was described to me at the time as crack cocaine, I asked to see it before agreeing to do anything. I thought it was a hoax, a skit or a prank. Unfortunately, it was none of the above.

 

I asked him what he hoped to gain by selling it. He told me he had two videos that would be of public interest and he thought the video with Mayor Ford had a monetary value and with it he could perhaps get a head start on a new life somewhere other than Dixon. I believed he was sincere.

 

The intense media coverage of what transpired in the days and week after the story broke has been the cause of much distress to me and many in my neighbourhood.

 

Then came the Project Traveler raids. I too was arrested and charged with gun possession and yet I have never owned a gun in my life. I plan to defend myself against these charges in court in the months to come.

 

In the eyes of our elders the raids were connected to reports of the crack video a month earlier. The real ‘trauma’ of the video, to invoke Bill Blair’s descriptive term, was experienced by mothers and grandmothers in Dixon on the morning of June 13 when hundreds of law enforcement officials descended on Dixon as if it was a shanty town infested with gangsters. Yet again, the Dixon neighborhood was making headlines around the world for all the wrong reasons.

 

Now that Mayor Ford has ‘fessed’ up to his actions and more videos are beginning to surface of behavior deemed unacceptable for an elected official, my community still has to carry around the negative label of being a ‘hood’ where gangs thrive.

 

I don’t hold out much hope for change. I expect our youth will continue to struggle to get jobs even when they have excellent qualifications. Unemployment in Dixon is about four times the national average. High school drop-out rates for Canadian born Somali teenagers will likely continue to hover just under 40 percent if action is not taken soon to reverse the trend. The lack of resources and facilities for our women, elderly and youth will continue to go unaddressed if politicians refuse to intervene and help alleviate the situation.

 

My intention for coming out and telling my story is to shed light on the hypocrisy of a system that punishes the vulnerable for minor misdemeanors while the rich and powerful are protected by the same laws for crimes that are much more egregious. Has the time not come for our elected officials to take action that would lift my community out of a state of distress and give our youth a chance to prosper?

 

Mohamed Farah

[Safferz]

Blackflash;985213 wrote:

I've just finished watching it. It's an excellent watch for anyone who doesn't know all the particulars of this scandal so far. I was a bit surprised that the "community organizer" would broadcast his charges and the details surrounding them while his case is still before the courts.

I just watched it as well, really interesting documentary but certainly more of a synthesis of what we already know rather than new investigative journalism. I'm also surprised Mohamed Farah decided to reveal himself and I'm not sure why it was necessary at this point. I wish the CBC had gone further into the Anthony Smith murder and examine other evidence of Rob Ford's implication in criminality... they hinted at some of the activities Toronto police ignored but sort of left it at that. I'm sure everything will come out, though.

[Hawdian]

when this story goes away And The public And Journalists lose interest who will be labeled trouble makers.If you play wth fire you will get burned and you famiy will suffer too. Note: to the community distance youself from these people broker or no broker.

[LayZie G.]

Safferz;985214 wrote:

The Broker: In His Own Words

 

 

Long before the Toronto Star labeled me the 'broker' as part of their story about a video of Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, I was helping young men in my community negotiate a future that did not involve a life of crime.

 

For more than a decade I’ve been a broker of sorts in a struggle for survival among young and vulnerable Canadian born Somali men who live in the Dixon community. I am proud of that accomplishment and I hope to continue serving in a similar capacity long after the Rob Ford story disappears from the headlines.

 

Our community, made up of Canadians born in Somalia or to Somali immigrants, has been marginalized both by politicians elected to help them and by the police assigned to protect them. The media are never in our neighbourhood when families celebrate their children’s many accomplishments. Instead, cameras and live satellite trucks are everywhere on the morning of a raid or the day after a tragedy. By then, we are too busy worrying about our safety or grieving for a lost one to offer intelligent commentary on our social condition.

