Damned by his own words
Ignore his indulgence in crack cocaine, drunken binges and buying illegal drugs. Set aside Mayor Rob Ford’s ethical lapses, broken commitments and epic mismanagement.
Forget what he has, or hasn’t, done. It’s only necessary to consider what he says — Rob Ford in his own words — to conclude that he’s utterly unfit for public office.
A shameful torrent of violent, bigoted, misogynistic and homophobic comment has poured forth from this mayor. And while alcohol may have loosened Ford’s tongue, it didn’t alter the content of his character. It only helped reveal the ugliness that dwells there.
An audio recording made a week ago has Ford uttering disparaging remarks about Italians, employing two different ethnic slurs. He makes grossly offensive comments about his wife and declares he wants to “f---ing jam” rival mayoral candidate Karen Stintz. And he says he can no longer support Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak because that politician has decided to “agree with all the gays.”
Ford’s words denigrating the gay community expose what truly underlies his consistent refusal to take part in Toronto’s annual Pride parade. Hint: It’s not about spending family time at the cottage.
But there’s worse. In a story by Star reporters Kevin Donovan and Robert Benzie, a source says Ford repeatedly used the n-word in describing Gene Jones, recently ousted CEO of the Toronto Community Housing Corp.
A 20-year-old drug dealer, who shot a new video showing Ford apparently sucking on a crack pipe, alleges the mayor defended Jones, who is black, by saying: “No n----- gets fired in my town. When I get re-elected that n----- is going to be back in charge.”
Yes, this quote comes from a drug dealer; not exactly the most principled of authorities. But it’s fully consistent with racist language used by Ford in the past.
In a video made last year, the first showing Ford with a crack pipe in his hand, he can clearly be heard disparaging the black football players he formerly coached as “just f---ing minorities.”
Court documents allege Ford also used an ethnic slur in dealing with a cab driver of South Asian decent, threw business cards at the man, and apparently used gibberish to mock his accent.
As reported by Donovan and Benzie, interviews with Ford ex-staffers confirm the mayor was in the habit of using objectionable epithets when referring to black people, Jews, Pakistanis, Indians, Poles and Italians.
That’s a shocking belittlement of ethnic Canadians, especially coming from a mayor elected to head one of the most multicultural cities on the planet.
All this matters because words readily become actions. The slurs and insults evinced by Ford should serve as a death knell for any political career. But Ford has escaped relatively unscathed from the consequences of his venom. Compare his treatment to that of Donald Sterling, racist owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team.
Sterling, 80, was speaking in private when he was surreptitiously recorded, by his mistress, telling her to stop associating with black people and quit bringing them to Clippers games. He didn’t use the n-word but was, quite appropriately, reviled by the public and subsequently punished.
The National Basketball League imposed a well-deserved lifetime ban on Sterling; fined him $2.5 million (the maximum allowable amount), and indicated an effort would be made to force him to sell the Clippers.
In contrast, Ford’s penalty for his extensive slurs and misogyny has been, well, nothing. He is now receiving well-warranted professional help to deal with his substance abuse issues; what Ford calls his poor “choices.” But it would take an exceptional amount of rehab to plumb to the root of Ford’s bigoted, sexist and homophobic utterances.
A mayor giving voice to such attitudes is not the leader Toronto needs. Judging by his words alone, Ford deserves no place on the municipal ballot on Oct. 27.
Never mind his drug and alcohol abuse, Toronto mayor’s bigotry and sexism make him unfit for office