Alexander “Sandro” Lisi, a friend and occasional driver for late Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, is seeking to represent his home neighbourhood as a trustee on the Toronto District School Board, his lawyer confirms to CP24.

Dominic Basile said his client Lisi is running in the TDSB’s Ward 1, that covers the Smithfield, Rexdale and Dixon neighbourhoods, where Lisi has lived for much of his life.

Lisi was charged with extortion in connection with an alleged bid to retrieve the now infamous video of Rob Ford smoking what appeared to be crack cocaine.

The crown dropped the extortion charge against him in 2016.

He also has a criminal record for harassing and threatening an intimate partner and a woman he was romantically interested in in the early 2000’s, offences for which he served jail time, according to records obtained by the Toronto Star.

The late mayor vouched for Lisi’s character on multiple occasions and called him a friend.

Lisi is running against nine other candidates in Ward 1.

The incumbent trustee, Avtar Minhas, is not seeking another term.