If someone once said about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, “What is he? On crack?” they answer would be yes — there was a time he was. And up until today he repeatedly denied it. Today, he admitted it, but won’t resign:
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said Tuesday he won’t resign, hours after admitting he smoked crack cocaine, probably “in one of my drunken stupors.”
“I was elected to do a job and that’s exactly what I’m going to continue doing,” Ford said during a press conference at which he repeatedly apologized.
“Folks, I have nothing left to hide.”
Ford has been dogged by drug allegations for months, ever since a video surfaced that purportedly showed him smoking crack. Toronto’s police chief recently confirmed that police now have a copy of the video.
After initially denying the existence of the video and sidestepping questions about crack, Ford finally came clean on Tuesday, telling a raucous group of reporters that he had used the highly addictive form of cocaine.
“Yes I have smoked crack cocaine,” Ford said earlier on Tuesday.
“But, no, do I? Am I an addict? No. Have I have tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably approximately about a year ago,” he said.
He’s apologetic but says he owes it to Toronto’s residents to stay and do the work he was elected to do, a familiar refrain of politicians in trouble — until the heat does get too intense and they do resign:
At the press conference later in the day, held amid growing calls for him to step down, Ford apologized profusely to voters — and to his brother Doug, a city council member who had defended the mayor by calling for the police chief to resign.
“With today’s announcement, I know I embarrassed everyone in the city and I will be forever sorry,” the blustery politician said, his voice filled with emotion at points.
“There is only person to blame for this and that is myself.
“I know that admitting my mistake was the right thing to do and I feel like a thousand pounds have been lifted off of my shoulders.”
He said that while he knows he let down his constituents, he has no intention of stepping down and plans to run for re-election next year.
Part of the press conference:
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Four days ago:
Jon Stewart’s take on this in May:
Stewart on Nov. 4, 2013:
Gawker had some great coverage of Portman’s scandal. GO HERE to read some of the posts.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.