Rob Ford crack video scandal: Letter from watchdog prompts Ford denial

Ontario’s information commissioner wrote a strongly worded letter of concern to Mayor Rob Ford over the possibility that emails and phone records of former staffers were ordered destroyed, prompting a terse denial on Thursday from his office.

In the letter, sent Wednesday, the province’s transparency watchdog Ann Cavoukian asked the mayor to “immediately confirm that these records have not, nor will be, destroyed.” If they had already been deleted, she asked the mayor to provide details of lost records and “immediately take all necessary steps” to recover them.

“Any inappropriate destruction of records has the potential to seriously erode the public’s trust and confidence in the City of Toronto as an accountable and transparent government institution,” Cavoukian wrote.

The Star reported on Wednesday that records of three former Ford staffers could be in danger after sources warned city employees were directed to delete them.

The Star has not verified the information but is continuing to try.

“The city has not received a request from anyone in the mayor’s office to destroy records,” director of communications Jackie DeSouza said in an email Wednesday.

The staffers — Mark Towhey, George Christopoulos and Isaac Ransom — were the first three members of Ford’s team to resign or get fired amid the mayor’s ongoing crack cocaine scandal.

The Star sent a request late Wednesday to the city asking for email and phone records of the three staffers in question for the time period during which the video at the heart of the scandal has been discussed. The video, seen by two Star reporters and an editor from U.S. website Gawker, appears to show Ford smoking crack and making homophobic and racially charged remarks.

Two others, adviser Brian Johnston and executive assistant Kia Nejatian, stepped down on Thursday.

In a one line, emailed reply to Cavoukian’s letter, Ford’s camp said: “At no point did any member of the mayor’s office order the records of former employees to be erased.”

The missive indicated an “official response” would follow in the mail.

On Thursday, Cavoukian said that she was “comforted” by the reply.

“What I take from that is, there was no directive or order from the mayor’s office . . . to erase records,” she said. “I’m not concerned, because they didn’t challenge what I was saying in the letter.”

Ford’s interim press secretary Sunny Petrujkic did not respond to requests for comment.

Records of political staffers at City Hall are automatically preserved and subject to the public’s right to access under freedom of information law.

Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author:  Alex Ballingall