Rob Ford broke rules with fundraiser ad, integrity commissioner says
Valerie Jepson recommends council dock Ford's pay by $900 and another $900 if he doesn't reveal his newsletter costs.

TheStar.com
Jan. 29, 2016
David Rider

Councillor Rob Ford broke city rules by putting ads for a campaign fundraiser in his newsletters and should be docked $900 pay, Toronto’s integrity commissioner says.

In a report released Friday, Valerie Jepson says Ford’s council colleagues should withhold another $900, equal to three days’ pay, if he refuses to disclose how much of his own money he spent on the newsletter.

Ford’s actions call for a “firm sanction,” Jepson wrote, noting he is a veteran council member and that one of the rules he broke was established as a result of his past misconduct.

The April 2, April 29 and May 8, 2015, editions of Ford’s Ward 2 newsletter included, among regular city notices, an ad for a May fundraiser to help clear campaign debts incurred by Ford and his brother Doug, a failed mayoral candidate, in the 2014 civic election.

The council code of conduct bans politicians from using city resources, including newsletters, for any election-campaign activity.

“Councillor Ford cooperated with this investigation and made no objection to the core principle that city resources should not be used for campaign purposes,” Jepson wrote.

She rejected Ford’s defence that the code doesn’t apply because his aide created the newsletter on his own time and that the councillor paid him out of his own pocket.

The newsletter is “inextricably connected with the councillor’s constituency office,” wrote Jepson, adding that Ford inappropriately used city email to distribute the newsletter.

His city-paid staff responded to constituents’ questions about the fundraiser, including how to claim a rebate. One arranged a resident’s TTC Wheel-Trans ride to the fundraiser.

“There was no effort to keep the lines clear between campaign and constituency,” Jepson concluded.

"I told the integrity commissioner 15 minutes ago it's a joke. It's just another attack on Rob," one-time city councillor and former mayoral candidate Doug Ford responded, speaking on behalf of his brother at city hall Friday night. "What did he do wrong? We put a letter out on an email. You've got to be kidding."

A 2007 report by Jepson’s predecessor and the auditor general, triggered by Ford spending his own money on his council office budget, led to a rule that such purchases must be disclosed.

The concern is that those “who have the financial means to do so are in a position to incur expenses in excess of amounts available to other councillors.”

City council will consider Jepson’s recommendations at next week’s city council meeting.

Ford, now undergoing cancer treatment, served as Ward 2 councillor for a decade before he was mayor from 2010 to 2014. He abandoned a mayoral re-election bid after being diagnosed with cancer, and was re-elected in Ward 2.

Ford has a long string of integrity commissioner findings against him.

Most recently, Jepson found last fall that he was “unnecessarily reckless” when he bowled over Councillor Pam McConnell while racing across the council floor during a 2013 meeting. Ford then apologized to McConnell and offered to make a donation to a charity of her choice.

Jepson also investigated Mayor John Tory after a complaint that his relationship with former campaign officials who have since done work for Uber influenced Tory’s actions at a May 2015 council meeting.

Jepson found no evidence of that, but warned council members to use “particular caution” when ex-campaign officials lobby them or their office, and suggested they consider not receiving communications from them at all to avoid the appearance of impropriety.