Daily BrewToronto Mayor Rob Ford fires chief of staff as crack allegations persist
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has reportedly fired his chief of staff on Thursday, one week after reports emerged that Ford was videotaped smoking from a crack pipe.
Mark Towhey left Toronto City Hall after speaking with the mayor this afternoon. CBC News reporter Jamie Strashin says Towhey confirmed it was not his decision to leave.
Mayor's Chief of Staff Mark Towhey has been fired according him. He just left city hall.#sl
— Jamie Strashin (@StrashinCBC) May 23, 2013
“My advice for the mayor confidential,” Towhey told reporters and news cameras as he walked to his car. He later joked on Twitter that he was glad he remembered to wash his car.
@reporterdonpeat Very happy now that I remembered to wash my car yesterday. — towhey (@towhey) May 23, 2013
It is not clear what led to Towhey's dismissal, but it perhaps suggests the mayor's inner circle is not in agreement on how he has addressed the allegations of crack use.
Interestingly, political columnist Paul Wells wrote in Maclean's last week that it was time to jump ship.
"It’s scary to leave a job. It can be scary to stay, too. One might almost say it can put your soul at peril, if you believe that sort of thing," Wells wrote on Friday.
