Updated: November 15, 2013, 1:07 PM
Even with the allegations of crack smoking, patronizing prostitutes, sexual harassment, and drunk driving, there are still plenty of details to reveal about the now-infamous Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
Canadian courts releasednearly 500 pages of documents on Wednesday, and TPM did a deep dive on the pages that describe disturbing allegations of the embattled Toronto mayor engaging in oxycontin abuse, sexual harassment, and drunken brawls. The accounts come from police interviews with erstwhile members of Ford’s inner circle released as past of an application for a search warrant for an alleged drug dealer linked to Ford.
Ford spoke to reporters Thursday and, in characteristically colorful language, vehemently denied the accusations. He also threatened to take legal action against three of the former staffers who spoke to the cops.
Toronto’s City Council voted Friday to curtail Ford’s powers in an emergency and to ask him to take a leave of absence, but this saga shows no sign of ending. The Council cannot compel him to leave office and he has vowed to fight the limits on his power in court.
With that in mind, here are some of TPM’s favorite details from the document drop.
1) The Wrath of Ford: Toronto Mayor Hurls Racist And Sexist Insults
Several interviews with staffers detail an especially epic evening Ford had on St. Patrick’s Day last year. These stories show what it is like to be berated by the mayor.
According to various accounts, Ford allegedly did cocaine and/or oxycontin while at a bar that night. On the way to the bar, Ransom said multiple other staffers told him Ford “took a cab to the bar and started calling the taxi driver a Paki, threw business cards at him and made mocking fake language sounds.”
The cabbie wasn’t the only person Ford allegedly insulted that night. At the bar, Ransom said Ford “stumbled around the dance floor and fell down.” Ransom said staff eventually “covered up” Ford with some coats and “escorted” him into a taxi back to City Hall “with the help of security.” Once he was back at City Hall, investigators said Ransom described Ford, an independent who has been affiliated with the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, going off on a “tangent” where he insulted multiple staffers who were members of the Liberal Party. According to the documents, Ransom said Ford called the staffers “Liberal bitches” and “Liberal hacks.” police said Ransom claimed Ford eventually “pushed” one of the staffers “into a wall” and “charged at” another.
Afterward, Ransom said Ford “became inappropriate” with Olivia Gondek, a former staffer who was present. According to the documents, Ransom described Ford saying “I’m going to eat you out” and “I banged your pussy” to Gondek. Ford explicitly denied saying that Thursday noting that he has “more than enough to eat at home.” However, Ransom said Gondek wasn’t the only one Ford vowed to perform cunnilingus on. Police said that, on the way out of City Hall at about 4 o’clock the next morning, Ransom claimed Ford “told a female guard” that he “was going to eat her box.”
2) Phone Calls During Which He Was ‘Peeing In The Background’
All of that vodka allegedly resulted in Ford making many drunk dials. According to the documents, Ford’s former press secretary George Christopoulos told police he “had phone conversations in the past” where Ford was “speaking very quickly” and it was “almost like he saying (sic) ’90 words in 15 seconds.'”
“These calls would always come late at night or very early in the morning,” officers wrote in their summary of the interview with Christopoulos. “One specific incident was when he (Ford) was calling from his father’s grave site with 2 of his friends.”
Investigators also wrote that Ford’s former special assistant of communications, Isaac Ransom, told them he “once received a pocket dial and could hear Mayor FORD peeing in the background.” Police said Ford’s ex-chief of staff, Mark Towhey told them he “received numerous ‘pocket dials’ from the Mayor” and that Ford “was pretty infamous for these types of calls.” Towhey allegedly described one instance where he “stayed on the line for about five minutes” and “it was obvious that the Mayor was out partying and drinking and sounded pretty intoxicated.”
3) ‘The House Looked Like It Was Falling Apart And Messy’
One story in the court documents includes a description of what it’s like inside Ford’s home. It’s apparently rather messy.
The documents indicate Fickel told police that Ford once asked him to come over to his house and fix a computer. Fickel said he was on a date at the time and left his girlfriend, Victoria Hills, in a car outside. However, Fickel said Ford insisted on inviting Hills in after a few minutes because he “thought it would impress her.”
“FICKEL did not want to bring HILLS inside because the house looked like it was falling apart and messy. There was heavy cigarette smoke and clothes everywhere in the house,” police wrote in their summary of the interview with Fickel.
4) Ford ‘Would Try To Get Out Of Doing Ethnic Media Events’
Though the documents include tales of Ford making surprise appearances in convenience stores, parties, and on public transportation late at night, they also detail the types of events Ford allegedly would never go to. Ransom told investigators Ford “would not do any media events before 1100 AM unless it was a very special event.”
Ransom also said Ford “would try to get out of doing ethnic media events, meetings with international politicians and ambassadors.” Sadly, the documents didn’t go into detail about Ford’s reasons for avoiding these “ethnic” events. After February, Ford apparently also could not be found at nighttime public events. In one of his interviews with police, Towhey said he ” removed all evening events from the Mayor’s schedule” after an incident where Ford allegedly showed up to a military ball intoxicated with his children in tow and was asked to leave.
5) Ford’s ‘Marihuana Cigarette’
Several staffers allegedly described Ford using marijuana including Towhey who said another staffer told him he once “found a marihuana cigarette in the Mayor’s desk” at City Hall. Police said the joint was “already gone” when the staffer tried to show it to him. The documents also describe a few stories of the mayor’s conduct after he allegedly smoked weed.
When they were at Ford’s home, Hills and Fickel both told investigators the Mayor smoked a “marihuana cigarette” in their presence and invited them to join in. In an interview with police, Hills described what happened once Ford began to smoke.
“After smoking the joint the Mayor became louder and more open than he was when HILLS arrived,” police wrote in their summary of an interview with Hills.
Investigators said Hill also described Ford becoming somewhat paranoid after smoking the marijuana.
“At one point while the Mayor was smoking the joint HILLS was texting her mother on her cell phone. The Mayor said ‘I hope you’re not taking a picture of me.’ She told him that she was not,” police wrote in their summary of the interview.
Investigators said Christopoulos described staffers contacted by multiple women who said they smoked marijuana with Ford and that he “provided” the drugs. Apparently, Ford had a habit of making job offers to his female smoking buddies.
“In the past women have come to the office and told staffers that they have smoked a joint with the Mayor on the street outside of the bar. These women were told by the Mayor that they could have a job,” investigators wrote in their summary of an interview with Christopoulos.
6) ‘The Smoothest, Best Tasting Vodka’
According to Ford’s former special assistant Nico Fidani, vodka is the mayor’s “favourite drink.” Another former assistant, Chris Fickel, told investigators it was a “regular occurrence” for Ford to ask “young staffers” to buy him alcohol and that these requests could happen “at any time during the day.” Fickel indicated that Ford had a preferred vodka brand and “always wanted Iceberg vodka.” Iceberg, which is made from water harvested from melting ice in the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, is billed as “the smoothest, best tasting vodka.”
In late July, the documents indicated investigators went through Ford’s garbage and found an empty bottle of Iceberg, an empty bottle of “Russian Prince” vodka, and receipts from McDonald’s.
If you’d like more details of Ford’s alleged misbehavior, you can read the full court documents below courtesy of the Toronto Star.
BRAZEN-Part1and2.pdf by torontostar
Photo credits: 1) AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette; 2) AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young; 3) AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young; 4) AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young; 5) AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Michelle Siu
