Toronto mayor says he was ‘extremely inebriated’ in video rant

Two days after apologizing for having smoked crack cocaine, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was confronted Thursday with another video in which he admits being “extremely, extremely inebriated� as he rants and threatens to kill someone.

The Toronto Star, which first reported in May that its journalists had viewed video of Ford puffing on a glass crack pipe and making racist and homophobic remarks, posted another video on its website showing the mayor behaving badly “to get all information relevant to Ford’s true character and views in front of Torontonians.� [Note: Video includes profanity]

Calls for Ford’s resignation came from throughout the political and media circles of Canada’s largest city after he appeared Tuesday on the steps of City Hall to concede that he had smoked crack “in one of my drunken stupors� about a year earlier.

Ford, 44, denied illegal substance use after the Star and the gossip website Gawker reported six months earlier that a video showed the mayor in the company of known gang members and smoking what appeared to be crack cocaine.

The 77-second video released by the Star on Thursday shows an outraged Ford gesticulating wildly and threatening to kill an unidentified person. The imagery was copied from a computer download of a cellphone video made by an off-camera observer of the mayor’s profane rant, the newspaper said.

The Star purchased the video from the second party for $5,000, a move it defended as a legitimate transaction to acquire visual evidence of the mayor’s behavior.

“This was especially crucial as the mayor insisted he had had nothing left to hide and has called us liars and maggots from the beginning,� Star editor Michael Cooke said in explaining why the newspaper paid for the latest video.

In an appearance on CP24 television, Cooke said, “No one’s getting rich off this video. We paid for it what we would normally pay for a video of that nature of newsworthy, overwhelming staggering public interest.�

The video shows Ford fuming and pacing an elegant dining room, with oil paintings visible on the wall and a vase of lilies on the table. He repeatedly vows to kill the target of his rage by ripping out his throat, miming how he would single-handedly mangle his victim if given just 15 minutes.

Ford and his staff on Wednesday were offered a chance to view the video before its public release, the Star said. No one in the mayor’s office took the newspaper up on its offer. But Ford appeared to have braced himself for the latest bombshell, as he emerged from his office shortly after the midday website posting.

“All I can say is, again, I’ve made mistakes,� Ford told reporters. “It’s extremely embarrassing. The whole world’s going to see it. You know what? I don’t have a problem with that.�

In contrite remarks captured by a rapt global media audience, Ford said that “obviously, I was extremely, extremely inebriated.�

Ford and his staff said they didn’t know when the video was made. But a reference to a fall by-election made by an unseen and unidentified colleague in the video suggested the scene was recorded in August.

Ford has weathered the crisis so far by ignoring critics and those calling for him to step down for the good of the city.

Although he made no reference to his plans to stay in office in his apology for the drunken rant, he insisted Tuesday that he had been elected by the people of Toronto to do a job and he intended to keep at it. The next municipal election is on Oct. 27, 2014, and Ford has held out the prospect of running for another term.

Unlike in U.S. cities, there is no mechanism for staging a recall election in Toronto. The city council can trim his budget and hold a vote to censure him, but the members can’t remove an elected official.

Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly met briefly with Ford on Thursday as the scandal escalated. He intimated to reporters that the mayor may be coming to a conclusion about his future.

“I think the mayor is cognizant of the situation,� Kelly said, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper. “He knows what’s going on.�

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Twitter: @cjwilliamslat

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