CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes will be taking some more comedy shots at Mayor Rob Ford Tuesday night.
The show has two pieces on Ford tonight at 8:30 p.m.
I’m told Ford’s troubles with geography – which surfaced during his trip to Chicago last week – will make the show along with a parody sketch about Ford’s new reality show – “Robbie Boo Boo”.
Considering what happened the last time 22 Minutes took on Ford (story here), tonight’s show will probably go better.
The Ford brothers (Toronto Sun illustration)
Back from Chicago, the Ford brothers took to their Newstalk 1010 radio show Sunday and opened fire on … “the media.”
While the first hour of the show was dedicated to recapping the Team Toronto trip to Chicago, the Fords spent a few minutes in the second hour taking swipes at “the media”.
If you hear the segment or read the quotes below it seems the new key message for the Ford administration is “the media” is the enemy. The Fords seem particularly miffed at the “nasty folks” (their words) from “the media” who came down to Chicago to cover the Team Toronto trip.
(Full disclosure – I went to Chicago and wrote about it here, here, here, here, here and here. Along with blog posts here, here, here and here)
Here’s a rundown of some of what the Fords said Sunday:
“I don’t know what they want. I guess they want a bankruptcy. I guess they want a ghost town. I don’t know what they want.”
- Mayor Rob Ford on “the media”
“We’re the only two elected officials Rob that in recent memory … number one put a halt on the gravy train but number two talks back to the media. They have this sense of entitlement, the media, that they can go in there and write the stories. Let me say something folks when you go back at the media, man, they are like a bunch of little, sucky little kids - whine and cry and moan, they sensationalize and they lie through their teeth.”
- Councillor Doug Ford on “the media”
“Lie? They are pathological liars that is what drives me nuts.”
- Mayor Rob Ford on “the media”
“You don’t take anything good about all the positive stuff we say, it is just a couple of negative things.”
- Mayor Rob Ford on “the media” and particularly miffed the Newstalk 1010 newscast in between the first hour and second hour of the show questioned his claim the trip won’t cost taxpayers a dime
“Don’t worry about it Rob. Even the folks in Chicago they said, the media came up to me, the (Chicago) Tribune and the Wall Street Journal – not just me three other people – and they said, ‘What is wrong with your media? They’re embarrassing your city.’”
- Councillor Doug Ford
“It’s true the Chicago media was shocked.”
- Mayor Rob Ford
“And grow up.”
Mayor Rob Ford to the media
“I want to thank 1010 for giving us two hours, it is very kind of them, to inform the taxpayers in this city. I don’t think the other side of the story gets out very much. But the truth comes out every Sunday between 1 and 3.”
Mayor Rob Ford later in the show
“We battle it out with 1010 sometime.”
Councillor Doug Ford
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson (Don Peat/Toronto Sun)
Mayor Rob Ford didn’t make any gaffes during the second day of his Chicago trip – but he did joke about almost making one.
After a speech to the Team Toronto luncheon hosted by BMO Financial Group Wednesday by U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson, Ford presented him with a CFL football and invited him to come to Toronto for the 100th Grey Cup game in November.
“Next to politics, my next love (pause) besides my kids and my wife. I caught that don’t worry. That was almost a fumble but we recovered,” Ford told the crowd as they laughed and applauded. “(My qualified next love) is this great game called football. Folks, it is phenomenal, I love coaching the kids and you’re doing a phenomenal job. And I want thank everybody for being here and hope to see you back in Toronto very, very soon.”
The mayor’s trip to Chicago hasn’t been without gaffes.
On Tuesday, Ford toured Chicago’s Millennium Park to kickoff the start of his two-day Team Toronto Business Mission but ended up shouting down questions about taxpayer-funds being used to help the high school football team he coaches.
And during a friendly chat with Chicago residents, he ended up mistakenly saying Manitoba was across from Detroit — rather than Windsor.
Councillor Doug Ford blitzed a lot of media outlets (including the Sun, story here) in the last two days to defend his brother Mayor Rob Ford against allegations he is using his taxpayer-funded staff on the football field.
Ford went on AM640 this morning and promised the mayor’s office would bring out the staff under scrutiny to speak to the media.
