TORONTO — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that he smoked crack “probably a year ago” when he was in a “drunken stupor,” an admission that immediately intensified the pressure on him to resign.
The allegations that the mayor of Canada’s largest city had been caught on video smoking crack surfaced in news reports in May. Ford initially insisted the video didn’t exist, sidestepped questions about whether he had ever smoked crack and rebuffed growing calls on him to step down.
The mayor was forced to backtrack after police said last week they had obtained a copy of the video in the course of a drug investigation against a friend of Ford’s.
“Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine,” Ford told reporters outside his office. “There have been times when I’ve been in a drunken stupor. That’s why I want to see the tape. I want everyone in the city to see this tape. I don’t even recall there being a tape or video. I want to see the state that I was in.”
Police have said the video, which has not been released publicly, does not constitute enough evidence to charge the mayor with a crime. Police spokesman Mark Pugush said Ford’s acknowledgement of crack use will be passed on to investigators.
Ford walked out of his office and asked reporters to ask him the question they first asked him in May. He then acknowledged he smoked crack but said: “Am I an addict? No. Have I tried it, probably in one of my drunken stupors a year ago.”
Despite his admission, Ford against insisted he would not resign.
Municipal law makes no provision for the mayor’s forced removal from office unless he’s convicted and jailed for a criminal offense.
City Councilor Denzil Minnan-Wong, a member of Ford’s executive committee, said he would put forward a motion asking Ford to take a leave of absence.
“My first reaction was `Wow’,” Minnan-Wong said.
Councilor Jaye Robinson said the mayor needs to step aside and address his problems.
“We have become a laughing stock of North America, if not the world,” Robinson said.
Ford later told the Toronto Sun newspaper that he is not stepping down or taking a leave of absence.
“I feel like I got 1,000 pounds off my back,” Ford told the paper, which is sympathetic to the mayor. “I felt like I had to say it. It is what it is. I feel two inches high right now but I needed to deal with it. I am not going to quit or take a leave.”
Earlier Tuesday, Ford’s brother, Doug, criticized Police Chief Bill Blair for saying he was “disappointed” in the mayor after police recovered the tape last week. Doug Ford called the chief’s comments “inappropriate” and “biased” and said Blair should step aside.
“We have the most political police chief we have ever seen,” said Doug Ford, a Toronto City Councillor. “The police chief believes he’s the judge, the jury and the executioner.”
Blair says he responded honestly when asked about his feelings after watching the video.
The allegations about Ford smoking crack surfaced when two reporters with the Toronto Star and one from the U.S. website Gawker said they saw the video but they did not obtain a copy. Ford vilified the Toronto Star, accusing the paper of trying to take him down.
The mayor has called on the police to release the tape, but police said they are prohibited from doing so because it is evidence before the courts.
Police said the video will come out when Ford’s associate and occasional driver, Alexander Lisi, goes to trial on drug and extortion charges. Lisi is accused of threatening two alleged gang members who had been trying to sell the video to the media.
Police have said they want to talk to the mayor, but his lawyer so far has declined.
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