Crack

Thursday, June 6, 2013

 

Thursday, June 6, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Thursday, June 6, 2013

Rob Ford crack scandal: Video might be “gone”

Gawker.com, the U.S. website that raised more than $200,000 to buy a video apparently showing Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, is reporting that the video might be gone.

An intermediary who initially contacted Gawker about the cellphone video now says its owner went underground after the story attracted worldwide media attention, John Cook, Gawker’s editor in chief, wrote Tuesday.

Gawker reached its fundraising goal on May 27. But until Friday, Cook says, he hadn’t heard back from the go-between.

After weeks of silence, Cook says the owner contacted the intermediary and that person reported back to Cook on Friday.

“His message was: ‘It’s gone. Leave me alone.’ It was, the intermediary told me, a short conversation,” Cook wrote.

Cook says “a fear of being identified, and a strong desire from the Somali community to make the whole thing go away” caused the owner to go silent.

Cook has watched the video once, while two Star reporters, Kevin Donovan and Robyn Doolittle, watched the video three times.

Both say the video shows Ford inhaling what appears to be crack cocaine from a glass pipe and making homophobic and racially charged remarks. The Star couldn’t verify the video’s authenticity. (Source: Toronto Star)

Friday, May 24, 2013

Friday, May 24, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, May 24, 2013

Mayor Rob Ford’s Silence is Deafening

Mayor Rob Ford needs to say: “I did not smoke crack and if there’s a video that I did, it’s a fabrication.”

He needs to say it if he’s going to continue to be mayor in anything more than name.

Such an unequivocal denial of allegations by Gawker.com and the Toronto Star that such a video exists, will prove to the public Ford doesn’t fear that video becoming public.

And that the reason he doesn’t fear it is, it’s a fraud.

But if Ford can’t say that, then he should step aside and ask Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday to serve in his place, while he seeks medical help and counseling, after which he can make a decision about his political future as mayor.

It is not enough for Ford to simply dismiss this allegation as “ridiculous,” or to send out third parties to deny it based on what he has told them.
Of course it’s “ridiculous” that the mayor is being accused of smoking crack cocaine and consorting with drug dealers.
The issue isn’t whether it’s ridiculous. The issue is whether it’s true.

Arguments that Ford is entitled to the presumption of innocence miss the point. That refers to the high level of evidence required to convict someone of a crime. But Ford isn’t charged with a crime – It matters how he addresses this attack on his credibility.

Logically, the first thing a mayor falsely accused of smoking crack and consorting with drug dealers would do, would be to proclaim his innocence in no uncertain terms and sue the media who said it.
Why hasn’t he? (Source: Toronto Sun)

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