 

The Toronto Sun profiled me ten years ago and describing the services my friends and I were providing to the community through the Dixon Youth Network, dubbed me the “Peacemaker.” Shortly after the Sun’s profile, my best friend at the time was attacked and hit over the head with an iron bar. Some misinformed thugs apparently did not like what we at the DYN were trying to do. My friend, Mohamed Omar, a budding math genius, survived the attack, but the head trauma left him with difficulties learning and remembering new information. Incidents like these are too frequent and they send a chill down the spine of anyone who wishes to help make a difference.

 

The police was not there to protect Omar when he was attacked and yet today as young Somali men are murdered across the GTA and Alberta, Toronto Police and the RCMP has the gall to say the reason they can’t solve these murders is because no one in the community is willing to cooperate with their investigations.

 

People who don’t share our experience are often quick to judge us and dismiss our young men as drug dealers and gangbangers. For the record, I’ve never been a member of a gang nor have I ever possessed or sold drugs to anyone. I have tried my best to be a role model to young people by becoming a contributing citizen of this wonderful country of ours.

 

I am still burdened by an incident that took place in 2011. A young man approached me asking for my help with a problem in his life. I was apparently too busy with my own affairs to help him. A few days later 24-year-old Abdikadir Khan was killed in one of the Dixon high-rise buildings. The fact that I could have helped him and didn’t has haunted me and since that day I have made it an unwritten policy never to turn my back on anyone who reaches out to me for help.

 

When I was approached by a young man in Dixon earlier this year to find a buyer for a video showing Mayor Ford smoking what was described to me at the time as crack cocaine, I asked to see it before agreeing to do anything. I thought it was a hoax, a skit or a prank. Unfortunately, it was none of the above.

 

I asked him what he hoped to gain by selling it. He told me he had two videos that would be of public interest and he thought the video with Mayor Ford had a monetary value and with it he could perhaps get a head start on a new life somewhere other than Dixon. I believed he was sincere.

 

The intense media coverage of what transpired in the days and week after the story broke has been the cause of much distress to me and many in my neighbourhood.

 

Then came the Project Traveler raids. I too was arrested and charged with gun possession and yet I have never owned a gun in my life. I plan to defend myself against these charges in court in the months to come.

 

In the eyes of our elders the raids were connected to reports of the crack video a month earlier. The real ‘trauma’ of the video, to invoke Bill Blair’s descriptive term, was experienced by mothers and grandmothers in Dixon on the morning of June 13 when hundreds of law enforcement officials descended on Dixon as if it was a shanty town infested with gangsters. Yet again, the Dixon neighborhood was making headlines around the world for all the wrong reasons.

 

Now that Mayor Ford has ‘fessed’ up to his actions and more videos are beginning to surface of behavior deemed unacceptable for an elected official, my community still has to carry around the negative label of being a ‘hood’ where gangs thrive.

 

I don’t hold out much hope for change. I expect our youth will continue to struggle to get jobs even when they have excellent qualifications. Unemployment in Dixon is about four times the national average. High school drop-out rates for Canadian born Somali teenagers will likely continue to hover just under 40 percent if action is not taken soon to reverse the trend. The lack of resources and facilities for our women, elderly and youth will continue to go unaddressed if politicians refuse to intervene and help alleviate the situation.

 

My intention for coming out and telling my story is to shed light on the hypocrisy of a system that punishes the vulnerable for minor misdemeanors while the rich and powerful are protected by the same laws for crimes that are much more egregious. Has the time not come for our elected officials to take action that would lift my community out of a state of distress and give our youth a chance to prosper?

 

Mohamed Farah

 

A short time ago, I watched the episode about ford on the Fifth Estate, and I also read the above post.

 

What is interesting about this whole episode is the brief clip that the Fifth Estate added to the final cut of the episode. The one that showed the sit down with the Star Reporter, Miss DoLittle, who basically said Mohamed Farah was singing a different tune on the night of question, the same night that he invited her to meet the videographer/drug dealer in order to arrange the transaction and come to an agreement between the two parties, Toronto Star, and the criminal.

 

This particular revelation is important as it contradicts the rosy picture that Mohamed Farah attempted to pain during his media round, including the above post.

