After six months of questions about the force’s handling of the Ford crack video investigation, the police chief breaks his silence
The press release was vague, saying only that Police Chief Bill Blair had an announcement to make about the Project Brazen 2, an investigation flowing from Project Traveller, the police raids that took the city by storm back in June. And may or may not have been related to the Rob Ford crack video scandal.
He entered the media gallery at police headquarters a little earlier than the prescribed 11:30 start time, which meant he had to wait a minute before taking the podium and his tech folks could give the assembled news cameras the cue to begin the live stream. He stood waiting with his hands folded in front of him, head cocked slightly up, eyes shut as if in prayer.
Call it Bill Blair’s Halloween Eve surprise.
While most of the city was expecting to find a few juicy tidbits in those court documents released yesterday into the last month’s arrest of the mayor’s alleged drug dealer Alexander Lisi, no one was prepared for the treat the chief of police was about to deliver – or was it a trick?
That being the news that the cops had retrieved the infamous video allegedly showing the mayor smoking crack from computers and other digital material seized in Project Traveller. That information had only been brought to the chief’s attention on Tuesday, October 29. What took so long? Apparently the file containing the video had been deleted.
There was more big news. The chief also announced that Lisi had been picked up that morning, arrested on an additional charge of extortion.
We won’t know the particulars of that until later this morning when Lisi is scheduled to appear in bail court. Could the charge be related to efforts by the mayor’s office to retrieve the crack video and the May home invasion at the Windsor Road home of the mayor’s high school bud Fabio Basso, where the video was allegedly shot? The chief wasn’t saying.
But the news of Lisi’s arrest seemed to catch the police department’s corporate communications staff flatfooted. They were unaware of it until the chief had announced it and so couldn’t tell reporters when Lisi would be appearing in court.
The clouds that have been hanging over the police handling of the Ford matter and his connection to known gang members since the Traveller raids only slightly parted.
Given the competing police leaks throughout this whole affair it was easy to read a little too much into the timing of Lisi’s arrest and the chief’s video revelation, coincidentally or not coming on the morning the 400-pages of documents related to Lisi’s earlier arrest on marijuana possession and trafficking charges. Is the chief toying with our mayor? Drip, drip, drip.
Perhaps it was merely happenstance, too, that the day before Lisi’s arrest, the chief gave an eyebrow-raising address to the Canadian Club of Toronto which caught many observers by surprise because of the length of time he spent talking about Traveller. And pains he took to stress that Toronto police pursue investigations, regardless of the individuals who may be involved, “without fear or favour.”
Well, there have been question about that. Blair has had to walk a fine line. The chief has heard the criticisms. People were beginning to wonder if the mayor was receiving preferential treatment. Some in the media are still wondering, even after yesterday’s events.
Indeed, he was asked if the mayor had been brought in for questioning. He said no. And why not? The chief wasn’t going to get into that, but suggested that there may have been attempts to question the mayor. Did the mayor’s lawyer get in the way?
It’s unclear, but Ford’s legal counsel Dennis Morris, whose name hasn’t been seen nor heard since the crack allegations first exploded back in the spring, emerged yesterday to declare the chief had overstepped his authority and should resign for telling the world that the video of the mayor smoking something does indeed exist. The fight is not over yet folks. It may be just beginning.
All that’s left for Ford to do is resign. Certainly, that’s what it looks like. There’s enough information in documents related to Lisi’s drug arrest that’ll keep the city’s media chasing leads for weeks, if not months. To say nothing of the pages of redacted information that lawyers will be in court fighting to have released.
The 400-pages released so far paint a disturbing portrait of the mayor. Not for some of those in the media who’ve been following this story mind you, and have been made privy to some of the crazier details not yet published.
But the shots of the mayor from surveillance cameras in the sky making what look like drug buys from Lisi may have finally woken up a lot of Ford Nationalists who have been wilfully blind to the mayor’s madness. It’s too late now for the mayor to do what his advisers were telling him months ago and check himself into rehab. Everybody likes a redemption story right? It may be the only choice left Ford.
Ford emerged from his office to state there is “no reason” for him to go. The mayor is a stubborn man. Foolish, too. Or is it hubris?
He lost the moral authority to be mayor a long time ago. He might do well to take Blair’s comments as fatherly advice, or a warning, and make a break now before more damaging disclosures become public.
But he won’t leave willingly. There’s nothing in law compelling him to, short of being incarcerated. He hasn’t been charged with anything – yet.
Indeed, some of the usual apologists of the mayor’s over at Newstalk 1010 still can’t see their willful blindness, despite the photographic evidence. John Tory, who wants to replace Ford as mayor, called the Ford revelations “a tragedy.”
