On + Off the Rob Ford Campaign Trail!

This blog will cover Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's Re-election Campaign from a union perspective. For your convenience, I am reposting a few pertinent links and will continue to add more in the days ahead. As we progress, newer stories will often be added in large type at first to make them easier to spot. For more info you are also referred to my previous Ford links at the bottom of this blog under "Related Reading". Also to my recent first hand report on the Rob Ford Re-election Campaign Launch @ A Night Out With Ford Nation!

Rob Ford can be a hard guy to focus on correctly! I hope this blog helps! 

FYI My Rob Ford blog coverage goes back a few years. For news links see my Ford archives:

Part 1 @ Nov 2012  Part 2 @ Here! Part 3 @ There! Part 4 @ Then! Part 5 @ More! Part 6 @ Jan 2014!

Rob + Doug crash and burn! The Municipal Election blog is @ Here!

A Rob Ford news time line from his election victory in Oct 2010 until now is @ CTV

An overview of Rob Ford's highs and lows at Toronto City Hall @ Toronto Star

OCT 28 2014

Goon but not forgotten: Ford Nation falls in Toronto 2014 municipal election!

A spiteful Rob Ford claimed right away that he plans a Ford Nation comeback in the next election. Delusions of grandeur? Or will he become the nightmarish Freddy Kruger of Toronto politics? More @ Rob Ford

Rob was less than conciliatory, to say the least @ Ford

Here's what the war on the ground looked like in Rob Ford's fight for the council seat in his ward @ Ford Nation

Rob Ford has won a council seat in Etobicoke North, the seat vacated by his brother Doug, who stepped up to run for mayor after Rob entered the hospital for cancer treatment @ Ford Win! Lose!

It was a tough race!

Allow me a nasty: here's the moment I've been waiting 4 years for! Watch the Ford Bros find out that Doug had lost @ Video

Doug Ford proves he's not a racist. 

The Doug Ford mayoral campaign hits snag with anti Semitic comments. Is his wife Jewish or isn't she? Even Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie Farber considers the claim "totally disengenuous" and isn't pleased that the Fords are making a complex + sensitive issue sound "ridiculous" @ Ford Follies Hurt Others!. 

September 17

Rob Ford: Exit stage right!

Rob has been diagnosed with Malignant Liposarcoma, a type of muscle cancer @ cancer?

What is Liposarcoma? See @ Tumour

Meet Dr. Zane Cohn, Robs doctor! The Toronto Star claims he has a "storied history" and was very deft at deflecting a lot of questions about Rob's condition @ New face

Is everybody going overboard on this news story? Just what exactly is happening to Rob? What next?! More @ Overdrive

"Rob Ford: The Musical" is going on as planned. No curtain call @ The show must go on!

Election shocker: Rob drops out of the mayoral race. Brother Doug steps in to take his place. Doug is more dangerous then Rob. He's got half a brain! More @ Yiiiikes!

Danger! Danger! Unlike Rob Doug does have half a brain!

Doug says he will "take the torch" @ Burnin'

Doug Ford will "continue what we started" @ Oh No!

Rob claims God wants him "somewhere else" @ No Comment

Saved?

So. Just how do the politics of the Ford switcherooni play out at this late stage in the mayoral race? Very interesting! Don't be surprised if it provides Doug with a lot of advantages. Also don't forget that he's a well known bully and manipulator as is brother Rob @ Hmmm.

Fords, Fords everywhere Fords! There's some pretty fancy Ford footwork going on behind the scenes in this years municipal + trustee elections @ Ford Nation

Rob Ford Cancer Scare: Is some media silence in order? More @ Give it a break!

For the Fords, everything is always all about them @ media spin

September 8

Rob shows everyone the gold medals he's won for being an asshole.

Finally, full disclosure on why Mayor Rob Ford was fired as a Don Bosco secondary school football coach. Anti social conduct and abuse of custodial authority! But will it hurt his re-election chances? Maybe not @ For Shame!

Rob kicks reporters out for campaign speech @ Accountability?

Raise your hand if you wear a suit + tie while smoking crack cocaine!

July 30

Ford supporters rough up gay protesters. Rob votes against gay issues at Toronto City Hall. Hey! Isn't the mayor supposed to represent everybody?! More @ LGBT

July 10

Leaked report suggests Robs stint in rehab did not go well! Going to Rehab @ No No No!