The mayor’s office was quick to respond that staff wouldn’t be brought out to speak to the media to “clear the air” as the councillor had promised.
“That will not happen,” Ford’s press secretary said.
But the mayor’s office added a little more distance between Councillor Ford and Mayor Ford late Thursday.
Mark Towhey, Mayor Rob Ford’s chief of staff, provided this statement clarifying the line between the two brothers:
Councillor Ford speaks for Ward 2 and he’s Vice Chair of Budget Committee and Build Toronto among other official functions. He has insightful opinions on many issues but he does not speak for the Mayor or the Mayor’s Office. Mayor Ford speaks for himself. When the Mayor is unavailable, his Press Secretary may speak for him. No one else normally does.
Doug and Rob in the studio at NEWSTALK 1010 earlier this year (Sun file photo)
Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Doug Ford will be back on NEWSTALK 1010 next Sunday bellying up to the microphones to revive their two-hour live radio show.
After a summer hiatus, Mayor Ford announced his return to talk radio on Friday night during an interview on (where else) NEWSTALK 1010.
The radio station had a live broadcast of the show Friendly Fire from Ford Fest in Etobicoke and both the mayor and Councillor Ford did separate interviews during the night.
“It is going to be a fiery show,” Mayor Ford predicted.
While Ford didn’t say much about the upcoming show, it is fair to say the Fords often make news (intentionally or unintentionally) during the uncensored and usually unscripted Sunday afternoon show. That means most councillors, City Hall reporters and other municipal politics watchers will be tuning in starting at 1 p.m. (whether they want to or not).
And it seems lots of others also tune into the show. Before the summer break NEWSTALK 1010 crowed that the audience of The City (that’s the show’s official name) “more than doubled” once the Fords took over back in February.
And they say video killed the radio star.
Mayor Rob Ford runs past reporters as he leaves court Wednesday (Dave Abel/Toronto Sun)
It’s not every day the mayor of Canada’s largest city takes the stand and testifies in open court (story here). Here’s a rundown of some of the quotable quotes from Mayor Rob Ford’s testimony on Wednesday:
“We deal with millions of dollars and I watch the money,” Mayor Rob Ford told the court.
“I’m sure you watch the money,” Clayton Ruby responded.
At one point Ruby asked Ford if he had ever read the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.
“I’ve never read that before,” Ford said.
“You have to have read it,” Ruby said, adding they read it at Ford’s deposition in June.
“You read it to me, but I haven’t read it,” Ford said.
Ruby asked Ford if he would agree he had a “special responsibility” to lead in the area of conflict of interest legislation. Ford disagreed.
“I just get one vote, I’m just one member of council,” the mayor said. “I don’t consider myself special.”
Ford added that he can’t be responsible for 44 members of council.
“He disagrees with the integrity commissioner, so what?” Ford’s lawyer Alan Lenczner objecting to one of Ruby’s questions.
“Sir, with all due respect I don’t see what page we’re on,” Ford to Ruby when during his testimony they literally were not on the same page.
After listing a number of integrity commissioner reports critical of Ford, Ruby asks if they bother him.
“Do you find it embarrassing to have all these reports criticizing you?” Ruby asked.
“I’m not embarrassed about my job or what I (do), my political career I think I’ve done very well at it,” Ford responded.
“I don’t believe I had a conflict of interest on that day,” Ford to court on the Feb. 7 council meeting.
“In my opinion, municipal politics has hit an all-time low. They are obviously upset with the election results,” Councillor Doug Ford on AM640’s Arlene Bynon Show after Wednesday’s hearing
Mark Towhey, Mayor Rob Ford’s chief of staff (Photo by Don Peat, Toronto Sun)
Mark Towhey has his first day as Mayor Rob Ford’s chief of staff Monday.
Last week Ford tapped Towhey to be his new chief of staff. He replaces acting chief of staff Earl Provost. Provost was appointed to the interim role when Amir Remtulla stepped down as chief of staff to head to a job at the Pan Am Games.
Towhey was Ford’s director of policy up until the new appointment and is often referred to in articles as the mayor’s “Rasputin”.
No word yet on how Towhey’s first day as chief of staff has gone. I’m told the mayor himself is still on vacation (he’s made some headlines during his trip to Alberta. Story on his stop in Calgary here and his stop in Edmonton here) but is expected to be back at work Tuesday.
