[URBAN NOTE] On the Thomson-Ford affair

[rfmcdonald]

Last Thursday night, former Toronto mayoral candidate and publisher Sarah Thomson claims to have been groped by mayor Rob Ford at a political event. 680 News reports her allegations that he seemed to be on something.

The she-said, he-said battle between Mayor Rob Ford and Sarah Thomson was taken up a notch Monday, with the former mayoral candidate saying Ford may have been on cocaine when he allegedly groped her and made inappropriate comments at a charity event last week.

In an interview with CityNews, Thomson alleges that Ford was acting “high as a kite” when they met during Thursday’s Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC) gala: “I looked up different symptoms and there seem to be a lot of things that he could have been on – it might have been cocaine, it might have been diabetes. It could have been a lot of things.”

The mayor, meanwhile, would not comment on Thomson’s latest speculation regarding possible drug use.

The flashpoint in this war of words occurred Thursday night at a downtown CJPAC fundraiser. Thomson alleges Ford made inappropriate comments towards her and then grabbed her buttocks – both of which Ford adamantly denies.

Thomson says she hasn’t ruled out going to the police regarding his actions and is discussing her options with family and advisors.

I'm strongly inclined to believe Thomson's claim of assault, if not necessarily her claim that Ford was on drugs, or something. As she pointed out, Ford has a history of doing inappropriate things--verbally assaulting a Durham couple during a hockey game while drunk, admitting to multiple DUIs, et cetera--and then denying it.

Sarah Thomson, a former mayoral candidate, released a statement to media on Sunday evening, following remarks Ford made earlier in the day, in which he again denied allegations that he inappropriately touched her at a public event last Thursday.

Summarizing the events of the past three days, Thomson said that she had written a Facebook post on Friday morning alleging that Ford "made suggestive comments" and "groped" her at a Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee event the night before.

"Since then, the Mayor, his supporters and conservative media agencies have denied my claims, impugned my character and attacked my credibility," Thomson said in her statement on Sunday.

"I did not make these accusations lightly. I admit I did not handle the press perfectly, but I had just gone through a very rattling experience."

As an aside, if you go to the blogs like blogTO and Torontoist, you'll find people attacking Thomson on a variety of grounds including her looks (her dreadlocks come in for particular criticism).