Back in the mayor seat Rob takes another crack at the Toronto gay community. His new improved image is hard to take. You'd think he would welcome the millions of dollars the annual gay pride week brings tot he city but he doesn't seem to care @ Sitting it out!

Shirtless jogger tells Rob a thing or two. All is not well for the Ford Campaign. Seems not many Torontonians are fooled by Robs "comeback". It's about time @ Video

June 11 2014: 

Coming soon! Rob Ford the Musical!? Yup! The casting call has been made. The play starts in Toronto this September. Should make for some amusement during the mayoral election indeed @ Rob Ford The Musical!

Here's a sneak peak at the auditions for Rob Ford the Musical @ Coming Soon!

Here's Mayoral candidate Olivia Chows latest campaign t-shirt: 

May 23 2014

Rob finally pops up! On the Victoria Day long weekend he's spotted out in Muskoka cottage country, making the rounds. Posing for photos. Now it turns out he is in rehab up that way. Makes sense. It's near his cottage. But ... but ...but ... are you supposed to be out and about like that when you are in a serious rehab program?!? I think not! Next, a fellow patient from the rehab centre is arrested for drunk driving in his car. So. How'd she get the keys? Where was Rob? Will the fun and games never end? Is there a perfectly good excuse for all this? Anyways, you decide! Here's the links:

Drunk driver fun grrrl: Robs new squeeze?

Rob is spotted in cottage country during the long weekend holiday @ Party Hardy?

Robs confirmed to be in rehab up that way, that is, when he's not out and about's on weekends, holidays or during the day, whatever @ Rehab Rob's latest antics!

Here's the story of the mystery woman arrested driving around drunk in his black Cadillac Escalade. Oh yeah, also note: somewhere between when the car was seized and taken to the pound, the licence plates disappeared, and the police say they didn't take it. Hmmmm. @ Mystery Girl!

Rob's car impounded .. Hey! Where are the licence plates?!?

Robs approval rating hits an all time low of 32% .... 32% still think this is okay? Ho boy. Even bro Doug has taken a hit in the polls. Examine the tea leaves, so to speak @ Thumbs Up?

Earlier ....

Where's Rob? Last we were heard he's admitted himself into rehab somewhere. However there are reports he is being seen around Toronto @ Waldo Ford? 

Toronto City Council seeks proof Rob has gone into rehab and is not just missing in action at their council meet @ Where?!? Doing What???

Our Rob claims on another phone call from rehab that he is hot water for making phone calls from rehab ..... Listen. Rehab is not just a 4 week quick fix, far from it, and even if it were his hijinks in no way suggest he is serious about it. More @ Cell Phone Calls and @ No No's!

May 1

Watch the crack reaction to Ford's latest escapades on the late night TV show circuit: Fallon, Letterman, Kimmel + Stewart @ Videos

Rob Ford steps down as mayor on leave + Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly assumes full responsibilities for City of Toronto @ Breaking News!

Ford takes an unexpected leave from his campaign as an audio tape surfaces of him drunk at a bar this Monday ranting and raving about his wife Renata and making lewd sexual comments about fellow Mayoral candidate Karen Sintz. Now, he suddenly realizes he needs to get some help ... Must be a pretty bad tape @ "Getting Help?!"

A transcript of the audio recording has been posted @ Huffington

Who wears a tie when they smoke crack cocaine?! Rob Ford!

Stintz denounces Rob as "misogynist". There were some more bigoted and homophobic comments made. Also your typical right wing neo con rants. Meanwhile Rob spends the day taking a school group on a tour of city hall. A school group?!? Who in their right mind would take their class to meet Rob Ford?!? @ Mr. Role Model 4 Youth?

Oh, and a new crack video allegedly filmed last Saturday has apparently also surfaced @ Cracked!

Lives of the Rich + Stupid: It seems that Rob is using a litany of racist of slurs, lites up his crack pipe and gets into a fight with his alleged drug dealer Sandro Lisi, who was crying like a baby @ Reality TV?!

New video surfaces from last Saturday. Umm what have you got there Rob?!?