 

"The world is out to get us". "We have turned to crime because society is racist and abondoned my community" bla, bla,bla. Give me a break.

 

I don't know Mohamed Farah, and I can't imagine living in a ghetto, and/or dixon, nor am I Torontonian but I do know one thing, Mohamed Farah is not telling the whole truh.

 

 

I think he got caught with his pants down, namely, the gun found in his place of residence and he is trying to clean the mess he got himself into.

 

No judge in his right mind will issue a warrant to search a home without probable cause. This much is a fact.

 

From what I know of project traveller, the investigation was on-going and this was much bigger than a Rob Ford Crack Video Scandal.

 

Also, no one on their right mind would accept an excuse like the following: " I don't know how I came to have a possession of a gun." He adds: " I just don't know. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not into guns."

 

Bla, bla, bla. No one asked him to become a black market broker and arrange monetary transactions, nor did anyone ask if he was into guns. Its important that the Somali community of Toronto, but especially those indicted for crimes during the raid own the consequences that comes with committing a crime, and/or funding crimes, or knowinly harbour criminals, and/or turning a blind eye.

 

This is absurd.

 

Mohamed Farah wants symphathy. I'm not buying what he is selling. I also

don't believe that he got involved in the illegal transaction of selling the Ford Crack Video out of the goodness

of his heart. He just wanted to help a poor drug dealer, yada, yada.

 

He should be honest with himself and admit that he wanted to make quick cash. I think he made a deal with the drug dealer, Mohamed Siad, and he knowinly attempted to arrange the deal, and such, he knew the consequences of his actions, and in the end it back fired and he failed as a black market broker.

 

 

Reporter DoLittle of the Toronto Star said in her in the Fifth Estate episode that the broker and the drug dealer were both inconsistent. They didn't know what they were saying or why they were doing what they were doing.

 

First, the broker came forward because he wanted the truth about the mayor to come out, then he wanted to

help his client/ drug dealer friend escape a life of crime and marry, so he can live happily ever after.

 

 

Finally, I believe that Mohamed Farah is doing damage control, this is why he came forward and decided to make the media rounds. He thinks he can win the court of public opinion so he can get off on the gun charges.

 

Whatever the case might be, Mohamed Farah is far from innocent.

[Safferz]

Great news Stay tuned, looks like police info may be released later this afternoon.

 

Rob Ford scandal: Judge orders release of secret police information

A Superior Court judge has ordered information censored on a police document that detailed an investigation into Mayor Rob Ford, his associates and activities should be released.

 

By: Jennifer Pagliaro News reporter, Published on Wed Nov 13 2013

 

 

A Superior Court judge has ordered information censored on a police document that detailed an investigation into Mayor Rob Ford, his associates and activities should be released.

 

The information could be made public as early as this afternoon.

 

 

Lawyers for the Star and other media outlets fought to overturn a sealing order on the nearly 500 page document after it was filed by police to get a search warrant in the so-called Project Brazen 2.

 

The Star argued information about Ford was in the public interest and that the public has a constitutional right to scrutinize the information police use to get a search warrant from a court.

 

On Oct. 30, Justice Ian Nordheimer ordered the document be released with nearly half of it censored pending further legal arguments.

 

The information that was made public revealed for the first time that police investigators were assigned to probe the existence of a video showing the mayor smoking what appears to be crack cocaine. It also showed several clandestine meetings between Ford and his friend Alexander Lisi, who was later arrested on drug charges.

 

Last week, Ford admitted to reporters he smoked crack cocaine about a year ago in a “drunken stupour.”

 

On Friday, media lawyers and the Crown submitted arguments on redactions that censored information related to so-called “innocent third parties” — people who were not arrested as part of the investigation that saw Lisi arrested.

 

Crown attorney Tom Andreopoulos said the innocent party sections of the document did not form part of the “essential narrative” and did not advance the public interest. That information, Andreopoulos argued, is “highly sensitive personal information.”

