Ford friend and now staffer was radio caller
Comrade Miller and his loony tune socialists
Councillor doug Ford says he did not ask a long-time friend, and now member of the mayor’s office, to call in to the radio show he and Rob Ford host on Sundays.
CBC reported Tuesday that david Price made it on the air to the Newstalk 1010 program at least six times before he assumed the high-profile position of director of operations and logistics for Mayor Ford.
The caller was identified as “dave” from Scarborough, Georgetown or etobicoke.
Councillor Ford said he didn’t know it was his old chum and former campaign manager at the time of the calls, but in conversation afterward Mr. Price revealed he had called in.
“I told him don’t call in. No one in the mayor’s office is allowed to call in,” said Mr. Ford, who considers the story to be a “joke.”
“We get thousands of people over a year and a half from Ford Nation calling in, and probably repetitive calls. We don’t say, ‘Hello, Susie, is this you that I worked on your campaign three years ago,’ ” said Mr. Ford.
“I don’t tell people to call in. I never have and I never will,” he added, after encouraging Ford Nation to call the show. “Voice your opinion, good or bad, we’ll take your call,” he said.
Neither Mr. Price nor the mayor’s office has responded to requests for comment.
Mark Towhey, the mayor’s former chief of staff, said he knew Mr. Price had called in to the program because he recognized his voice, but as far as he could tell it happened before the mayor hired him.
“We were not happy about it for two reasons,” he wrote in a message to the National Post. “First, he tended to ratchet up the rhetoric in a way that wasn’t helpful. Second, we were concerned his association with doug would become known and would reflect badly on the mayor and his show.” Mr. Towhey said the mayor’s of- fice tried to have Mr. Price screened out, but it was difficult because screening was done by Newstalk staff.
In May of last year, a “dave from etobicoke” called in to rail against the plastic bag fee.
“It’s ludicrous and asinine that Comrade [former mayor david] Miller and his merry band of Big Brother, I-knowbetter-than-you, paternalistic, heavy-handed, loony-tune socialists should still be setting the agenda in this great city of Toronto,” the caller said.
On another occasion, “dave from Georgetown” said it was an “absolute distinct pleasure” to be on the show, before ripping into how Section 37 fees are used. “I actually had to check my watch, sorry my Gregorian calendar, to see what century we’re in. I mean, this is feudalism, this is councillors being the lord of the manor and dictating what goes on,” he said.
during a third exchange, “dave” praised the mayor for his high school football coaching efforts.
Mike Bendixen, program director for Newstalk 1010, said the station does not ask for last names, nor does it track the phone numbers of callers. Mr. Bendixen said no one from the mayor’s office raised concerns with him, or members of his staff, about Mr. Price making calls. “Whether someone’s name is dave or Fred, it really doesn’t matter in the context of being on air, it’s just a name.”