Bad interviews are the bane of crisis management pros everywhere
The election of Mayor Rob Ford has caused a major stir in Toronto’s political scene because of his boisterous campaign and the fact that his views are polar opposites of his predecessors. With solid public support behind him, it appeared that Ford was on his way to a happy four years, but less than a day after the vote was made official, the Mayor stuck his newly-elected foot in his mouth via an interview on popular Canadian current affairs radio show “As It Happens,” creating work for members of his crisis management team earlier than they had probably expected.
Apparently the Mayor, who volunteers time coaching a high school football team, decided that the best time to give what was obviously an important interview was during his team’s practice while he stood on the sidelines. A quote from the transcript, provided by Torontoist.com:
Carol Off: Okay, so you’re at football practice, then.
Rob Ford: Yes.
Carol Off: Alright well, okay, we’ll continue then. What is it that you think drew so much support to your campaign?
Rob Ford: Yeah, it’s just people are sick and tired of the wasteful spending. People are sick and tired of wasteful spending, that’s the bottom line, that’s what it comes down.
Carol Off: Well there—
Rob Ford: You know, I’m the only one that can go down there [Inaudible, then, yelling:] Just go get changed! Go! Out! And get changed! Don’t worry about the water right now. [Pause.] Sorry.
Carol Off: Uh-huh—
Rob Ford: So, um, yeah, no, people are just fed up with, uh, with, you know, uh, politicians squandering, uh, hard-earned tax dollars, and they know that I’m gonna get rid of the sixty-dollar car registration tax and the land transfer tax.
Carol Off: Well you know that your campaign has been compared to Mike Harris’s Common Sense Revolution, to the Tea Party movement, do you see those comparisons?
Rob Ford: I don’t see [inaudible] comparisons [inaudible] what, I don’t care [laughs]. I just, I just know, know the taxpayers, uh, want, uh, you know, the gravy train to come to an end, and that, uh, Rob Ford’s the guy to do it, and uh [inaudible]—
Ford went on interrupting the interviewer for the duration of the questioning, finally cutting her off when pressed repeatedly for more in-depth explanations of his plans. It’s rather shocking that a media-savvy politician would give an interview this bad, especially directly on the heels of a winning campaign. Ford is surely not ignorant of the potential implications of his behavior, and even more so his communications team should have been all over the situation. As a result of their combined lapse in judgement, both Ford and his director of communications, Adrienne Batra, have become the focus of media scrutiny and provided material to pundits and comics across their nation.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/