Etobicoke North Councillor Doug Ford had some colourful words for a report from Toronto's Integrity Commissioner, demanding that he apologize to a local activist for uttering what the commissioner found to be intimidating language.
"It's a bunch of horses**t," said Ford in an interview with The Guardian Wednesday, Feb. 1.
Ford was responding to a complaint from activist Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler that he had behaved in an intimidating way to him and so violated city council's code of conduct.
A report from the Integrity Commissioner going to next week's council meeting has upheld the complaint.
Chaleff-Freudenthaler reported that on July 13 of last year, Ford had confronted him prior to a compliance audit committee meeting, where Chaleff-Freudenthaler had requested a compliance audit of Ford's election expenses.
According to the report, Ford said, 'Hey, you're the guy with the audits.' He then, in what was described as a "slightly raised voice" and an "aggressive tone," said that Chaleff-Freudenthaler ought to have "evidence" just as Ford did.
When Chaleff-Freudenthaler continued not to engage, Ford allegedly said "What goes around comes around."
He "turned around and nervously walked away" when Chaleff-Freudenthaler asked the councillor, "Are you threatening me?"
The Integrity Commissioner is asking council to demand that Ford submit a proper apology.
Ford had issued a written apology but Chaleff-Freudenthaler didn't accept it.
According to the report, he wrote back "to say that he found the letter of apology unacceptable because it characterized the events in question as a 'misunderstanding,' and suggested the complainant was the one at fault for interpreting the councillor's words.
In an interview with The Guardian, Councillor Ford indicated that was as much of an apology as Chaleff-Freudenthaler was going to get.
"I wrote a one-liner - I apologize if anyone offended you," said Ford.
"He wants a huggy kissy full page of nonsense. Well, I'm not doing it. Simple as that. I'm not doing it. What he should be doing is paying me back a few thousand dollars for my lawyers."
Ford went on to suggest that Chaleff-Freudenthaler's complaint - one of several he and a group of citizens have made about right-wing councillors' election expenses - was sponsored by "the union."
"This is the union - he's affiliated with the union, he came after me on the expense account - and I've proven everything is legitimate," said Ford. "This is the problem with the system that anyone can come after a politician. Thank God I have the means to defend myself. All I said was what goes around comes around and I said you've got to get your facts straight."
Ford denied that he was intending to intimidate Chaleff-Freudenthaler, and said that he was using the phrase "what goes around comes around" in a theological sense.
"If you're nasty to people you try to attack people for no reason in life - I'm not a religious guy but someone upstairs gets you back eventually," said Ford.
He went on to suggest that Chaleff-Freudenthaler had deep ties to the union movement.
"He's so tight with the union it's unbelievable," said Ford. "I don't know what the hell the guy does - I don't know if he even works."
When told of Ford's comments, Chaleff-Freudenthaler replied, "A class act, through and through."
He said that it was important to call out Ford on his behaviour last summer.
"Look - no citizen should wonder when they walk into city hall if anybody, especially an elected official, is going to threaten you," he said.
"Even more so a citizen shouldn't wonder when you hold municipal governments accountable, whether there's going to be retribution. That might work as the CEO of Deco Labels (the label-making business owned by the Ford family) but I don't think anyone should think that's appropriate behaviour for an elected official. I'm disappointed that he's taken that response to it. It aligns with all the other activity he's taken as an elected representative."
He maintained that both he and eyewitnesses detected a threatening tone in Ford's delivery.
"It wasn't just me," he said. "It wasn't that we stood there and had a discussion and I simply misinterpreted the tone in his voice. There were multiple people in the vicinity. I gave those names to the Integrity Commissioner and the commissioner interviewed those in the area. I think it's wonderful Doug likes to put that spin on it but it doesn't bear truth."
Chaleff-Freudenthaler added that he and his group haven't paid "a cent" for lawyers - the work has been done pro-bono - and that he is indeed employed, doing research and analysis for a non-profit.