It’s been a tough week in politics for Robert Ford -- all three of them.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s travails have been well known for two weeks, after word of an alleged video showing him smoking crack cocaine. The revelations have led to a public denial, the exodus of several Ford staffers and his insistence on Thursday that he will not step down and still plans to run in the next election.
There is another Robert Ford, however, who is leaving his post -- the U.S. ambassador to Syria, whose resignation by July, while routine, comes amid a violent backdrop of the Assad regime likely using chemical weapons against its people and the refusal of the Syrian opposition coalition to participate in proposed peace talks with the government.
But political junkies searching for a Robert Ford who is both accused of bad behavior and stepping down were not disappointed Friday. A South Carolina state senator of the same name submitted a letter of resignation as a state ethics committee continues an investigation into his alleged misuse of campaign funds to purchase items from adult stores and pay off a home improvement loan.