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“He said oh, ‘I was in Florida, you should have been with me, my wife wasn’t there.’ And I kinda did a double take because usually Mayor Ford is professional, he’s a gentleman, and he doesn’t act that way,” she told reporters outside city hall, in between various media interviews. “So, I kinda did a double take and someone said get a picture, so we got a picture, and he put his hand down and grabbed my ass. It was just so offensive.”

Carmine Perrelli, who represents Richmond Hill’s Ward 2, said Ms. Thomson told him and a group of people at the event about the mayor grabbing her. But he said Ms. Thomson has left out the part when she talked about returning to the mayor and trying to get a photo of his hand coming into contact with her friend or assistant’s derriere.

“She said I’m going to set him up and I’m going to use the pictures against him in the next election because I’m going to be the Mayor of Toronto,” said Mr. Perrelli.

Councillor Greg Beros, another Richmond Hill city councillor, said he also heard Ms. Thomson discuss a plan to go upstairs and stage a photo. “I said Sarah, I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” said Mr. Beros. Ms. Thomson was not immediately available to respond.

Both Richmond Hill councillors said they did not see the mayor drinking alcohol and said he hardly moved from a corner, where a steady stream of people approached him to take photos.

In the earlier interview, Ms. Thomson said she thought the mayor might have a substance abuse problem, but later Friday she recanted that description. “I have no idea what he was on. I have no idea whether he was drunk, whether he was sober but he was not the Rob Ford we all know,” she said.