After more than a week of extraordinary revelations, another one this morning: the Star is reporting that someone senior in Rob Ford’s office – paid for by Ford’s mythologized taxpayer – knew where to find the video of Ford smoking crack cocaine.

That is, the video that Ford now confidently says “doesn’t exist.”

How did they know this? Did Ford tell them to locate it? Were they hoping to buy the video themselves, and then destroy the evidence?

And why, while we’re on it, were two homicide detectives investigating this? Do the police think the murder of Anthony Smith – who knew Ford well – is connected to the video, and the office of the mayor?

Like I say: extraordinary. And getting dirtier every day.

Concerns that one of Mayor Rob Ford’s staffers was trying to obtain the crack video led to a meeting between police detectives and Ford’s former chief of staff, sources have told the Star.

Shortly after news of the video’s existence broke late on the evening of May 16, top aides began discussing the situation. One of those aides was Ford’s logistics man and former high school football coach, David Price.

Also present during discussions were then chief of staff Mark Towhey and two other senior officials. Price contacted Towhey late on May 17 and asked “hypothetically” what if someone had told him where the video was. “What would we do?” Towhey was asked.

Towhey, a former military man and the most experienced official in Ford’s office, was alarmed at Price’s comments. Price went further and said, “What if a source has told me where the video might be found?”

Shocked, Towhey told Price that the only thing he would advise is going to the police. Price also said that the video may have been the reason that Anthony Smith, a person pictured in a photo with Ford, was killed.

Towhey’s response, according to sources, was to tell Price that he would be contacting police.

Towhey called police, and shortly before he went in to give a sworn statement on May 18, Price contacted him and passed on the apartment numbers and floor (17th) of a building in Rexdale where Price said his “sources” had told him the video might be found. Price did not identify his sources.

When Towhey went to the police he did not inform his boss, Mayor Ford. He gave a statement, identifying Price as the originator of this information. Price was later asked to give a statement.

The Star has been unable to reach Price but will continue to try and will pose questions to him regarding this matter.

UPDATED: This morning, Ford was asked by media why his staff knew where video was. His response: “Ask my staff.”

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It’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma: Why did Nigel Wright destroy his political career to protect Mike Duffy?

In Ottawa political circles, it’s one of the many Senate scandal questions now being mooted every day.

Why would the prime minister’s chief of staff — the most powerful unelected person in Canada — put his reputation at risk for a lowly senator, one who was already distrusted and disliked by the Prime Minister’s Office?

None of it makes any sense. None of it adds up. And that’s particularly so when you look at the background of players in the controversy, which has left Stephen Harper’s Conservative regime battered and reeling.

I’m familiar with both Duffy and Wright. Trust me when I say there could not be two people in Ottawa more unalike.

Wright, among political operatives of all stripes, is considered to be as ethical as he is straight-laced. Born in Hamilton, adopted by a family of modest means, Wright was hard-working, religious and brilliant from the start. He attended the University of Toronto, and received multiple accolades. Later, he sought a master’s degree at Harvard. For a time, he considered becoming an Anglican priest.

As a young man, Wright was a member of a group of young Conservatives — along with Tom Long and (full disclosure) my ex-wife — who helped push Brian Mulroney into the prime minister’s chair. Later, he was a Bay Street lawyer and businessman who devoted himself to charitable causes, ran marathons, and was held in the highest regard by many folks.

Mike Duffy, as noted, could not have been more different. Born in P.E.I., Duffy got his start as a radio disc jockey, and attracted attention while working as TV reporter for CBC News.

Later, he hosted CTV’s Sunday Edition, which showcased Duffy’s affable personality, but not much in the way of hard news. Off-camera, the Rubenesque Duffy was ubiquitous on the Hill, and was renowned as a glad-handing fellow who had an eye for attractive women — and who could drink with the best of them.

Where Wright’s secret ambition was to be a priest, Duffy could not have been more open about his — he wanted to be a senator. So well-known was this, that many denizens of the Hill called him “Senator.”

After a 2008 hatchet job on a campaigning Stephane Dion, Duffy got his wish, and was appointed to the Red Chamber by Harper. He was disciplined by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council for broadcasting Dion’s remarks that CTV agreed would not be broadcast — an error in discretion and decency and a cause for concern. He was not part of the inner circle.

Why, then, did Wright — who followed the unravelling Senate expenses scandal closely, and was highly familiar with Duffy’s role in it — place himself in harm’s way for a disgraced broadcaster?

Because the man he was protecting wasn’t Mike Duffy. It was Stephen Harper. And the $90,000 that he offered Duffy out of his own bank account wasn’t money to help out a friend in need.

It was money to shut Duffy up. There is no way — none — that Harper could not have been briefed about the Duffy “solution” by Wright. In Ottawa, chiefs of staff simply do not keep their bosses from knowing such things. (I was one; I know that much, too.)

