Rob Ford In the Hospital as Ex-Aide Prepares Tell-All Book About Him
A fired aide to Toronto's scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford is releasing a "tell-all" memoir about his former boss... days before the city's mayoral election.
.A fired aide to Toronto's scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford is releasing a "tell-all" memoir about his former boss... days before the city's mayoral election. Mark Towhey was Ford's chief of staff before he reportedly recommended that the drug and alcohol using mayor "get help."
Towhey was fired a week after the crack smoking scandal blew up because he had the audacity to suggest the mayor needed to go to rehab. According to the CBC:
There's nothing more I can do for you," the source quoted Towhey telling Ford. The chief of staff then told Ford to "go away and get help."
The publicity materials for Uncontrollable: My Life with Rob Ford (also referred to by the less titillating title Mayor Rob Ford: Behind the Scenes), however, say that this is not a book from a man who wants to get paid for spiting an old boss. “It’s an unparalleled tell-all,” the book's press materials read. “And perhaps what’s most amazing is that Towhey bears no ill will toward the mayor. This is not the account of a man eager to get revenge. It’s simply an up-close look at the mayor — and what goes on behind the scenes.”
At the same time, the subtitle of the book is "My Attempt to Help the Belligerent Mayor" and depicts him as a man who throws candy at children and "rants and raves, and gets belligerent." Not that that isn't a fair characterization — the potentially vindictive bit is the fact that the book will be released six days before Ford's stronger-than-expected chance of being re-elected.
As we noted last month, Ford has climbed up in the polls and has a chance of holding his seat on October 27. That same day, it was revealed that Ford was fired from his job as a high school football coach for, among other things, forcing children to roll around in "goose scat," but at this point shocking Ford revelations aren't that shocking. The only real surprise is that no one else thought to publish an "insider" takedown of Ford until now.
Update (7:37 p.m. ET): The day after reports about the book first surfaced, it was revealed that Rob Ford has been diagnosed with a "tumor" and admitted to a Toronto hospital. According to CBC News, Ford had abdominal pains "that have persisted for at least three months and have become worse in the last 24 hours.” No other information is available about his condition, or its effect on the mayoral race.