Toronto Ombudsman Fiona Crean says Mayor Rob Ford’s administration ‘comprised’ city’s hiring process

Rob Ford's obsession with football may have come back to bite him on his hind quarters once again.

A member of the controversial Toronto mayor's staff approached the Ontario government last March to inquire about getting money to improve the football field at the high school where Ford coaches, the Toronto Star reported Thursday.

"They inquired about programs available for infrastructure projects such as this, but never submitted a formal application for funding," the unnamed official told the Star on Wednesday.

Ford coaches the Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School Eagles in suburban Etobicoke, as well as the Rexdale Raiders, a youth league team he set up that also practices on Don Bosco's field.

The Star said five Toronto sports fields got provincial infrastructure stimulus money but not Don Bosco, and that Ford's staffer called to ask about Don Bosco in particular.

[ Related: Toronto's Rob Ford the latest in a line of controversial, colourful Canadian mayors ]

The Star reported Ford, while a city councillor in 2010, also arranged for council to approve favourable zoning for a building development in return for the company contributing $75,000 towards renovating the dressing rooms at Don Bosco. The arrangement under a provision of the Planning Act was publicly disclosed and approved while he was running for mayor.

Meanwhile, Toronto Ombudsman Fiona Crean says Ford's office last year pushed to speed up the appointment of people to city agencies boards and commissions, which she said compromised the work of city staff.

"Because of the accelerated schedule and the lack of resources, staff's abilities to carry out their responsibilities under the [public appointments policy] were compromised," Crean said in her annual report Thursday, according to CBC News.

"Staff did not have the required time or resources to screen applicants and prepare qualification summaries."

The apparent meddling by Ford's office in the work of the appointments committee meant the process was "open to perceptions that selections were done in an arbitrary manner, instead of one based on merit," Crean said in her report.

She said the mayor's office also provided "detailed direction" on advertising for applicants for the vacant posts, asking for the removal of language that encouraged people from "the city's diverse population" to apply. The request was refused, the report said.

The report revealed Ford's office also wanted no ads placed in the Star, with which he's been feuding since before he was mayor, CBC News said.

Ford has stoutly defended his involvement with the football programs as a way of helping underprivileged boys but it's tripped up his political career for years.

Ford's been accused of devoting staff and resources from the mayor's office to football activities, and of bailing out of an important city council committee he chairs so he could coach a game.

Most seriously, Ford faces being dismissed as mayor and barred from office for years over an alleged violation of provincial conflict-of-interest rules.

Ford spoke to and voted on a council motion ordering the return of donations by lobbyists to his charitable football foundation while he was a councillor. A judge is expected to hand down his ruling before the end of this year.

[ Related: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, brother Doug, defend his involvement in football program ]

Ford, a veteran councillor before he won the mayor's chair in 2010, is not up for re-election until the fall of 2014. But the prospect he might be turfed before then has revved up attempts to draft Toronto MP Olivia Chow to run for mayor.

Chow, the widow of federal NDP leader Jack Layton, was a Toronto city councillor before joining her husband in federal politics.

News broke last spring about efforts to persuade her to run as polls suggested she could trounce Ford. As late as a month ago Chow dismissed the idea in an interview with the Toronto Sun.

But her firm "no" in August now seems less definite.

"We'll see what happens down the road," Chow told the Star on Wednesday, but then again added "No, I am not running for mayor."

Chow, who represents Trinity-Spadina, said she's focused now on getting infrastructure and transit funding from Ottawa for the city.

"I have been hearing a lot from a lot of people that are encouraging me to run," she told the Star. "Every weekend when I'm in Toronto, I get people coming up to me on the street and trying to encourage me, but I'm not considering a run at this moment.

"I'm not considering a run now. Will I consider it? We'll see what happens down the road. We do need better leadership at city hall."

Chow also criticized Ford for not signing on to support her private member's bill to set up a federal transit strategy. Ford went fishing with Prime Minister Stephen Harper this summer, she noted, "but where's the money?

"Our mayor gets caught up with all types of controversy, and the real issues of commuter times, traffic jams — that's not being dealt with," Chow told the Star.

[ Related: Ford says he didn't get special treatment on road repairs ]