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If Mayor Rob Ford has ‘nothing left to hide,’ will he now speak to police?

If Mayor Rob Ford has ‘nothing left to hide,’ will he now speak to police?

“Folks, I have nothing left to hide.” That was what Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said on Tuesday after admitting to smoking crack cocaine and claiming his conscience was finally clean. The next thing he did, however, was leave a press conference without answering any questions.

And on Wednesday morning (or early afternoon), Ford arrived at work through a back entrance, again avoiding reporters and their questions and their nasty habit of asking the mayor to tell the truth on topics he might rather not address.

He admits to lying about his drug history, and with that the existence of a video tape reported to show him smoking from a crack pipe, until police confirmed the existence of the video. And when Ford’s house of cards started crumbling down, he admitted to a momentary indiscretion, a vast history of lying and deceiving the public and his family, and promised never to do it again.

Rob Ford says he will never lie again, and whether that is true or not we may never know.

Because Rob Ford may be addicted to lying. He seems to be addicted to telling white lies, to telling dark, rotten lies. To obfuscating, to misrepresenting and misleading.

[ Related: Rob Ford back to work after crack-smoking confession ]

Addiction experts say lying and deceiving come hand-in-hand with drug addiction, and presumably if we are to forgive Ford for those indiscretions we must forgive him for everything he had done to hide them. Yet Ford will not leave office, will not step down or seek treatment.

He says he has nothing left to hide. But there are many issues stemming from this mess that still deserve to be addressed.

Ford's actual drug history

At this point, Ford has admitted only to smoking crack cocaine once, about a year ago, while in a "drunken stupor." But the Toronto Star reports Mohamed Siad told them he sold Ford drugs on more than one occasion. There is also the allegation from Gawker editor John Cook, who has said that in the video, Ford does not appear to be unfamiliar with a crack pipe. And questions still remain about the bizarre packages police watched Alexander Lisi surreptitiously deliver to Ford. Ford has previously told reporters that he has smoked tons of marijuana, but had painted his history with crack as a single indiscretion Ford should come clean if there is a deeper history with crack cocaine.

[ More Brew: Jon Stewart somber over Mayor Rob Ford’s drug issues ]

Ford's history and association with seedy characters

For months Rob Ford and his brother, Coun. Doug Ford, have refused to answer questions about a photo of the mayor with three young black men outside a crack house, claiming the questions were racist. Two of those men have been arrested in a massive drug investigation, since tied to the mayor, and the other has been murdered. The Toronto Star also reports it is possible Ford has been paying the utility bills at that same house. There is also the relationship between Ford and alleged drug trafficker and extortionist Alexander Lisi, many details of which have been released in police documents (with more coming). Torontonians deserve to know the truth about Ford's association with the jigsaw puzzle of known and suspected criminals.

Did Doug Ford really have no idea?

The lead up to Rob Ford's Tuesday admission appeared entirely designed to give Doug Ford plausible deniability. The mayor's elder brother has long held political ambitions loftier than city councillor. On Monday, Rob claimed Doug should not be tarnished by the affair. On Tuesday, Doug stood stone-faced as his brother confessed, after spending the day lambasting the credibility of the police chief and the media.

Since the mayor first floated an apology on Sunday, much of the Ford brothers' focus has been on cleaning the stain off of Doug. But for someone who spends every day with Rob Ford, and considers him his best friend, to have no idea about his epic history of drug and alcohol abuse seems a bit farfetched.

What about his other behaviour on the crack video?

Somewhat lost in Ford's denial and later confession to smoking crack has been his alleged behaviour on the crack video. Specifically, making homophobic and racist comments about Justin Trudeau and the "minorities" on the football team Ford previously coached.

That question was lobbed at Ford as he fled the scene of his confession on Tuesday. Ford has said he doesn't exactly remember what else could be on the tape. And while he says he wants that video released publicly, he is probably very aware police couldn't possibly release evidence in an ongoing investigation. Ford claimed the video didn't exist, now he says it probably does. At this point he knows well enough what is on that video, yet he hasn't addressed the other allegations.

Those are some of the major issues, although there are more fibs and obfuscations that paint a larger portrait. Questions about why the mayor would risk an after-hours visit to a Toronto prison in an attempt to speak to an inmate and then lie to guards about the reason for his visit, or why he would write a reference letter for Lisi on city letterhead.

But the most pressing question of all is why, if Mayor Rob Ford has nothing else to hide, does he still refuse to speak to police? Rob Ford's words suggest he has nothing else to hide, but his actions suggest he very, very, very much does.

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