 

Star lawyer Ryder Gilliland argued that all of the information was put before a judge by the police to get the search warrant and keeping it secret would contradict the principle of open courts and would “do great harm” the public confidence in the administration of justice.

 

Nordheimer, in his decision released Wednesday morning, said the argument of the information being “non-essential narrative” is “problematic” because “if the narrative was truly non-essential, it ought not to have been included in the [document].”

 

“In my view, when it comes to the issue of public access to the material, it is not open to the Crown to attempt to maintain secrecy over portions of that material on the basis that it was unnecessary to the process in the first place,” Nordheimer’s decision says.

 

The information to be released includes interview with Ford’s staff and what lead investigator Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux said he learned after being assigned to investigate the video’s existence.

 

Some things will remain redacted, such as personal identifiers like birth dates and phone numbers, Nordheimer ordered.

 

Nordheimer also ordered information about Ford’s wife, “who apparently had some personal issues” during the time police were investigation, should remain censored.

 

There are two other areas that are subject to further legal arguments next week — including information police got from wiretaps during Project Traveller — a guns and gangs sweep focused in the city’s northwest end — and information that Lisi’s lawyer has identified may impact his right to a fair trial.

Lisi was recently rearrested on a charge of extortion for allegedly threatening two alleged gang members to recover the Ford video. On those charges, Lisi could face a jury trial.

[ElPunto]

LayZie G.;985249 wrote:

A short time ago, I watched the episode about ford on the Fifth Estate, and I also read the above post.

 

What is interesting about this whole episode is the brief clip that the Fifth Estate added to the final cut of the episode. The one that showed the sit down with the Star Reporter, Miss DoLittle, who basically said Mohamed Farah was singing a different tune on the night of question, the same night that he invited her to meet the videographer/drug dealer in order to arrange the transaction and come to an agreement between the two parties, Toronto Star, and the criminal.

 

This particular revelation is important as it contradicts the rosy picture that Mohamed Farah attempted to pain during his media round, including the above post.

 

"The world is out to get us". "We have turned to crime because society is racist and abondoned my community" bla, bla,bla. Give me a break.

 

I don't know Mohamed Farah, and I can't imagine living in a ghetto, and/or dixon, nor am I Torontonian but I do know one thing, Mohamed Farah is not telling the whole truh.

 

 

I think he got caught with his pants down, namely, the gun found in his place of residence and he is trying to clean the mess he got himself into.

 

No judge in his right mind will issue a warrant to search a home without probable cause. This much is a fact.

 

From what I know of project traveller, the investigation was on-going and this was much bigger than a Rob Ford Crack Video Scandal.

 

Also, no one on their right mind would accept an excuse like the following: " I don't know how I came to have a possession of a gun." He adds: " I just don't know. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not into guns."

 

Bla, bla, bla. No one asked him to become a black market broker and arrange monetary transactions, nor did anyone ask if he was into guns. Its important that the Somali community of Toronto, but especially those indicted for crimes during the raid own the consequences that comes with committing a crime, and/or funding crimes, or knowinly harbour criminals, and/or turning a blind eye.

 

This is absurd.

 

Mohamed Farah wants symphathy. I'm not buying what he is selling. I also

don't believe that he got involved in the illegal transaction of selling the Ford Crack Video out of the goodness

of his heart. He just wanted to help a poor drug dealer, yada, yada.

 

He should be honest with himself and admit that he wanted to make quick cash. I think he made a deal with the drug dealer, Mohamed Siad, and he knowinly attempted to arrange the deal, and such, he knew the consequences of his actions, and in the end it back fired and he failed as a black market broker.

 

 

Reporter DoLittle of the Toronto Star said in her in the Fifth Estate episode that the broker and the drug dealer were both inconsistent. They didn't know what they were saying or why they were doing what they were doing.

 

First, the broker came forward because he wanted the truth about the mayor to come out, then he wanted to

help his client/ drug dealer friend escape a life of crime and marry, so he can live happily ever after.

 

 

Finally, I believe that Mohamed Farah is doing damage control, this is why he came forward and decided to make the media rounds. He thinks he can win the court of public opinion so he can get off on the gun charges.

