lulz, Ford was uninvited to a party, he gate crashes, then leaves when they were criticizing him.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...t-him-at-then-leaves-when-speech-trashes-him/
Rob Ford was forced to take a seat at the back of a glitzy business dinner Monday night that organizers claim he was uninvited to — and then left 30 minutes later when the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s president gave a speech that lambasted the beleaguered mayor.
However, the mayor’s office says he wasn’t crashing the party. After Ford left the annual dinner, his Twitter feed fired off what seems like a sarcastic message thanking organizers for the “personal” invite and posting a picture of the invitation.
The Board says the invitation was sent in error two months ago and it left a message with Ford’s staff saying he was uninvited. Scott Brownrigg, director of public affairs, said they felt it disingenuous to have him there, considering the organization has called on him to take a leave following his crack cocaine scandal.
Brownrigg said the letter was sent unintentionally, that the mayor never RSVP’d and that he left a voicemail at the mayor’s office informing him that he was not invited.
When the mayor arrived at the ballroom dinner for more than 1,300 guests at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, he was greeted with several glaring suggestions that he was not welcome.
The dinner brochure featured Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly — who assumed many of Ford’s powers in November — and Ford could not be found on any seating charts for the event.
“When I got to the door, they didn’t have my name anywhere. It was something else,”
Ford told the Toronto Sun. “I saw the deputy mayor’s name there.”
Board president and CEO Carol Wilding gave a speech that tore into the mayor, yet never named him directly, blaming “distractions” in political leadership in Toronto.
Wilding called on leaders to unite residents.
“But regrettably, we were, and remain, preoccupied with the question of leadership within the Region. And talk on the street is all about perception,” she said.
The perception is that the region took a step backward in 2013, she said, with too many distractions, “all of which you are familiar with.”
Councillor Doug Ford defended his brother Tuesday and said Wilding is playing a “political game.”
“What the Board of Trade should be doing is working with all politicians. Carol Wilding decided not to. She’s turning this into a little political game of hers,” said Councillor Ford, who suggested board of trade members should review her leadership.
He called the episode “embarrassing” and said he received several text messages from dinner guests offering the mayor a seat at their table.
The Toronto Region Board of Trade, which called for Ford to step down following Toronto police announcing they had the infamous crack video, says that it continues to stand by that call.
“Toronto Region Board of Trade believes that under current circumstances it is in the best interests of the City of Toronto for Mayor Ford to take a leave of absence until the situation is resolved. The Mayor of the city must put Toronto first,”
the statement said.
The invitation tweeted by Ford is dated November 11, 10 days after the Board of Trade asked him to step aside. Organizers told media the invitation was sent in error and the mayor’s staff was informed at a later date.
Earlier Monday, Ford gave a tough-talking budget speech and promised to deliver $50-million in savings to city council, but refused to share details with the councillors who would be voting on such measures. He gave the speech while wearing a Denver Broncos football jersey. Scarborough’s Orlando Franklin plays for the Broncos, who will be appearing in the Super Bowl this weekend.
The mayor said he couldn’t trust the councillors when the majority of them voted in favour of stripping him of his many of his powers two months ago.
“Once bit, twice shy,” said Ford. “And I’ve been bitten pretty hard.”
He added that councillors would just laugh at him if he shared his ideas for the budget and that he doesn’t expect them to get anywhere. Budget meetings are due to take place Wednesday and Thurdsay.
On Monday, the Economic Club of Canada announced it was refunding everyone who attended Ford’s speech last week. The speech was delayed almost an hour after the mayor got stuck in an elevator. The speech came just days after Ford’s latest inebriated rant was filmed, showing him cursing in a Jamaican accent about Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair.
Councillor Ford also defended the administration’s decision to keep its proposed $50-million in budget savings secret until the eleventh hour, but deflected questions about who drove Mayor Ford after his rambling, inebriated episode at Steak Queen. The mayor said his return to drinking that night, after promises that he had quit, was a “minor setback”. He was there with Alexander Lisi, a friend and one-time driver who is charged with drug trafficking and and extortion for alleged attempts to coerce gang members to hand over the so called crack video.
Shortly after the Steak Queen video surface, Doug Ford denied the mayor was back to drinking.
“I truly believed, I truly believed, without talking to him, without seeing it, that he had stopped drinking,” he told reporters Tuesday. “Obviously you know the story after that.”
He then accused the mayor of harbouring a bias against Mayor Ford.
“You always want to go after him personally… guys, you want to get personal, I want to talk about the budget. And we’re going to talk about the budget. How the rest of the council is disrespecting the taxpayers of this city. They want to increase taxes on the backs of hardworking Torontonians.”