Here’s the announcement sent out by Ford’s office on August 15:
Mayor Ford appoints new Chief of Staff
Mayor Rob Ford today announced the appointment of Mark Towhey as his Chief of Staff, effective August 20th. Towhey had previously been Mayor Ford’s Director of Policy and Strategic Planning since December 1, 2010.
“Mark has been a key leader on my team since the very beginning of my campaign in 2010,” said Mayor Ford. “He is a trusted advisor and well-respected in my office. He knows my objectives better than anyone and will help ensure we achieve them over the next two years.”
“I’m looking forward to taking on this new role,” said Towhey. “The Mayor has an impressive list of accomplishments from his first 21 months in office. However, there is still a great deal to be done over the next two years. I look forward to working closely with Mayor Ford, his Executive Committee and City Council to help them get that work done.”
Prior to joining the Ford for Mayor Campaign in early 2010, Towhey was a management consultant working with private and public sector clients in Canada and the U.S.A. and with international organizations in conflict-affected areas worldwide. Towhey holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University and was a Certified Management Consultant.
Mayor Ford also expressed his thanks to Acting Chief of Staff, Earl Provost, who will continue to serve as Director of Stakeholder and Council Relations.
“In addition to his normal duties, I want to thank Earl for his work over the past few weeks,” said Mayor Ford. “Earl is an important member of my team who continues to do the work needed with Councillors, staff and stakeholders.”
Mayor Rob Ford’s office loves releasing Twitter pictures of the mayor doing things.
Ford’s press secretary George Christopoulos took to Twitter last night to release a photo of the mayor “working” in his hospital bed (see above photo). I put working in quotation marks because I have no way of knowing if the mayor is actually working or what’s on those papers.
Here’s the tweet Christopoulos posted:
What’s the message from the mayor’s office here? Pretty simple: Despite being in hospital, Mayor Ford is TCB.
Whether that’s true or not, that’s the message his staff is pushing.
Full disclosure: I’m away on vacation.
But just because I’m off doesn’t mean the news stops. Sure enough, just a day into my vacation Mayor Rob Ford was admitted to hospital Tuesday. Yup, news doesn’t take a vacation.
Here’s the statement from his office late Wednesday:
Statement from the Office of Mayor Rob Ford
Yesterday morning, Mayor Rob Ford missed an important announcement due to what was believed to be an adverse reaction to food. He was very disappointed to miss the event, a major milestone in the privatization of residential waste pick up in Toronto. It was the fulfillment of a promise he’d made during the campaign and he very much wanted to be there.
Last evening, Mayor Ford went to a local hospital where he was seen by a physician and subsequently admitted for overnight observation. Since then, he has undergone a number of routine tests and remains under doctor’s care. Doctors have identified an irritation in the mayor’s throat and stomach which have aggravated his asthma and he is being treated for those conditions.
The Mayor is in good spirits and is resting comfortably. He is looking forward to going home as soon as doctors allow.
Mayor Ford extends his sincere thanks to everyone who has expressed their concern and well wishes. The support has been wonderful.
The Mayor understands and appreciates the media interest in his health, however, he would ask that media respect the privacy of his family members as they come and go while visiting.
Toronto Sun entertainment writer Jim Slotek interviewed Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis following their meeting with Mayor Rob Ford at the Hockey Hall of Fame Monday (story here).
Here’s the Hollywood stars’ brief thoughts on Ford:
Slotek: So did you and our mayor hit it off?
Ferrell: Your mayor is a very nice fellow. And he gave us a lot of paraphernalia.
Galifianakis: I got a lot of stickers. What’s his platform?
Slotek: Um, The War Against Cars is one. He wants to make the roads more automobile friendly, make it easier for cars to get around.
Galifianakis: Oh yeah, I heard Toronto has a big bike-versus-cars thing. I don’t think I agree with your mayor on that one.
Don Peat is the City Hall bureau chief for the Toronto Sun. He covers municipal affairs at Toronto City Hall, a beat that has him writing about everything from garbage to transit to taxes to multimillion-dollar spending scandals.
Follow @reporterdonpeat