 

Whatever the case might be, Mohamed Farah is far from innocent.

Amen to that. Mohamed Farah is an a$$ of the first order and a discredit to Somalis and community workers. That someone who was a 'broker' for a drug dealer and extortionist is cloaking himself in self-righteous indignation is unbelievable to me.

 

edit - I can't believe that fat a$$ is still hanging around. He will be gone by Christmas.

[ElPunto]

dp

[Safferz]

lolllll

 

Rob Ford apologizes for oral sex comment, says he is seeking help

 

Mayor Rob Ford used coarse language in earlier scrum with reporters.

 

Warning: The following story contains graphic language

 

Mayor Rob Ford has apologized for the “unforgivable language” he used on Thursday, but is standing firm that the new allegations that he partied with a prostitute and snorted cocaine are “100 per cent lies.”

 

In a hastily assembled news conference in the mayor’s protocol lounge, Ford said the recent revelations “of cocaine, escorts, prostitution” have pushed him “over the line.”

 

“I used unforgivable language, and again, I apologize,” he said. “These allegations are 100 per cent lies. When you attack my integrity as a father and as a husband, I see red.”

 

With his wife Renata by his side, Ford told reporters he is “receiving support from a team of health care professionals,” but said “I do not wish to comment on the particulars of this support.”

 

“I fully realize in the past I have drank alcohol in excess,” he said. “I am taking accountability and receiving advice from people with expertise . . . I wish you to understand I am accepting responsibility for the challenges I face.”

 

Mayor Rob Ford speaks at a news conference with his wife Renata at city hall on Thursday. Ford, under pressure to resign after he admitted smoking crack and buying illegal drugs, said he was receiving professional help for drinking problems, but gave no hint he might step down. In a brief statement to the Toronto media, Ford also apologized for using obscene language earlier in the day when he denied allegations that he had sexually propositioned a female aide.

 

The mayor did not take any questions. After his brief remarks he pushed through the crush of reporters to the elevator outside his office.

 

The news conference came after his remarks earlier in the day, when Ford threatened to sue former staffers as he left his office. But it was his reference to allegations of oral sex with a former staff member that sent shock waves through the city.

 

Ford said he didn’t party with a prostitute, he didn’t snort cocaine, he didn’t take OxyContin and he plans to sue former staffers who told police he did.

 

“I might have had some drinks and driven which is absolutely wrong,” Toronto’s embattled mayor conceded in an impromptu scrum.

 

But it was his comments about allegations in court documents released Wednesday that he had claimed to have been intimate with former policy adviser Olivia Gondek that stunned reporters.

 

“It says I wanted to eat her ***** and I have never said that in my life to her. I would never do that. I’m happily married and I’ve got more than enough to eat at home,” he said before heading up to council.

 

The mayor took aim at former staffers Isaac Ransom, George Christopoulos and Mark Towhey in particular, and said his unwillingness to speak before about the allegations contained in censored parts of police documents Wednesday was because he hadn’t yet read them.

 

“I’ve . . . never had a prostitute here. I’m very happily married at home, this is very disturbing against my wife,” Ford told reporters.

 

“I have no other choice. I’m the last one to take legal action, I can’t put up with it anymore.”

 

Although many councillors have stated repeatedly they are no longer surprised by the controversy surrounding the mayor, his comments Thursday morning clearly left some of them taken aback.

 

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who was behind Wednesday’s symbolic motion asking Ford to take a leave of absence, said he is now demanding the mayor’s resignation.

 

One of the mayor’s few allies, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, issued an ultimatum, stating he would join calls for Ford to resign if he did not seek help for his alleged drug and alcohol addiction by day’s end.

 

Ford’s apology did little to sway them.

 

“There’s nothing that he could say now that will be acceptable to me anymore. This is too much . . . apologies don’t cut it,” Minnan-Wong said. “The mayor needs to resign. He needs to step aside. This has to end, and the province has to step in, because council cannot remove him.”

Councillor Paula Fletcher said she is “very shaken from the earlier remarks.”