And now, Harper has the worst of all outcomes: A respected and admired top aide, gone.

And stuck with a scandal — and a reviled senator — which will never, ever go away.

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H/T Cheyenne.

SFH’s new record will fit right in!

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…and Ford’s two most-senior comms aides resign. All he has left are the young men who pass out fridge magnets at funerals, apparently.

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From the front page of this morning’s Globe:

A senior member of Rob Ford’s office was interviewed by police last week about a tip linking a video allegedly showing the mayor smoking illicit drugs to a recent Toronto homicide, two separate sources have confirmed.

The staffer felt compelled to share the tip, which came to him from someone else in the mayor’s office, with police because it could constitute evidence in a homicide investigation.

Mother of God. A murder? The video, which Rob Ford now confidently (and mysteriously) asserts “doesn’t exist” somehow figures in a murder?

To this point, there weren’t really any grounds for the mayor to be removed from office. If the Globe’s story leads where it just might, and council doesn’t do what it could, would it not be time for the province to exercise its powers (cf. s. 451.1) under the Municipal Act?

Ford with murdered drug dealer Anthony Smith.
Photo was supplied to the media by men who possess the video allegedly showing Ford smoking crack.

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Gone?

In candid moments, and when no microphones are in the vicinity, progressive political operatives will admit they want to keep Rob Ford around.

They don’t want him gone, at all.

Liberal and New Democrat strategists know the truth: Toronto’s conservative mayor is the political gift that keeps on giving. He is the best thing to happen to progressive political fortunes in ages. Municipally, provincially, even federally — Rob Ford is a human shrapnel machine. He is radioactive. He is kryptonite. And, by simply maintaining a pulse, he gives hope to NDP and Grit campaigns in Toronto and beyond.

His political rap sheet tells why.

February 1999: Arrested in Florida for drunk driving and drug possession; pleaded no contest on the former charge; denies it during the 2010 Toronto mayoralty race, until presented with the evidence by the Toronto Sun.

April 2006: Security guards physically remove a drunken Ford from a Toronto Maple Leafs game; an out-of-town couple had asked him to be quiet, and Ford had slurred something about the woman wanting to be “raped and shot.”

March 2008: Ford is charged with assaulting his wife and uttering a death threat. The charges are abruptly dropped, in court, due to “inconsistencies” in his wife’s account.

June 2010: Ford is taped offering to buy a man “hillbilly heroin,” the powerful narcotic OxyContin. On the tape, he says he doesn’t know any dealers, but “I’ll f—ing try to find it.”

July 2011: A woman spots Ford on his cellphone while driving; when she reminds him it is a bad idea, he gives her — and her six-year-old daughter — the finger.

December 2011: Ford’s mother-in-law calls police, saying that her son-in-law has been drinking, and is threatening to take his children to the U.S., against his wife’s wishes.

August 2012: Ford is photographed reading papers while driving on a Toronto-area highway.

March 2012, June 2012, February 2013, March 2013: Photos and media reports circulate of Ford being intoxicated in public.

And, this month, this: An American website — and then the Toronto Star — detail seeing a video of Rob Ford, the mayor of North America’s fourth-largest city, allegedly smoking crack cocaine, and calling Justin Trudeau “a fag,” and the boys he coaches high school football “just f—ing minorities.” (That football team fired Ford days later.)

There’s more, a lot more.The slurs against minorities, gays and political opponents. The conflict of interest allegations, and the abuses of power. The appalling lapses in judgment — such as, just this week, permitting his staff to hand out Rob Ford fridge magnets at the funeral of the Toronto Sun’s founder, Peter Worthington.

Through it all, Ford and his repellant brother/enabler, Doug, refuse to accept any responsibility whatsoever. They blame a media conspiracy. They blame “pinkos.” They blame the provincial government. They blame everyone, in fact, who does not accept their retrograde ideology and their reckless ways.

After the extraordinary crack cocaine video surfaced, Ford could have stepped forward, denied the allegations, and offered to take a drug test — like his cabal regularly favour for transit workers or welfare recipients.

Or, he could have said this: “I have a substance abuse problem. For that, I am ashamed. I apologize to my family, my colleagues and the city. I will now step aside so that I can get help.” If he’d done that, I believe he would have been forgiven.

He would’ve been given a second chance. Canadians, after all, are a fair-minded and decent people.

But Rob Ford hasn’t done any of those things. He’s called the crack allegation “ridiculous,” and then gone into hiding.

Whatever his political utility once was — whatever he once did to help elect progressives — Rob Ford has brought shame and ridicule on us all, and he has provided young people with a terrible, terrible example.

For the love of God, then, Rob Ford, go. Just go.

