No Need for Olivia Pope in Robert Ford’s Scandal

Hello Friends, thanks for your continued support. You will notice I made some changes to blog page to ensure that you and I can stay fully engage. I am truly inspired on this journey by your encouragement. Yesterday I received an email from the amazing Lynn Rabey, the former Lieutenant Governor for Marketing for Toastmasters International District 86 with a note that read “Mark you are a great leader.” Mark Young, the immediate past president of the Antigua Toastmasters Club also sent me a Facebook message saying “Mark you are committed and talented to able to find and put words together that others can relate to and appreciate.”

I am my enjoying my journey of  blogging daily. I am doing it because of you. You are very important to me. I want to be your cheer leader in pursuit of your dreams, successes and happiness.

I hope you had a great time “trick n treating” with your children for Halloween last night. I had an absolutely fabulous time in the rain with Marisa. I never saw any rolling calves or blackheart men but I know they are out there somewhere. Marisa had one horrific scare when saw a massive scary black spider that decorated one of the neighbour’s door way. We had a great time but I was happy when Marisa told me she was tired and it was time for us go home!

It seems Toronto’s Mayor Rob Ford does not need Olivia Pope or someone like Alicia Florrick to save him from his latest scandal. Olivia Pope is the main character in the American political thriller television series Scandal created by Shonda Rhimes starring Kerry Washington on ABC. It is no secret Rob Ford seem to be like everyone else (especially politicians) who has a secret. Yesterday Toronto police Chief Bill Blair revealed his force is in possession of a video that allegedly shows Ford smoking crack cocaine. Kevin Donovan and Robyn Doolittle, the Toronto Star reporters must be feeling vindicated with the Toronto police chief’s announcement of evidence gathered confirming the existence of a video with Mayor Rob Ford allegedly smoking crack cocaine.

In the TV show Scandal Olivia Pope fiercely protect and defend the public images of Washington’s elites ensuring that their dirty secrets do not make it into the public domain. For the record I only started watching Scandal this season. On the other hand I have been a big fan of The Good Wife which is a legal and political drama on CBS created by Robert King and Michelle King. Julianna Margulies plays Alicia Florrick the titular character on the The Good Wife.

In Rob Ford’s latest scandal he clearly does not need someone like Oliver Pope or Alicia Florrick to protect and defend his image. This is a particularly so as since the police chief made it clear no charges will made against Rob Ford. It is a case that the police botched their investigation?

The extend of the Toronto Police’s surveillance of Alexander Lisi, an occasional driver and an associates of Rob Ford, might turn out to be a whole different scandal by itself. The Toronto police evidence of Rob Ford might be as scandalous as it gets for the allegations of the mayor’s indiscretions and denigration of moral and ethical behaviour for someone holding public office.

As an anti-money laundering expert knowledgeable in financial institutions’ treat assessment and risk management I can only speculate based on the Toronto police’s sophisticated surveillance technique that the subject of their investigation might be linked to organised crime. If I am correct this undoubtedly cannot be good news for Mayor Rob Ford. I can only speculate that the techniques used were based on the treat and risk to public safety and security.

Why did the Toronto police use such sophisticated surveillance techniques such as vehicle tracking devices, phone logs that detailed hundreds of incoming and outgoing calls? According to the 474 page affidavit the police employed what they call “static surveillance,” a term used to describe basic, in-person observations, usually from the vantage of a car or a rented house. This is seem much like an expensive surveillance operations. The Toronto police have footage of Mr. Lisi and Mr. Ford captured on store security cameras. According to Det.-Constable Khoshbooi the Toronto police also took to the air and watched from the force’s plane.

Just few weeks ago the Toronto police’s plane was pretty much a scandal of its own. The plane civilian-marked Cessna is apparently stealthily owned by Toronto Police since no one will confirm or deny that Toronto Police own. According to a Toronto Star report the plane carries a 17-kg Wescam MX-10 imaging system on its wing which can be converted easily to use a nighttime lens. It has the capability to look down and see where someone purchased their cup of coffee or look in a window of a condominium building from two kilometres away. But Toronto Police will not even acknowledge having the plane which Transport Canada documents show they do. Police have had the $500,000 plane since 2004 and high powered cameras, sources say, were upgraded in 2010 at a cost that could get as high as double of what the plane is worth.

For me reading about Toronto Rob Ford is like a good episode of the ABC TV show Scandal or CBS The Good Wife. There is never a dull moment in Ford Nation.

I think Mayor Rob Ford does not need Olivia Pope from Scandal or Alicia Florrick from The Good Wife.

What do you think?

TGIF…Have a fantastic weekend.

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog  http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.