More trouble for Rob Ford

Some more shocking news as Toronto City Councillor Rob Ford's campaign team is distancing itself from absurd views and comments made by Mark Towhey, the campaign's policy director. On his blog, Coffee with Mark Towhey, the Ford campaign team policy director mused that the City of Toronto should scrap the TTC and give billions back to tax payers, which would then force people to buy and drive more cars, take taxis or ride their bikes. Back in February (why is this coming to light now?) Towhey wrote on his blog: "Well, life's tough. instead of being the only three people on a 60 passenger bus, perhaps these people will have to introduce themselves, get to know their neighbours and share a taxi." Right, Mark. Let's scrap the largest, most appreciated and greatest transit service in the country, so people will have to introduce themselves, get to know their neighbours and share a taxi. Perhaps the hundreds of thousands, make that millions of people who rely on the TTC daily to commute across the city to get to work could instead get off their lazy asses and jog. According to Towhey's logic, the TTC is not "profitable" as a public service, so therefore it's essentially useless. What's even more laughable is that the Ford campaign is attempting to distance themselves from Towhey, as right-wing cranks gravitate towards right-wing cranks. From the Toronto Star:

Rob Ford's campaign is divorcing itself from comments about the TTC made on a blog by the candidate's policy advisor Mark Towhey, a self-described, " international management consultant specializing in issues, risk and crisis leadership and a frequent political commentator."

Made at the height of the TTC's recent customer service debacle, Towhey's remarks amount to "a scorched earth policy piece," according to transit blogger Steve Munro.

But Ford's communications manager Adrienne Batra says Towhey's blog, Coffee with Mark Towhey, is completely separate from the campaign.

"Yes, he is an advisor, he’s our director of policy," she confirmed. "However those are his personal opinions. We work with Councillor Ford and the things he is committed to and, at this point, our position has been pretty clear – we are looking at making TTC an essential service."

The lead item on Towhey's blog Tuesday, however, is about his work on the Ford campaign and his opinions of the candidate, including a picture of Ford walking alongside his policy advisor and sign-carrying supporters.

Towhey's blog entry on the subject of transit suggests the city simply stop funding the TTC and give the billions it spends back to taxpayers.

This, he expects, will drive people back into their cars, onto bikes or into cabs and ultimately, motivate the private sector to take up transit delivery.

"Many bus routes, how ever (sic), would be abandoned. They're not profitable. Such is life," concedes Towhey. "The TTC should have dumped these routes long ago."

And what about the people who need that service?

"Well, life's tough. instead of being the only three people on a 60 passenger bus, perhaps these people will have to introduce themselves, get to know their neighbours and share a taxi," he writes.

Towhey Consulting Group bills itself as specialists in risk and crisis management for clients such as McCain, CIBC, the Ontario and Canadian governments.

But Towhey doesn't reserve all his choice words for transit. He's got some opinions on the press too. He's got some thoughts on the media and the masses too:

"Increasingly, there are three things I dislike about our modern mainstream news media. First, is the growing penchant to create scandal where none exists. Second, is the ubiquitous assumption that audiences are stupid. Third, is the mounting evidence that maybe we are," he wrote the same month.