Staffer Chris Fickel’s participation in practice contradicts the only explanation so far given by Ford’s office as to why his political aides are involved in his football programs — that staff members accompany the mayor “in order to assist him in his official duties.”
At 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, as Fickel joined the Don Bosco Eagles in the school auditorium to study game film, Ford was in Chicago for an official trade mission.
Ford has refused to apologize and insisted he has done nothing wrong. The fact that Fickel drove to Don Bosco during business hours in a city car even as reporters closely monitor each football practice signals that Ford has no intention of backing down.
Ford was asked while visiting Chicago’s Millennium Park whether it was appropriate his staffer had used a city car to help coach the team. Ford tersely replied: “The car that I paid for, right?” He continued, “Do your homework. I paid for it last year.”
· Related: Read a transcript of the exchange
Fickel drove his own car to a practice last week, but the licence plate on the silver Ford Fusion he drove Tuesday is registered to the City of Toronto. Former Ford staffers have told the Star that the mayor’s aides regularly take cars from the city fleet to games and practices.
City expense reports from 2011 show that the mayor reimburses the city for a portion of his office’s fuel and vehicle maintenance costs. In November, he paid the city $1,078.92 towards a bill of $1,972.95. Records do not show any additional reimbursement up until June 15 of 2012.
Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said regardless of whether Ford pays for fuel, city vehicles should be used for city business alone.
Pressed by a male reporter on whether he was misusing city resources, Ford said, “Are you going to be sleeping with me tonight?” He then said, “Go home, go where you came from.” When another reporter asked whether he is going to continue to allow the use of city resources for football, Ford responded, “How does this create jobs?”
The “sleeping with me” comment appeared to reference a joke Ford made on his radio show Sunday. Criticizing the media’s coverage of the story, Ford said he half-expected to roll over in bed and see reporters peeking in his window.
When a caller to the show asked Ford how he justifies using city resources for personal use, given his history of criticizing such transgressions, he replied, “It’s not true. With all due respect. I haven’t been using my office resources. That’s where the misnomer comes in.”
It has been one week since news broke that Ford has been using his staff and taxpayer-funded cars and cellphones to help run his high school and summer football teams. Ford has broadly denied the allegations but has not explained why they are incorrect.
The controversy erupted two days after he left a meeting of his powerful executive committee more than five hours before it ended to coach Don Bosco at a four-team scrimmage.
“If I’m not there, the kids don’t play,” he told reporters.
But on Tuesday, football carried on without him. Fickel and another Don Bosco coach, John Royiwsky, attended the indoor practice.
Fickel is one of two staffers listed as primary contacts on the Facebook page for the Rexdale Raiders, Ford’s summer football program. The other is Isaac Shirokoff, who left the office this summer. Ford recently hired former University of Toronto quarterback Andrew Gillis, who has also been seen at a September practice.
Ford’s statement last week did not deny that staffers assisted with football-related duties, but it also said they put in “at least” 40-hour weeks of regular work, “often more.”
Shirokoff’s emails from the height of last year’s football season, obtained through freedom of information law, show that he did indeed spend considerable time doing the work usually expected of a young staffer: arranging meetings between Ford and residents, passing along requests from Ford to city officials, and handling phone calls.
Football work is not mentioned once in the 312 pages of messages he sent from his city account between July through October 2011.
Shirokoff, however, listed a separate Gmail account, which is not subject to freedom of information law requests, on the Facebook page for Ford’s Rexdale Raiders. And his city emails do not make it clear just how many hours he devoted to regular work and how much to football. Ford has refused to offer details, and one source told the Star that the staffers who helped with football were given a “good amount of constituent work, just in case reporters ever came knocking.”
Shirokoff is a Queen’s University engineering graduate who has now returned to school. His emails employed a highly professional tone.
“The mayor was contacted by a gentleman named (redacted) who has been having serious problems with garbage collection in the George Street area,” read one typical email, this one to former waste chief Vince Sferrazza. “Can you please have someone from your office contact him directly? Thank you.”
“It was a pleasure meeting you last night at the National Ballet School. I know the Mayor, (senior aide) Earl (Provost), and I had a very nice time, and you were an integral part of that,” read another email.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Robyn Doolittle and Daniel Dale
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