No legal action against Oak Ridges councillor for apparent finance contraventions

Audit report reveals involvement of Reg. Coun. Perrelli, chief of staff, and local printing business in Beros’ election

Yorkregion.com
February 12, 2020
Sheila Wang

A joint compliance audit committee declined to commence legal action against Richmond Hill Ward 1 Coun. Greg Beros for multiple “apparent contraventions” of the Municipal Elections Act in reporting his 2018 election campaign finances.

Three committee members, chaired by Ron Colucci, made the decision on Jan. 14 2019, after reviewing an audit report that investigated the councillor’s financial statements during the election campaign in response to allegations raised by ward residents last June.

The audit report, dated Dec. 16, found that Beros failed to keep accurate records of contributors’ names and addresses, did not make all payment expenses from the campaign bank accounts and failed to record every expense as required.

The committee decided not to bring legal action against him because they believed the irregularities were “the result of inadvertence” on the part of Beros.

“This exercise in futility was yet another attempt by unsuccessful candidates in the 2018 election and their friends to have me removed from office,” Beros responded on Feb. 10.

Last June, two Richmond Hill residents each filed a request to the clerk’s office to have Beros and three other councillors investigated over possible violations of the Municipal Elections Act in their 2019 campaigns

The committee members approved an audit of Beros at a hearing on July 18, where they denied the same request to investigate the campaign finances of regional councillors Joe DiPaola, Carmine Perrelli and Councillor Tom Muench.

In his request, resident Wayne Leafloor brought to light four possible breaches in Beros’ contribution records and campaign expenses in his financial statement.

Auditors cleared Beros of under-reporting/misclassification of expenses -- Leafloor had alleged that the councillor had possibly exceeded the general spending limit of $22,399.50.

The report shows Beros contracted Pelhum Consulting Ltd. to solicit contributions that Leafloor suspected provided additional services that should have been accounted for within the general spending limit.

Mike Makrigiorgos, one of the owners of the consulting firm which dealt with Beros’ campaign, said he did propose additional services, which Beros declined verbally, according to the audit report.

Shortly after the 2018 election, Makrigiorgos was hired as the chief of staff for Beros, Perrelli and DiPaola, yorkregion.com reported.

The auditors dismissed an allegation that the amount Beros reported for sign inventory was “less than current market value” on the grounds that the act permits use of the lowest pricing available to the public.

Beros and Perrelli canvassed together during the election and put up around 130 small signs and six large signs on lawns, the report revealed, confirming the low price for the signs provided to Perrelli by his sign supplier.

The supplier, Top Quality Print and Sign, is a local printing business housed in Richmond Hill’s former Jefferson Schoolhouse, auditors found.

“Residents can make their own judgments about the connections and information revealed in the audit,” said resident Carol Davidson, who spoke at the July hearing as an agent on behalf of Leafloor.

She said it shouldn’t be this hard to find out how candidates were supported during local elections, demanding greater transparency and accountability in local politics.

“When you can’t attack a person’s political policies, weak-minded people turn to personal attacks,” Beros wrote in an email. He included his belief that the residents tried to achieve “through groundless allegations” what they could not through the election.

Davidson ran for the council seat in Ward 1 against Beros in the last election and lost by 636 votes.

Scott Thompson, one of the two residents who requested the compliance audit, questioned the legitimacy of the evidence provided to the investigators and said he suspected that one individual's "personal interests” took precedence over the interests of the residents.

“It has become quite apparent that this individual helped orchestrate where financial backing came from that helped propel certain like-minded members into council positions,” Thompson said.