Councillor Doug Ford delivered a speech in which he did not directly deny the allegations facing his brother, lambasted the assembled media, talked at length about unrelated issues, and took no questions.
Experts in damage control were aghast on Wednesday at the handling of a six-day-old crack cocaine crisis that shows no sign of waning. Robin Sears , a top crisis communications advisor, said Rob Ford should address the scandal at once.
“I cannot understand why it is they don’t understand that this is only going to get worse unless they deal with it more directly. It’s just mind-boggling,” Sears said in an interview.
“It’s kind of like communications strategy 101. This is going to go into the textbooks of how not to do something like this. He will not be able to appear in a public place without being, as Doug says, ‘harassed’ by the media from now until he does (speak). I don’t know, am I overstating things? It just seems so blindingly obvious.”
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Transcript of Doug Ford's statement at City Hall
Rob Ford’s former press secretary Adrienne Batra joined in the criticism. Ford is “clearly hunkering down, clearly waiting this out,” Batra told Global , but “needs to say something.”
“The silence is deafening right now,” Batra said. “He has created a vacuum, and that vacuum is being filled by the likes of us and his political opposition.”
The Star and the U.S. website Gawker reported Thursday about a video in which Rob Ford appears to smoke crack cocaine and utter an anti-gay slur. Ford has not addressed the reports in detail, though he did call them “ridiculous” and “absolutely not true” on Friday.
Ford’s council allies and conservative pundits sympathetic to him have also demanded that he explain himself. But Doug Ford began his speech by suggesting that his brother has already said enough.
“I’m not speaking for the mayor. The mayor’s my brother. I love him and he’ll speak for himself. He has already addressed these allegations three times on Friday. I don’t know how much more he can say,” Doug Ford said. “My brother is an honest and hard-working man with integrity, a man who has dedicated his life to serving others.”
Doug Ford stopped short of declaring the reports false, but did say: “Rob is telling me these stories are untrue, that these accusations are ridiculous, and I believe him. I will always support my brother as the mayor of this city because I believe in his track record.”
The video, which the Star is not able to verify, is being shopped around by men involved in the drug trade in exchange for a “six-figure” payment. The Star and Gawker did not pay, but Gawker is now attempting to raise $200,000 from citizens to make the purchase.
Its effort has surpassed $122,000. Police Chief Bill Blair, asked Wednesday what would happen if the Gawker campaign was successful, said the police will “closely monitor that and if any evidence of a criminal act arises from that, we’ll deal with that.”
Blair wouldn’t say whether the police were conducting an investigation into Ford’s apparent presence in the video. “We’re closely monitoring everything that transpires and all the information that arises regarding that matter,” Blair said.
Police board chair Alok Mukherjee said the allegations are “a serious matter.”
“Like any other resident of Toronto, I would like to see it cleared up,” Mukherjee said.
Ford was questioned by CTV reporter Austin Delaney in and outside a Tim Hortons outlet. Ford offered only jokes in response, suggesting that Delaney go “camp” at city hall and wait for a statement.
“Make sure you pick up your pillow and your sleeping bag, partner,” Ford said. “Or do you want me to make your bed for you tonight?”
Doug Ford devoted much of his speech to a recitation of what he said were the mayor’s accomplishments. Repeatedly interrupted by reporters with questions about the scandal, he left without answering any of them — in such haste that he left behind one of the pages of his prepared text.
“If the mayor stopped and held a press conference every time the media made up a story about him, we would never have accomplished what we have,” Doug Ford said. “If the mayor wants to make a statement, his press secretary will notify the media.”
Source: thestar.com
Author: Daniel Dale
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