Rob Ford hires Don Bosco assistant football coach for mayor’s office

Mayor Rob Ford, who was dismissed as head football coach at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary on Wednesday, has hired one of his assistant coaches and former players to work in the mayor’s office.

Xhejsi Hasko, known as J.C., started on the job on May 13. His title is special assistant.

Hasko is also listed as an assistant coach on Don Bosco’s playoff game rosters from 2012.

Hasko, a 21-year-old who immigrated to Etobicoke from Albania by way of Ohio, starred on defence for the Don Bosco team Ford coached in 2009. He joined the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in 2010 but left the football program before the 2011 season, U of T head coach Greg Gary said Monday.

“When I first got here, he was on our roster, and then I don’t know, he came in and said, ‘Coach, I have a lot of stuff on the go, not going to be able to play this year,’ and then he wasn’t around,” Gary said.

Ford’s press secretary did not respond Monday morning to a request for information on why Hasko was hired.

Hasko is the third former Varsity Blues player Ford has added to the city payroll since he was elected mayor. Andrew Gillis, U of T’s former quarterback, worked as a special assistant for Ford in 2012 before leaving to play professional football in France. Michael Prempeh, another special assistant, also played at U of T.

Two other special assistants, Chris Fickel and former staffer Isaac Shirokoff, controversially helped Ford coach Don Bosco and run his summer team, the Rexdale Raiders. Fickel, now acting executive assistant to the chief of staff, has also made donation offers on behalf of Ford’s football foundation. And Earl Provost, now acting chief of staff, emailed a senior provincial official to request government money for improvements to Don Bosco’s field.

David Price, another recent Ford hire, has identified himself to a Star reporter as Ford’s own former high school football coach. The Globe and Mail reported Saturday that Price was an associate of Councillor Doug Ford in the early 1980s, when the Globe claimed Doug Ford was a dealer of hashish.

Doug Ford has vehemently denied the report, calling it entirely false and saying he was never a dealer of hashish. David Price has declined to comment.

Price’s title is director of operations and logistics. Price and other Ford officials have refused to explain what his job duties are.

Ford also hired another new special assistant who began May 13: Brendan Croskerry, a musician who is playing at the NXNE festival in June. Croskerry, 27, wrote “FORD NATION” on Twitter on Friday, then retweeted a joke written by Mark Towhey, the chief of staff Ford fired on Thursday.

Croskerry’s LinkedIn page says he graduated from Acadia University in 2007 with a bachelor of arts in economics and Spanish. It says he was a Universal Music recording artist from 2005 to 2010, then the head musical composer for boutique marketing firm Ossington Creative.

Croskerry is still listed on Ossington Creative’s website. Ossington’s Kent Plummer said he could not say anything about Croskerry or his employment status when contacted on Monday.

“I can’t say that he left my company. I can’t comment on anything. Sorry,” Plummer said.

Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author:   Daniel Dale