 

“I know the man is under tremendous pressure and that’s why so many of us have said, ‘Get out, get help, get out of the spotlight . . . or something terrible is going to happen,’ ” Fletcher said. “Something terrible did happen today. Those remarks were probably the worst remarks that any mayor has ever made in the history of this city.”

 

Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon said the mayor’s mouth “needs to be duct taped.”

 

“My heart goes out to his family, his wife, his kids. I can’t imagine what they’re going through, but enough is enough,” she said. “We can’t even take him seriously in the council chamber or the city. He cannot be trusted with anything.”

 

Speaking to reporters in council chambers, Councillor Janet Davis described the mayor as “one of the most stubborn, pigheaded people . . . we’ve ever come across.”

 

“The executive (committee) needs to say very clearly, ‘We’re putting a wall around you, Mr. Mayor. We will not deal with your office or you in this budget,’ ” she said. “This council is going to be accountable for the budget. The executive is going to be accountable to council. Let’s put a firewall around the mayor. He has no legitimacy here.”

 

Mammoliti, who was among those assembled in the mayor’s protocol lounge for the apology was more forgiving.

 

“I think what you heard from him in referring to health care officials was a willingness to talk about the issues that are causing him a problem,” he said. “I hope that the next thing that comes from the mayor is the recognition that it’s an addiction.”

 

He said the mayor’s decision to forcefully push through the large crowd of reporters following the news conference is proof that “we are dealing with this in the wrong way.”

 

“You don’t throw an addict into a fray,” he said. “All they do is get their back up against the wall and retaliate, and what you’re seeing is the mayor doing that.”

 

Earlier on Thursday, Mammoliti said he and Towhey, the mayor’s former chief of staff, tried unsuccessfully to get Ford help for addiction to drugs and alcohol a year ago, but the mayor “said he didn’t have a problem and not to worry about it.”

 

It is time, Mammoliti said, that Ford and his family recognize he has an issue.

 

“Now he’s probably going to lose everything — probably his family, probably his job — all of it, because he’s not recognizing his illness,” Mammoliti said.

Renata Ford declined to speak with reporters after her rare public appearance at the mayor’s news conference.

 

“I think my husband said already enough,” she said. “We want privacy for our family.”

 

Ford’s brother, Doug, usually the mayor’s most outspoken ally, ignored questions from reporters on Thursday morning.

 

If the mayor follows through on his plans to file a lawsuit, he will face an uphill battle, according to media lawyer Iain MacKinnon.

 

“Anything is possible when it comes to Ford, but any lawsuit on that basis would be doomed to fail,” MacKinnon said. “The staffers would have an excellent defence of qualified privilege.

 

“The idea is that society wants to encourage people to speak honestly and candidly in certain situations when they have a legal or moral duty to talk. Giving statements to police during a police investigation is one such occasion.”

 

Toronto lawyer Brian Shiller told the Star he is offering to represent “all of the proposed defendants in Mayor Ford’s anticipated lawsuit on a pro bono basis.”

 

“It is important that a signal is sent that the citizens of Toronto will not be intimidated by the mayor of Toronto from co-operating with the police in an investigation into potential wrongdoing by the leader of this great city,” he said.

[Safferz]

Rob Ford documents: 11 shocking allegations

Police documents reveal more about Toronto mayor's allegedly inappropriate behaviour

 

 

Newly released police documents reveal more allegations about mayor Rob Ford's erratic behaviour. Several people who worked around the mayor or who say they were in his presence during incidents of allegedly inappropriate behaviour have given police interviews. None of the allegations detailed in the documents has been proven.

 

You can read the documents by clicking on this link: Brazen ITOs - Redacted (36MB .pdf). Warning: extreme language. Also note that the documents contain allegations not proven in court.

