TORONTO (AP) — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford announced Thursday he’s getting help from health care professionals but again refused to step aside over his drug use and drinking. He also threatened to take legal actions against former staffers who spoke to police about his behavior and denied making sexual advances toward a female staffer.
Mr. Ford, who has been under pressure to resign since admitting last week to smoking crack, used a typical mix of contriteness and angry defiance during several public appearances Thursday. At a City Council session, outraged councilors turned their backs on the mayor each time he spoke and again called on him to step aside.
Mr. Ford said at a news conference that he didn’t want to comment on the particulars of the health care support he’s receiving and asked for privacy for his family.
With his wife at his side, Mr. Ford also apologized for using coarse language to deny allegations that he once told a female staffer he wanted to have oral sex with her.
Mr. Ford said he was pushed “over the line” by newly released court documents that included allegations against him involving cocaine, escorts and prostitution. He called the allegations “100 percent lies.”
He said his integrity as a father and husband had been attacked, prompting him to “see red.”
“I acted on complete impulse in my remarks,” Mr. Ford said.
Hours earlier, the mayor drew gasps from shocked reporters with his choice of words as he addressed the allegations about the oral-sex remarks.
“I’ve never said that in my life to her; I would never do that,” Mr. Ford said on live television.
The father of two school-age children said is “happily married” and used crude language to say he gets enough satisfaction at home.
Mr. Ford also said he would take legal action against his former chief of staff, Mark Towhey, and two other aides over their interviews with police that were detailed in court documents released Wednesday. Mr. Ford did not specify what the aides might have said that was untrue. He also said he would take action against a waiter who said he believed Mr. Ford and a woman were snorting cocaine in a private room at a restaurant.
“I have to take legal action against the waiter who said I was doing lines,” he said. “Outright lies — that is not true.”
The court documents are part of a drug case against Mr. Ford’s friend and occasional driver. Police interviews with the mayor’s ex-staffers revealed their concerns about his drug use and drunken driving, with one staffer alleging that he saw Mr. Ford “impaired, driving very fast” and frightening a female staffer who was in the car with him.
In another incident, Mr. Ford was described by a former staff member as being “very inebriated, verbally abusive and inappropriate with” a female staff member on St. Patrick’s Day. Another former staffer reported seeing the mayor drunk in his office about 15 to 20 times in the year he worked for him.
Mr. Ford acknowledged to reporters that he might have consumed alcohol while driving in the past, but he immediately went on the defense.
“I’m not perfect. Maybe you are, but I’m not, OK?” he said to journalists. “I know none of you guys have ever had a drink and got behind the wheel.”
Later, many of Toronto’s 44-member City Council turned their backs as the mayor, who wore a Toronto Argonauts football jersey and cowboy boots, spoke about city affairs.
The council voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to ask Mr. Ford to take a leave of absence, but the motion was nonbinding because the council lacks the authority to force the mayor from office unless he is convicted of a crime. The council is set to consider another motion Friday to strip Mr. Ford of some of his powers.
“This is beyond a leave of absence. He needs to resign,” said Councilor Denzil Minnan-Wong. “This mayor thinks he is above the law. He is not.”
The Argonauts football team took issue with Mr. Ford’s wearing the team jersey.
“These latest remarks, while wearing our team’s jersey, are particularly disappointing,” the team said in a statement.
Councilor Giorgio Mammoliti, a Ford ally, said if Mr. Ford doesn’t agree to go for treatment by the end of the day, the mayor has lost his support.
Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, also a Ford ally, said he’s increasingly sad that “Canada’s biggest and most important city had been reduced to that squalid context.”
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