Taking a page from Mayor Rob Ford’s crisis playbook, embattled Toronto Community Housing Corp. chief executive Gene Jones had a lawyer speak for him Thursday in advance of the meeting at which he might be fired.

The TCHC board of directors will convene Friday morning to discuss the ombudsman’s investigation that revealed numerous apparent violations of hiring, promotion and conflict of interest rules. Jones’ job is on the line.

Ford held an afternoon news conference to repeat his support for Jones and his criticism of ombudsman Fiona Crean, whom he accused of “politicking” and working on behalf of “special interests” he did not identify.

Ford argued that the TCHC is “a hell of a lot better” than it was when he came to city hall 14 years ago. Modifying a statement he usually utters about himself, Ford said, “Is he perfect? No. But none of us are perfect.”

Jones did not make any public comments. An employment and labour lawyer, Soma Ray-Ellis, appeared on CP24 on his behalf. Ray-Ellis said Jones is beloved by TCHC tenants.

“I think they’ve called him a man with a heart of gold, a man of steel. And I don’t know if you know, but this is a guy who shows up at midnight to see what’s going on with residents,” she said.

Crean found that Jones and other executives hired and promoted people without competition, created jobs with no job descriptions attached, handed out unjustified raises, presided over reckless and impulsive firings, ignored several potential conflicts of interest, and changed employment agreements to limit severance without telling the employees.

Crean rejected Ford’s accusations.

“This investigation is no different than any other administrative investigation that I’ve done in the last five years,” she said in an interview.

“My job is to represent citizens when they have problems with their local governments, and I’ve just completed an investigation into the administration of TCHC, plain and simple. It has nothing to do with ‘special interests.’”

Jones was denied his 2013 bonus and forced to accept management coaching after a separate investigation by a law firm found he had violated policies and “failed to exercise proper management oversight” in two specific cases.

Ford called in October for the firing of a community centre worker who was photographed with his head down on his desk. Asked on Thursday why he believes the worker’s lapse was more serious than Jones’ numerous alleged transgressions, he said, “Nobody’s napping at Toronto Community Housing.”