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The Globe finally publishes their long-awaited – and what has long been known in Toronto political circles – Ford-drug-dealers investigation. Parts worth reading:

There were usually a number of dealers to choose from, some of them supplied by a mainstay at James Gardens – a young man with the hulk-like frame and mop of bright blond hair: Doug Ford. “Most people didn’t approach Doug looking for product. You went to the guys that he supplied. Because if Doug didn’t know you and trust you, he wouldn’t even roll down his window,” Justin said….

Well before the events of the past week, The Globe and Mail began to research the Ford brothers in an effort to chronicle their lives before rising to prominence in Canada’s largest city. Over the past 18 months, it has sought out and interviewed dozens of people who knew them in their formative years.

What has emerged is a portrait of a family once deeply immersed in the illegal drug scene. All three of the mayor’s older siblings – brother Randy, 51, and sister Kathy, 52, as well as Doug, 48 – have had ties to drug traffickers.

Ten people who grew up with Doug Ford – a group that includes two former hashish suppliers, three street-level drug dealers and a number of casual users of hash – have described in a series of interviews how for several years Mr. Ford was a go-to dealer of hash…

But some of the sources said that, in the affluent pocket of Etobicoke where the Fords grew up, he was someone who sold not only to users and street-level dealers, but to dealers one rung higher than those on the street. His tenure as a dealer, many of the sources say, lasted about seven years…

The quantities that Mr. Ford handled were, at times, substantial. “Michael” said he remembered buying hash from Doug Ford at least half a dozen times – before he found a cheaper source – and that each time he bought between one-quarter and one-half of a pound. He said that a quarter-pound sold for between $400 and $425.

Like many of the street-level dealers interviewed, he said he sold hash in order to support his own smoking habits. When asked where Mr. Ford fit in the hierarchy of dealers in their neighbourhood, he replied: “He’d be at the top.”…

One of those arrested was Randy Ford, who was 24 at the time. Court records retrieved from the Archives of Ontario show that he was charged with assault causing bodily harm and the forcible confinement of Mr. Orlando. The records do not disclose how the case was resolved. Randy Ford’s lawyer at the time, Dennis Morris – currently representing Rob Ford in the controversy over the alleged crack-cocaine video – said he did not recall the incident…

But even before that, there was gunplay – and it was fatal. Seven years earlier, Ms. Ford’s lover was fatally shot by her ex-husband, a drug addict named Ennio Stirpe. At his trial, Mr. Stirpe testified that his victim, Michael Kiklas, was a martial artist, which forced him to bring along the shotgun as “an equalizer.”

Not mentioned in the press at the time was the fact that Mr. Kiklas was a white supremacist – a group with which Ms. Ford associated in the 1980s.

Her friends included Gary MacFarlane, a founding member of the short-lived Canadian chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, as well as the late Wolfgang Droege, perhaps the most notorious white supremacist in Canadian history, a former Klansman told The Globe in an interview. Two other former associates of Ms. Ford confirmed her association with known white supremacists…

The former Klansman, who agreed to answer questions by e-mail on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Kathy Ford was close to the movement, but he said he couldn’t recall meeting any of the Ford brothers. He described hanging out in the Fords’ basement and being snubbed by Doug Sr. when Ms. Ford invited him to a party on the family boat. Her father, the former Klansman said, clearly did not approve of his beliefs, while she was engaging and fun but hardly a committed soldier in the race war…

It remains unclear how much Mayor Ford was exposed to his siblings’ escapades and their issues with illegal drugs. He is considerably younger – Doug, the closest, is five years older. But at least one of Doug’s closest and oldest friends has become an official adviser to the mayor’s office. Several sources have identified David Price as a former participant in Doug Ford’s hashish enterprise…

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So, he doesn’t use crack. Present tense, not past.

He looked confident, and sounded defiant. He clearly doesn’t believe the video will ever see the light of day.

That’s a direct challenge to you, journalists. Now, we all get to see if there are any true investigative reporters left in this country.

Hope so.

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I literally snapped this shot while walking through an alley on Queen West last night. Sent it to Bjorn, and he got to work.  Here, then, is the art for SFH’s newest tune, recorded (and videotaped) at a location that will not be disclosed (they don’t want to be harassed by Ford’s bylaw thugs).  Video and song will be out next week. Whaddya think?

UPDATE: Although, my newspaper’s cover is pretty darn good, too:

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I kind of doubt that Harper will be in attendance at Rob Ford’s barbecue this year. This morning’s headlines – in which Ford’s former Chief of Staff confirms that Ford has a substance abuse problem, and that martial law is about to be declared in North America’s fourth-largest city – suggest Harper may be, er, elsewhere on the appointed day.

But we shouldn’t let him get away with that. Stephen Harper has aided and abetted Rob Ford every step of the way. Given his present difficulties, he doesn’t want you to remember that (his minions have scrubbed the video below every time it pops up on the Internet – but not on this web site!). But the fact remains: he’s one of Rob Ford’s enablers. (And don’t get me started on the ones who were, and now pretend not to be.)

Here’s the video. Download it and share it!

Download also found here.

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