Read Online Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story by Robyn Doolittle - Free Book Online
Authors: Robyn Doolittle
Tags: General, Biography & Autobiography
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highway driving north of Overtown—in the three hours before getting stopped at 2:35 A.M . When asked when he had last eaten something, Ford told investigators he’d had some ribs and potatoes ten hours earlier. He admitted to drinking two large draft beers and two shots of Chivas Regal between 3 P.M. and midnight. (Arresting Officer Timothy Marks said it would take significantly more alcohol than that for Ford to blow what he did.) And it’s not clear if Renata was even with Ford at the time, as he has suggested. There is no mention of her in any of the paperwork, and a source close to the family told me she was waiting back at the condo.
Ford initially tried to hide the arrest from his family. When Doug Ford Sr. took public office, the Ford children had been warned there would be strict consequences for any “silliness.” This usually meant cutting them off financially for a period of time. It was a punishment that Randy and Kathy knew well. A close family source says that Ford might have successfully avoided the wrath of Doug Ford Sr. if only he had remembered to get rid of his arrest paperwork, which was discovered by another family member at the Florida condo a week later.
Doug Ford Sr. was “absolutely livid,” said the source. The tough-on-crime, family values premier of Ontario, Mike Harris,was not going to be pleased if the media learned his backbencher from Etobicoke had a son facing drug and DUI charges. And it wasn’t just the Ford family’s reputation on the line. Rob’s own political future was at stake. He wanted to be a city councillor. He had run and lost in 1997 and was preparing to try again in 2000.
The Fords hired lawyer Reemberto Diaz to work out a deal. On May 14, 1999, Ford pleaded guilty to driving under the influence, and in exchange the state dropped the marijuana charge. Ford agreed to six months’ probation, a 180-day suspension of his licence, and $664.75 in fines and court costs. He was also ordered to perform fifty hours of community service and attend a substance abuse program. And that was the end of it.
Shortly after coming back from Florida, Ford announced that he and Renata were engaged.
ON A SUNNY SATURDAY in August 2000, Renata Brejniak married Rob Ford at the All Saints Roman Catholic Church in Etobicoke. She was twenty-nine; he was thirty-one. That evening, there were cocktails, dinner, and dancing at the nearby St. George’s Golf and Country Club. They gave a commemorative bottle of wine to each of their guests and looked very much in love.
Renata wore a white dress cinched around her tiny waist, with a sweetheart neckline, short sleeves, and a long flowing train. Her curly brown hair tumbled to her shoulders beneath a veil and beaded tiara. Rob was in a dark suit with a powder-blue tie. Doug Jr.’s four daughters were matching flower girls with blue petals in their hair.
Most people believe the couple had met in high school. A February 2011 Toronto Life feature entitled “The WomanBehind the Mayor: Who Is Renata Ford?” asserts that “what we do know is that Rob and Renata met during high school when they were living a couple of blocks apart.” This is what Ford says too, and it’s certainly possible. They were only a few years apart at Scarlett Heights. And their childhood homes are in the same Etobicoke neighbourhood. But no one I spoke to recalls Rob having anything to do with Renata until his twenties.
After graduation, Renata went out with a man named Artur Kisicki. He was born in Poland, like Renata’s parents, and worked as a cabinetmaker. They got married in June 1993, when Renata was just twenty-two, but separated a year and a half later. A year after that Kisicki filed for divorce. It was finalized in February 1996. Court records do not indicate what led to the marriage breaking down, although a source close to the family says Renata’s drinking played a role.
Rob and Renata dated for several years before they got married. Rob had been reluctant
Ford initially tried to hide the arrest from his family. When Doug Ford Sr. took public office, the Ford children had been warned there would be strict consequences for any “silliness.” This usually meant cutting them off financially for a period of time. It was a punishment that Randy and Kathy knew well. A close family source says that Ford might have successfully avoided the wrath of Doug Ford Sr. if only he had remembered to get rid of his arrest paperwork, which was discovered by another family member at the Florida condo a week later.
Doug Ford Sr. was “absolutely livid,” said the source. The tough-on-crime, family values premier of Ontario, Mike Harris,was not going to be pleased if the media learned his backbencher from Etobicoke had a son facing drug and DUI charges. And it wasn’t just the Ford family’s reputation on the line. Rob’s own political future was at stake. He wanted to be a city councillor. He had run and lost in 1997 and was preparing to try again in 2000.
The Fords hired lawyer Reemberto Diaz to work out a deal. On May 14, 1999, Ford pleaded guilty to driving under the influence, and in exchange the state dropped the marijuana charge. Ford agreed to six months’ probation, a 180-day suspension of his licence, and $664.75 in fines and court costs. He was also ordered to perform fifty hours of community service and attend a substance abuse program. And that was the end of it.
Shortly after coming back from Florida, Ford announced that he and Renata were engaged.
ON A SUNNY SATURDAY in August 2000, Renata Brejniak married Rob Ford at the All Saints Roman Catholic Church in Etobicoke. She was twenty-nine; he was thirty-one. That evening, there were cocktails, dinner, and dancing at the nearby St. George’s Golf and Country Club. They gave a commemorative bottle of wine to each of their guests and looked very much in love.
Renata wore a white dress cinched around her tiny waist, with a sweetheart neckline, short sleeves, and a long flowing train. Her curly brown hair tumbled to her shoulders beneath a veil and beaded tiara. Rob was in a dark suit with a powder-blue tie. Doug Jr.’s four daughters were matching flower girls with blue petals in their hair.
Most people believe the couple had met in high school. A February 2011 Toronto Life feature entitled “The WomanBehind the Mayor: Who Is Renata Ford?” asserts that “what we do know is that Rob and Renata met during high school when they were living a couple of blocks apart.” This is what Ford says too, and it’s certainly possible. They were only a few years apart at Scarlett Heights. And their childhood homes are in the same Etobicoke neighbourhood. But no one I spoke to recalls Rob having anything to do with Renata until his twenties.
After graduation, Renata went out with a man named Artur Kisicki. He was born in Poland, like Renata’s parents, and worked as a cabinetmaker. They got married in June 1993, when Renata was just twenty-two, but separated a year and a half later. A year after that Kisicki filed for divorce. It was finalized in February 1996. Court records do not indicate what led to the marriage breaking down, although a source close to the family says Renata’s drinking played a role.
Rob and Renata dated for several years before they got married. Rob had been reluctant
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