 

The following are some of the details they gave to police:

 

Suspected prostitutes

 

Police say they were told by Ford's former special assistant of communications, Isaac Ransom, that the mayor appeared to be close to a young, attractive blond woman named Alana. The documents say that she was in the mayor's office and was suspected of being an escort or prostitute. She had hashish and marijuana on St. Patrick's Day 2012, which the mayor wanted to use, the documents say. (Page 154, 155)

 

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is held back by his brother Coun. Doug Ford as he confronts Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong (centre) during an extraordinary city council debate on Wednesday. Minnan-Wong put a motion forward that demands the mayor take a leave of absence and apologize in the wake of the crack cocaine scandal.

 

The police documents, citing an interview with Ford's former chief of staff, Mark Towhey, say that the mayor got upset with then deputy chief of staff Earl Provost and former adviser Brooks Barnett on St. Patrick's Day in 2012. Police state in the report that Towhey told them the mayor pushed Provost down and drew his hand back, as if preparing to punch him. The report, citing Towhey, says Ford rushed at Barnett and pinned him to the wall and also cocked his fist like he was going to strike him. (Page 71)

 

Racist remarks

 

According to the police documents, Barnett and Provost told Ransom the mayor took a taxi to a bar and hurled racist epithets at the driver along the way, calling him a "Paki," mocking him with fake-language sounds and throwing business cards at him. (Page 155)

 

Police say they were told that the mayor arrived at the Bier Markt on St. Patrick's Day 2012 and was given The Merchant Room, a private room at the back. A waiter interviewed by police is quoted in the report as saying that he went into the room to deliver an order of poutine and believed he saw the mayor appearing to snort cocaine, or heard sniffing sounds. (Page 101, 102)

 

Smoking marijuana

 

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford appears in still images contained in a Toronto Police Service report released on Thursday that details hundreds of contacts between Ford and a friend, Alexander Lisi, who is facing drug and extortion charges.

 

Police say that Ford's former assistant Chris Fickel told them he was called around 9 p.m. in October 2012 to fix a computer at the mayor's home. The report says Fickel saw the mayor light up a joint and offer it, eventually smoking it alone. Police say that Fickel told them he knew it was marijuana from the smell. According to the documents, former executive assistant told Towhey he found a joint in the mayor's desk drawer. It disappeared about four or five days later, the documents say. (Page 116, 141)

 

Petty errands for staff

 

Police say they were told by Fickel that he was regularly called upon last minute to change lightbulbs at the mayor's home, or replace the batteries in his kids' toys. He is cited in the police report describing several duties, including buying cigarettes, bleach, laundry detergent and Diet Coke for the mayor's wife. (Page 110)

 

Drinking and driving

 

The mayor once stopped his car to drink a "mickey" of vodka with Gatorade, Fickel says, according to the police documents. In a police phone interview detailed in the report, former events co-ordinator Jennifer Dwyer said she was a nervous passenger in Ford's car, and that Ford once drove her to a 2012 event and was impaired. Police say that Dwyer told them the mayor was driving fast and she was nervous in the vehicle. (Page 73, 133)

 

Vodka

 

Police say they were told that the mayor has also asked another staffer, Nico Fidani, to buy vodka for him and deliver it to his home. Fickel is cited in the police as saying this was common for the mayor to ask young staffers to buy him Iceberg vodka. (Page 95. 114, 115, 135)

 

Emotional about father

 

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denies allegations he used crack cocaine at a press conference on May 24, 2013. The U.S. website Gawker and the Toronto Star reported seeing the mayor smoke what appears to be crack cocaine in the company of drug dealers earlier this month. The drug allegations are the latest in a series of events that have kept Ford in the headlines since his election in 2010.

 

In the police document, Ransom says Ford's mood changed quickly after being removed from the Bier Markt bar on St. Patrick's Day 2012. Ransom says the mayor broke down and began crying about his father. Police say they were told that the mayor has also phoned Kia Nejatian once or twice from his father's grave, and sounded like he was crying. (Page 135, 155)

 

Crude sexual remarks

 

Police say that according to Ford staffers, the mayor targeted his former special assistant, Olivia Gondek, in crude sexual remarks on the evening of St. Patrick's Day 2012. The police documents say that inappropriate comments continued around 4 a.m. at City Hall, when the mayor told a female guard he was going to perform a sexual act on her. (Page 156)

[LayZie G.]

