FORD RECALL

Toronto, like Auckland, has a mayor who's hitting the headlines.

I don't think he's been sleeping with a much younger woman like Brown was caught out doing but he has been involved in some pretty bad behaviour. To name some:

• Allegation of inappropriately touching a female mayoral candidate
• Threatening reporters on public land when they were investigating his property purchases
• Charged with failing to provide a breathalyzer sample while visiting Florida with his then-fiancée in 1999. A police affidavit reveals he was actually charged with driving under the influence and possession of marijuana. He pleaded no-contest to the first and the second charge was dropped.
• In a televised mayoral debate said that in a “perfect world” Toronto wouldn’t take any more immigrants.
• March 2008: Ford’s wife, Renata, calls police to their home. Ford is arrested and charged with assaulting her and uttering a death threat. A month later, prosecutors drop the charges, because of inconsistencies in the accounts.
•  During a council debate over holiday shopping, Ford is criticised for remarking that, “Those Oriental people work like dogs. … They’re slowly taking over.”
• A drunk and belligerent Ford is removed from a Maple Leafs game after shouting at an out-of-town couple who said he was being too loud.
• Ford calls fellow Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby “a joke” during a council debate over a pothole. “She’s a waste of time. A waste of skin.”
• Admitted to using crack cocaine while in office
• Is filmed in a drunken rant threatening to kill a fellow councillor
• While drunk and being escorted off the council premises says he will 'eat out' a security guards pussy.
• When this accusation is made public he says that he is married and 'get's plenty to eat at home'
• etc.etc.

No wonder that the Toronto town hall is in uproar.

Now all this seems somehow familiar. I'm reminded of another 'public' figure who was the self-proclaimed king of The White Sport Coat and Pink Carnation Society at Victoria University in the 1970's. This joker's out of control antics led not only to his impeachment but to the disbanding of the entire society.

History repeats I guess.