11.01.2013 09:33 AM

Toronto needs a mayor: Rob Ford says the police chief is bluffing

…his high-priced legal mouthpiece, no less, has decided to play a game of high-stakes chicken.  Release the video, he says. Right here.

He may be saying it because (a) he knows the video showing Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine is central to the Lisi extortion prosecution, and the Crown would therefore never agree to release it until trial.  Or, he may be saying it because (b) he is suddenly somehow indifferent to what happens to his client.

Me, I think alternative (a) is most likely.  It’s a clever little P.R. stunt.  Look like you have nothing to hide, etc. etc.

So, here’s my alternative suggestion: as I posted yesterday, there is a second video.  It, too, shows the Mayor of Toronto getting fried with the same folks.  It isn’t evidence in the Lisi prosecution.

Call Ford’s lawyer’s bluff, Toronto cops: ask him if he’d agree to the release of that video, right here, right now.

He won’t say yes. And his little P.R. stunt will be revealed to be just that.

13 Comments

  1. PeggyW says:

    Of course it’s (a) because in his effort to somehow bluff his way through this shitstorm it’s about the only card he can play. Unfortunately, many of the deluded Ford Nation will be quite happy to buy it.

  2. doconnor says:

    Maybe he was ordered to say that by his delusional client. I guess that would fall under (b).

  3. deb s says:

    oh…boy….well lets hope Blair can light a fire under the courts to say…this case is a priority and get a date set ASAP ( yeah I know…with canadian courts that still puts it into nextyear:P)

  4. AP says:

    You know what Mayor Ford can do if he really wants to see the video and if he thinks his good name has been damaged? He can file a civil action and then seek disclosure. Why the Supreme Court of Canada says he can do so right here:

    http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1996/1996canlii167/1996canlii167.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQAiZGlzY2xvc3VyZSByZWxlYXNlZCB0byBub24tYWNjdXNlZAAAAAAB

  5. Houland Wolfe says:

    Meanwhile, Clayton Ruby is saying that the police botched the investigation.

    http://www.cp24.com/news/police-botched-mayor-ford-probe-ruby-says-1.1522523

  6. Eric says:

    Holy crap, really!!! I guess it will be hardball now. The police will most likely get the last word. They can silently and humbly slip off any kid gloves that were left ….

    Also, in what city could the magistrate express a lack of confidence in the constabulary and still stay in office?

  7. Pedro Frank says:

    Clearly, the lawyer is going for option (a). But have they though through the whole tactic? For Doug Ford to go on an interview this morning and start a verbal war with police makes no sense.

    To accuse the police of “becoming political” when it is clear, if anything, the police have been ultra-kind to Ford defies belief. Moreover, how does it benefit the Chief politically to undermine the mayor with the most pro-police stance in a generation.

    Already we know that the police had the hard drive with the video since the summer an only reported its retreval of the file yesterday. We know that the police had Ford under surveillence when Ford engaged in surreptitious meetings with Lisi exchanging something. Even when these exchanges happened on school grounds, and for good measure, Ford takes a leak on said school grounds. And if that wasn’t enough, they have Ford going before the meeting with Lisi to an LCBO, he goes to the meeting with Lisi, and after the meeting with Lisi, he dumps empty liquor bottles in the garbage. Is it that hard to figure out that he was likely drinking and driving? Why didn’t the police pull him over?

    I don’t so much consider the lawyer’s or Doug Ford’s statements so much as a media strategy as the death pangs of a Mayor who has overextended his stay. This is suggested in the bizarre called made by an Ian (that sounds a LOT like Rob Ford) to a 640 radio talk show where it suggests admission of guilt but you can’t get rid of someone who is suffering from substance abuse.

    One last point. The extortion charge against Lisi makes no sense unless Lisi was working on behalf of someone else. Why would a drug dealer go out of his way to retrieve a video file that meant nothing to him? It did mean a lot to Ford of course. So why isn’t Ford or someone who communicated with Lisi (presumably someone in Ford’s staff) being charged with being part of a conspiracy? Is Lisi being promised a payoff for keeping his silence? Why do the charges stop with Lisi?

  8. Michael Behiels says:

    Brilliantly put. Smoke put Ford’ lawyer’ bluff.

    Excellent comments above.

  9. Matt says:

    Adrienne Batra (Ford’s former press secretary and current Toronto Sun comment editor) made a good point when she appeared on Byline tonight on Sun News Network.

    They were talking about Ford’s lawyer and supporters ripping of Blair for making comments about the video.

    She said none of them had a problem when Blair made public comments clearing Ford with regard to the Star story he called a 911 operator a bitch.

    Also a TPS friend of mine was at the court building today and says he saw Lisi’s lawyer and the associate lawyer from Dennis Morris’s office having what he decribed as a “rather intense discussion” in the lawyer’s lounge.

  10. Jeff says:

    When it does become public (the first video), we might not know 100% for sure what is in the pipe, but we will apparently hear the mayor call Justin Trudeau a homophobic word and use racist language about the kids he used to coach, according to previous press reports.

  11. Matt says:

    Talked to one of my TPS friends today.

    The second video? Yeah, Ford best hope that one stays unreleased. Blair too. That is the one my TPS friends have seen it is a longer version than the one the Star reporters saw. There is questions whether a crime is being committed on it. Warren, if your sources have seen it, you probably know what I’m talking about. That is the copy police mentioned in all the affidavits to get search warrants for the case against Lisi dating back to June.

    It also explains why Blair went public when he did after they found the other, shorter clip on the hard drive on October 28th. Now, he can deny existance of the longer one and doesn’t have to answer why they never investigated the possible crimecontained on it. He was covering his OWN ass. If all they had was the longer, unedited version, he wouldn’t have said anything, and Lisi wouldn’t be facing extortion charges.

    My friend also expects the shorter version will be released publicly.

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