TORONTO

Mayor Rob Ford’s office took to Twitter Wednesday in a bid to prove the mayor was “hard at work” at City Hall.

Mark Towhey, Ford’s director of policy, tweeted a picture of Ford in a meeting in his City Hall office with Budget Chief Mike Del Grande and Councillor Jaye Robinson. Towhey described the trio in his tweet as “hard at work for the taxpayers.”

The Twitter post came two hours after the Toronto Sun posted a quote from Councillor Adam Vaughan on its City Hall blog.

Vaughan was responding to Ford’s run-in with a TTC streetcar operator and went on to slam the mayor for “barely” showing up for work.

“If it’s not which streetcar door the mayor drove by it is whether or not the mayor has been partying in the Entertainment District. When it’s not whether he’s been partying in the Entertainment District, it’s whether he’s been picking up liquor on Dundas St. When it’s not that, it’s whether or not he’s gone off to the cottage instead of attending Pride,” Vaughan told the Sun Tuesday at City Hall.

“Very little of what you talk about when you’re talking about this mayor has anything to do with work at City Hall and as a result his approval ratings are dropping. He’s not doing anything here, in fact he’s doing very little, he barely even shows up for work.”

Deputy mayor Doug Holyday called Vaughan’s claims “typical Vaughan”.

“That’s the only way he can get in the news is to be critical of somebody,” Holyday said.

Holyday said Ford is showing up for work.

“He was there (at City Hall) today,” he said.

Holyday — who called Vaughan “David Miller, Jr.” — chastised the councillor for trying to make things appear in a way they’re not.

“(Vaughan) should get on the positive side of something,” he said.

The Sun’s blog post led to some heated discussion on Toronto talk radio Wednesday afternoon. Newstalk 1010 host John Tory called Vaughan’s quotes a “drive-by smear.”

Towhey’s photo of Ford “hard at work” prompted a few cheeky replies on Twitter from some Toronto residents and at least one city councillor.

Shortly after Towhey’s tweet was posted, Councillor Josh Matlow tweeted a picture of him and two staffers giving the thumb’s up in his City Hall office.

The photo caption noted Matlow and his staff were also “hard at work for the taxpayers.”