Well, turns out the crack story was not a conspiracy led by the Toronto Star, after all. If he’s smart, Ford would start thinking about how to orchestrate some semblance of a graceful exit. It can only get uglier from here on in.
enzom@nowtoronto.com | @enzodimatteo
• Nov 1, 2013 at 10:16 AM
RECENT STORIES BY ENZO DI MATTEO
Rob Ford’s friend Lisi granted bail
The mayor’s erstwhile driver and alleged drug dealer facing extortion charge
Alexander "Sandro" Lisi leaves court on October 2.
Sandro Lisi briefly appeared in court this morning on a charge of extortion. Mayor Rob Ford's friend, occasional driver, and alleged dealer showed up in the stuffy courtroom wearing a Canada Goose down coat and was released on $5000 bail with his father acting as surety.
The extortion charge concerns efforts to obtain a video recording. The hearing is covered under a publication ban.
He is required to stay 500 m away from and have no contact with Mohamd Siad (the man who showed the video to media outlets) and Liban Siyad. He must also not have contact with Fabio or Elena Basso, possess weapons or non-medical drugs, or associate with anyone who has a criminal record.
Lisi will be back in court on December 6.
• Nov 1, 2013 at 11:35 AM
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Karen Stintz: Will She Do Anything For Power?
She sold us out during the great scarborough lrt flip-flop. What other u-turns can we expect from the mayoral wannabe?c
Photo by Rick Madonik / GETTY IMAGES
It must be hard being Karen Stintz.
That might seem an odd thing to say given how her political career has at times seemed too charmed for words.
But let’s be frank. With Stintz, it’s been easy to read as ambition those rare moments when she’s shown political courage. It’s like that sometimes with Stintz.
If you saw that fetching photo in the Star, the one that coincides with the announcement this weekend that she’s running for mayor – and rewrites her controversial transit record as TTC chair – you know what I’m talking about. It’s the kind of launch spinmeisters might call a knockout.
Stintz couldn’t have asked for a better roll-out. Finally, a fair-haired daughter for all of Toronto to fall in love with – just the right combination of street smarts and North Toronto sensibility. Someone with presence and class. And god knows we need a little of that after three years of rock star Rob Ford.
And then... Stintz opened her mouth. “I believe in the fiscal agenda of Rob Ford,” she said, reminding us that, where she’s concerned, it’s foolish to entertain great expectations.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this, was it?
Stintz, after all, is the councillor who led the charge against the bully Ford to bring back Transit City when no one else had the you-know-what to take him on. You had to be there. It was as if confetti had fallen from the ceiling in the council chamber. A whole city rejoiced. Finally, someone not afraid to give Ford his comeuppance.
It was easy back then to believe she could muster up some progressive bona fides, especially in the glow of the flattering public opinion polls that followed.
Perhaps it’s dangerous to expect too much from politicians in general and Stintz in particular.
Doing the politically expedient thing has been her modus operandi ever since she rushed onto the scene in 2003. Stintz didn’t get into politics to change the world. She got into it to win.
And for her, the winning came too easy, right from the start. She responded to an ad in a community newspaper from a ratepayers group looking for a candidate to fight the Minto Towers development at Yonge and Eglinton. Surprise! She won – defeating respected veteran Anne Johnston, who had been instrumental in the compromise that allowed the towers to go ahead.
In 2009 there was the dust up over voice lessons on the public dime as a prelude to a possible mayoral run. But Stintz was getting ahead of herself; she had neither the chops nor the experience to be chief magistrate. That was obvious to everyone except her.
She got in bed with the “responsible government” cabal that lined up against Miller just because. She lost touch with her roots, too, criticized for being too developer-friendly by the same folks who got her elected.
The word “unprincipled” pops up in conversations with Stintz’s council colleagues, even those who like her kick-ass attitude.
Before the Great Scarborough LRT Flip-Flop she took part in to curry favour in the vote-rich burb, that to convert the Scarborough RT to a subway, there was the One City transit proposal that came out of nowhere, catching by surprise and offending many fellow councillors with whom she’d built trust (or so it was thought) during the Transit City debate.
For some political observers there are perhaps one too many negatives for Stintz to be seen as a true unifying force at City Hall.
Maybe we shouldn’t read too much into it, but did you notice? John Parker was the lone member of council to endorse her candidacy. How many more can Stintz count on?
