Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Mayor Ford Was Asked to Leave the Ball

Ford Nation thinks this letter from 6 of the 13 members of the Military Ball organizing committee makes liars of the Toronto Star for reporting Ford was asked to leave the function for being intoxicated:
“As a civilian member of the volunteer organizing committee of the 2013 Toronto Garrison Ball, I can confirm that I did not ask Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto, to leave the event on February 23 for any reason,” the letter states. “To my knowledge, no member of the event’s organizing committee, including Councillor Paul Ainslie, directed the Mayor to leave the event that night.” (emphasis added)
So these six people are stating they individually did not "ask" Ford to leave, and are not aware of any other member of the committee "directing" Ford to leave.  Why did the word change?  This is clearly some legalistic sophistry, Ainslie (a member of the committee) has stood by his original statement and says:

Speaking with CP24 Tuesday night, Ainslie stood behind his earlier comments. 
“Some people came up to me and they had some concerns about the mayor, so I went up and chit-chatted with him for a few minutes and then I told his chief of staff it would be better for everyone involved if the mayor left,” he said.
So maybe the idea is that Ainslie didn't directly ask/tell Ford to leave by talking to his Chief of Staff or maybe the idea is that Ford was "asked" to leave but that's supposed to be different from being "directed" to leave.  Either way, the 6 member statement clears nothing up and makes one ask why the other 7 members of the committee didn't sign it.  Ainslie did not sign it.

Ford left that party at the behest of someone other than himself.  Ford apologists better start dealing with that.

2 comments:

  1. Let's look at the facts.

    Ainslie and other "anonymous sources" are saying the mayor was asked to leave. Six other people on the orgainzing committee, including two co-chairs, say that wasn't the case. The minister of defence and others who attended the event say Ford seemed to be perfectly fine... infact they said he was in good spirits and his usual cordial self.

    Yet you believe Ainslie and other faceless sources? Get a grip on reality!

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    Replies
    1. You're deliberately being obtuse here. Look at the letter, they do not say Ford was not asked to leave, they say they personally (those 6) did not ask him to, and that "to their knowledge" (a very slippery phrase) no one else "directed" him to leave. Well I can "ask" you to leave without "directing" you to leave, or you can't be told to leave "without my knowledge" and the letter remains true but Ford did get removed from the function.

      There are far too many holes in that letter to take it as a straight forward refutation of what Ainslie or the anonymous sources have alleged.

      And MND just said Ford "seemed fine" to him, which means basically nothing. Conservatives and Reagan's 11th commandment comes to mind.

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