 

 

 

JOE WARMINGTON | QMI AGENCY

 

 

 

AIRING MONDAY AT 8PM ET - Rogers 142/567, Bell 506, Shaw Digital 177, Shaw Direct 149, Bell Fibe 518/1518

 

Every TV station wants Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.

 

But it's Sun News Network that has landed the hottest man on the airwaves.

If you have loved or even hated the Ford Show so far, stayed tuned because there's more to come.

 

The Rob and Doug Ford Show is coming to Sun News Network.

 

You read it right.

 

The Fords are about to relaunch their on-air platform, this time on the small screen.

 

The brothers have agreed to terms with Sun News to pick up where they left off with their much-listened-to show The City on Newstalk 1010. That show ended its run last week and a lot of people missed it last Sunday.

 

SHOCKING DETAILS: Tales of booze, drugs, suspected escorts in new Rob Ford docs

 

Mostly the Fords.

 

"Rob is like Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh," said Councillor Ford. "You just never know what he is going to say."

 

Well, they will be back on the air Monday.

 

LORRIE GOLDSTEIN: New Rob Ford show but same Sun position

 

The show, to be called Ford Nation, will air Mondays at 8 p.m. on Sun News Network.

 

"Following the cancellation of their top-rated radio show, we approached the Fords about hosting a show on our network," said Kory Teneycke, Sun News Network vice-president. "We are delighted to announce they have agreed."

 

Details of the show are to be unveiled in the coming days. The Ford brothers are expected to broadcast from the Ontario St. studio and there will be other, in-the-field components to the show.

 

Sun News Network personalities will appear including David 'The Menzoid' Menzies.

 

LEWD WARNING: Ford denies oral sex allegations, admits drinking and driving

 

"From day one the mayor's enemies, the left and red Tories, were going after his conservatism," said Menzies. "That didn't work so now they are going after this private life.

 

"There is such a double standard. How come he is the only one with issues being hounded? The one thing one Ford Nation supporters say to me is ... 'Rob has personal demons that are difficult to defend' but unlike some of the gangsters at Queens Park, he doesn't have his hands in our wallet," added Menzies.

 

The show is going to be fun because Doug - himself offering up his own share of great quotes - is right when he says you never do know what is going to come out of the embattled mayor's mouth.

 

Rob Ford has admitted he has smoked crack cocaine, purchased illegal drugs and has driven after drinking. But, as an elected mayor, he can't be taken out of the job unless he decides to do so himself.

 

 

 

He has insisted he is not leaving and will be running in next year's election.

 

In recent weeks, Rob Ford has become an international media phenomenon and a staple of late night comedy shows.

 

Council has set on a path to try to remove some of his powers as mayor while they bang drums insisting he just go away.

 

They will all be watching Ford Nation on Sun News Network.

 

The mayor and his brother, will have the opportunity to express their views on events past and future. News networks like CNN regularly broadcast his latest utterings.

 

Mayor Ford seems to be in a no-holds-barred mode. There is no filter. There is no careful treading.

 

Take for example earlier Thursday when he fought back against accusations a friend was identified possibly as an escort or prostitute by former staff in police documents.

 

"It makes me sick how people are saying this, I can't put up with it anymore," Ford told reporters. "I have never had a prostitute here. It is very hurtful to my wife."

 

The mayor feels he is being piled on.

 

This show will give him a chance to fight back on his own terms.

 

"We are in the age of reality TV and it doesn't get more real than the Fords," said Teneycke.

 

The reality starts Monday on Sun News Network.

 

AIRING MONDAY AT 8PM ET - Rogers 142/567, Bell 506, Shaw Digital 177, Shaw Direct 149, Bell Fibe 518/1518

[LayZie G.]

Sun news executives are smart business men. Ratings anyone?LOL

 

[Safferz]

Tell me this is a joke, LayZie.

[Raamsade]

This is a circus! Even the Iron Sheik is miffed with Rob Ford.