Mayor Bob Ford ..You are no Marion Barry...

[HipChick]

Marion Barry has the corner on crack smoking Mayors...

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/canada-is-still-two-decades-behind-the-u-s-on-video-of-mayors-smoking-crack-20131031

The Rob Ford crack saga appears to be nearing the end in Toronto. After months of rumors, Toronto police said Thursday they have finally recovered video of Mayor Ford smoking crack cocaine. "It's safe to say the mayor does appear in the video," Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair told reporters.

Ford has long been adamant that such a video doesn't exist. But a police investigation began months ago after two reporters from the Toronto Star reported seeing footage featuring the mayor smoking while making homophobic and racist slurs. The mayor has so far refused to answer questions about the police apparently possessing the video, instead yelling at a photographer at his home Thursday morning to "get off my property, partner!" It's not yet clear what Ford's next steps will be.

The video hasn't actually been released yet, and it could wind up being totally engrossing, but Marion Barry had one of the best mayors-smoking-crack videos of all time. Yes, even in terrible scandal, Canada is still decades behind the United States of America.

A refresher for those of you who need it: In January 1990, an FBI sting operation busted Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry smoking crack cocaine. The 83-minute video, which was watched by jurors in Barry's trial on drug-possession charges, featured a furious mayor yelling about the woman he was with. "Bitch set me up," he infamously complained.

Some of that footage is available here, but, for reasons that remain unclear, it is only available in French (which, if we're being honest here, is actually pretty great).

Barry, who had been mayor since 1979, was convicted and served six months in prison. But here's where Canada could learn a lesson: America doesn't back down and apologize. After finishing his sentence, Barry won election to the city council with 91 percent of the vote. He served on the council until, amazingly, returning to his prior perch as mayor, from 1995 until 1999. Barry remains in D.C. government as a member of the council..

[applegrove]

1. And the police have video of him meeting with his buddy, who

just got charged with extortion. They were exchanging envelopes and stuff.

[gopiscrap]

2. yeah I was watching the news tonight and saw the mayor

I was wondering how soon Fox would link it with the Democratic mayor of a US city.

[Recursion]

3. Barry's still on the city council. Good luck beating that, Ford

Actually Barry's whole story is pretty amazing; there's a good biography of him on Hulu.

Better, to me, than the crack smoking video was the time about 5 or 6 years ago when Barry was mugged and beaten up by a young man who had come to his apartment to deliver... "groceries"...