After the SRT debacle, Stintz moved quickly to reaffirm the commission’s support for LRTs on Finch and Sheppard. But Ford has declared he’ll make converting those lines to subways the main plank of his 2014 campaign. Will Stintz follow his lead? The groundwork may have already been laid on that front – her peeps have been eager to let it be known that the push for subways is also coming from Scarborough members of the Liberal caucus.
And what about the proposed expansion of the Island Airport? Stintz came out against Porter’s proposal to fly jets out of it when it was initially floated. But she voted “yes” to study the proposal. Was she just being strategic so as not to appear knee-jerk? Back in 2003 she voted for a fixed link to the airport.
Now she’s got what she’s always wanted: a shot at the top job, along with some of the best hands in the business on her campaign team.
Some people still think Stintz has something to offer. Many of us have been guilty of that in the past.
Five to Watch: The behind-the scenes players and pretenders in the 2014 mayoral race
enzom@nowtoronto.com | @enzodimatteo
That might seem an odd thing to say given how her political career has at times seemed too charmed for words.
But let’s be frank. With Stintz, it’s been easy to read as ambition those rare moments when she’s shown political courage. It’s like that sometimes with Stintz.
If you saw that fetching photo in the Star, the one that coincides with the announcement this weekend that she’s running for mayor – and rewrites her controversial transit record as TTC chair – you know what I’m talking about. It’s the kind of launch spinmeisters might call a knockout.
Stintz couldn’t have asked for a better roll-out. Finally, a fair-haired daughter for all of Toronto to fall in love with – just the right combination of street smarts and North Toronto sensibility. Someone with presence and class. And god knows we need a little of that after three years of rock star Rob Ford.
And then... Stintz opened her mouth. “I believe in the fiscal agenda of Rob Ford,” she said, reminding us that, where she’s concerned, it’s foolish to entertain great expectations.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this, was it?
Stintz, after all, is the councillor who led the charge against the bully Ford to bring back Transit City when no one else had the you-know-what to take him on. You had to be there. It was as if confetti had fallen from the ceiling in the council chamber. A whole city rejoiced. Finally, someone not afraid to give Ford his comeuppance.
It was easy back then to believe she could muster up some progressive bona fides, especially in the glow of the flattering public opinion polls that followed.
Perhaps it’s dangerous to expect too much from politicians in general and Stintz in particular.
Doing the politically expedient thing has been her modus operandi ever since she rushed onto the scene in 2003. Stintz didn’t get into politics to change the world. She got into it to win.
And for her, the winning came too easy, right from the start. She responded to an ad in a community newspaper from a ratepayers group looking for a candidate to fight the Minto Towers development at Yonge and Eglinton. Surprise! She won – defeating respected veteran Anne Johnston, who had been instrumental in the compromise that allowed the towers to go ahead.
In 2009 there was the dust up over voice lessons on the public dime as a prelude to a possible mayoral run. But Stintz was getting ahead of herself; she had neither the chops nor the experience to be chief magistrate. That was obvious to everyone except her.
She got in bed with the “responsible government” cabal that lined up against Miller just because. She lost touch with her roots, too, criticized for being too developer-friendly by the same folks who got her elected.
The word “unprincipled” pops up in conversations with Stintz’s council colleagues, even those who like her kick-ass attitude.
Before the Great Scarborough LRT Flip-Flop she took part in to curry favour in the vote-rich burb, that to convert the Scarborough RT to a subway, there was the One City transit proposal that came out of nowhere, catching by surprise and offending many fellow councillors with whom she’d built trust (or so it was thought) during the Transit City debate.
For some political observers there are perhaps one too many negatives for Stintz to be seen as a true unifying force at City Hall.
Maybe we shouldn’t read too much into it, but did you notice? John Parker was the lone member of council to endorse her candidacy. How many more can Stintz count on?
After the SRT debacle, Stintz moved quickly to reaffirm the commission’s support for LRTs on Finch and Sheppard. But Ford has declared he’ll make converting those lines to subways the main plank of his 2014 campaign. Will Stintz follow his lead? The groundwork may have already been laid on that front – her peeps have been eager to let it be known that the push for subways is also coming from Scarborough members of the Liberal caucus.
And what about the proposed expansion of the Island Airport? Stintz came out against Porter’s proposal to fly jets out of it when it was initially floated. But she voted “yes” to study the proposal. Was she just being strategic so as not to appear knee-jerk? Back in 2003 she voted for a fixed link to the airport.
Now she’s got what she’s always wanted: a shot at the top job, along with some of the best hands in the business on her campaign team.
Some people still think Stintz has something to offer. Many of us have been guilty of that in the past.
Five to Watch: The behind-the scenes players and pretenders in the 2014 mayoral race
enzom@nowtoronto.com | @enzodimatteo
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