Rob Ford to 'Get Help' as New Crack Video Surfaces

Mayor taking a break from re-election campaign
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 1, 2014 12:06 AM CDT
Rob Ford to 'Get Help' as New Crack Video Surfaces
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford speaks in Toronto.    (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young File)

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford seems to have tumbled off the wagon yet again—right in the middle of his re-election campaign. After a new video of him allegedly smoking crack and a tape of him ranting drunkenly in a bar surfaced, the mayor said he is "ready to take a break" from the campaign to "get help." Video clips viewed by Globe and Mail reporters show the mayor smoking a metal pipe in his sister's basement. The videos were secretly taken by a drug dealer who says they're from early Saturday and he wants "at least six figures" for them. In the clips, the mayor is wearing the same shirt-and-tie combination he was seen in at a press conference Friday.

On top of the crack video, an audio clip recorded in a bar Monday night captures the mayor in another drunken rant, reports the Toronto Sun. He complains about his wife, makes lewd comments about fellow mayoral contender Karen Stintz, and can be heard threatening to break someone's legs if they don't give him another shot of booze. Witnesses say Ford was "really wasted" at the bar and was trying pick fights with fellow patrons. Ford says he was at the bar but he doesn't remember saying anything on the tape. He says he realizes it's time to get help with "his issues"—but people around him are urging him not to drop out of the mayoral race. (More Rob Ford stories.)

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