Not to worry! Rob Ford's "Chicken Little" statement claims he's 100% committed to "getting himself right". Guess he wasn't before? Read @ Help!

The National Post reports @  Videos

Point/ Counterpoint: A blogger thinks Rob deserves our sympathy as an addict @ Sympathetic?

The mayoral candidates keep pouring in. Stinson has not asked for an apology and has not been given. Also, is nobody going to take to task his dubious but widely accepted claims about Olivia Chow being fiscally irresponsible?! More @ Stories + Videos

A live Rob Ford City Hall coverage link is available as the mayoral candidates speak out + today's events unfold @ Live!

OK. So let me see if I've got this straight! Rob just doesn't have a weight problem?! Everything won't be fine if he just loses a pound or two ??? .... Incredible! This city is in such friggin' collective denial!

Is there hope yet? Usually Rob goes up during a fiasco! Now? Chow: 33%/ Tory: 27%/ Ford: 22% @ Forum Poll

Sooooo ..... does that mean folks still don't believe all these Ford stories aren't actually an evil left wing plot?!? =8-0

April 21

Creative Math: Investigating Ford's claim he's saved Toronto taxpayers a billion dollars @ CityTV Video

Ford Nation will stand by Rob come hell or high water but unless the Chow and Tory campaigns implode, he should finish third. Why? Polls show he has no room for growth in his support @ Hepburn

Ford calls for the omsbudsman's office to be eliminated after a scathing report, along with the integrity office, the lobbyist registry and all those other bothersome people who are concerned about principles + accountability ... @ Going going gong!?

Toronto Firefighter President Ed Kennedy calls Rob Ford's red firetruck a "cheap photo op" considering the latest fire department cutbacks. Brother Randy Ford bought the decommissioned Toronto fire department truck at an auction as an election campaign prop. Ironically the slogan painted on it now reads "Saving the tax payers from getting burned" as four more trucks are pulled out of service and 2 stations closed. Rob + Doug respond by using the anti union defence to try to make it look like Kennedy does not truly represent the views of the front line workers. It's a sad debacle with the Fords pretending they have good relations with the workers and their support. Tell a big enough lie though and Toronto voters often seem to fall for it though @ Getting burned!

Fire Trucks? The big picture ...

Kennedy points out that the fire department cuts can in fact logistically and perhaps even tragically hinder the fire fighters response time during an emergency @ CBC

A Fire Fighter video ad warns that the city hall cuts could put lives at risk @ CBC

You can read more about the Ford Brothers big red fire truck on my Night Out With Ford Nation blog [link above].

Less fire trucks + stations = not getting burned?!?

Both the City of Toronto + the TCDSB Catholic School Board have been involved in an attempt to block the release of documents on why Mayor Rob Ford was fired as a football coach at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School last year. At first the TCDSB tried to refuse on grounds he was a "quasi" employee, a claim refuted as ridiculous by experts in employment law. Also, the municipal government has been using taxpayers dollars to try to block their release. It might take months for the Toronto Star Freedom of Info request to be processed for release of the documents. Will they be out before the fall election? Hmmm. More @ What's he hiding?!

Rob Ford Coach: showing the young folk how its done?!

This is unrelated but one of Robs favourite night club hopping grounds for his re-election campaign is being closed out of fear it will attract pedophiles and drug dealers to its all age events @ Muzik

Olivia Chow aims to take Ford to task for his many outlandish claims that are often being accepted as facts. It's about time somebody did. No more pussy footing around?  Read @ Mayors brand

Olivia Chow gets caught up in the Iron Sheik's endorsement embrace while Ford plays it for all it's worth @ The Iron Shiek?!

The Ford Trolls are on the attack!
What are Ford Trolls? They are groups of Ford Nation followers who have begun to rally together to bully + harass anyone who criticizes or says anything negative about their leader online at Twitter or on other sites. Expect a nasty 2014 Toronto Mayoral Campaign! An introduction to the Rob Ford trolls is @ Ford Nation Attacks!

RELATED READING:

My comprehensive coverage of Toronto's neo con man Mayor Ford goes back to:

Part 1 @ Nov 2012  Part 2 @ Here! Part 3 @ There! Part 4 @ Then! Part 5 @ More! Part 6 @ Jan 2014!