City to cover rival’s legal fees after successful complaint against Councillor Maria Augimeri

Council votes to reimburse Gus Cusimano's costs up to $5,000 after Augimeri apologizes for breaching the code of conduct with nasty comments about him.

Aug. 26, 2014
thestar.com
By Jennifer Pagliaro

The public will pay the legal fees of Councillor Maria Augimeri’s political rival after she was found to have breached the city’s code of conduct.

In a Tuesday vote, councillors decided that Augimeri had properly apologized to Gus Cusimano, who ran against her in 2010, for coments she made last year and that in accordance with city policy the fees should be reimbursed by the city.

In February, Augimeri was quoted calling Cusimano a criminal in the Italian-language newspaper Corriere Canadese. Integrity commissioner Janet Leiper found those comments breached the code of conduct for council members.

According to a city rule, any complainant who is successful is entitled to have related legal costs, up to $5,000, paid by the city. Where those funds come from is at council’s discretion, and Leiper recommended the sum be paid out of council’s general expense budget.

On Tuesday, Mayor Rob Ford, a close ally of Cusimano, put forward a motion arguing that Augimeri should pay the legal fees herself.

“I don’t see why the taxpayer should have to pay for it,” Ford told reporters ahead of the council meeting. “She made an accusation; she was wrong.”

Ford claimed he has paid “half a million dollars” in legal fees out of his own pocket during his time as mayor. Those fees would have been incurred during his challenge of a conflict-of-interest case, a lawsuit brought by a local businessman and a compliance audit over his election spending.

After a two-hour debate over the city’s policy and whether council has the power to impose such a sanction, Ford’s motion was defeated 33-2. Council voted 30-4 to adopt Leiper’s recommendations.

Leiper wrote in her report that after a full apology, no further sanctions should be imposed.

The Ontario Court of Appeal already awarded Cusimano’s lawyer $72,500 last year, which was paid by the city, after he unsuccessfully contested her 2010 election win. According to his campaign expense records, Cusimano spent more than $132,000 contesting the election, of which tens of thousands are eligible for donor rebates paid by the city.

Cusimano threatened to sue Augimeri over the newspaper comments, but that threat was later dropped.

“I think Councillor Augimeri should be paying this not the taxpayers,” Cusimano told the Star.

The integrity commissioner said this was the first time someone had requested their legal fees be covered under the policy. Leiper said it is now up to the city solicitor to determine what legal costs are reasonable.

Augimeri said she doesn’t think the city should be paying Cusimano’s legal fees.

“Council’s not a libel court and I think taxpayers should not be on the hook for his bill. I think councillors were surprised when they saw that there was a bill to begin with,” Augimeri told the Star.

The city policy is the problem, some councillors argued, and should be changed so the city is not on the hook for fees if a councillor is found to have breached the code of conduct.

Councillor Josh Matlow put forward a motion to change the policy, but was ruled out of order by the Speaker, Councillor Frances Nunziata, who said it fell outside the realm of the debate.

After the vote, Councillor Doug Ford accused councillors of playing politics and following a “pack mentality” to protect colleagues who are their friends.

Ford argued there was a “double standard” of legal fees being reimbursed, comparing the report involving Augimeri to the legal troubles his brother faced - though those did not involve complaints submitted to the integrity commissioner.

Ford called a suggestion he and brother Rob are in a conflict because of their past support of Cusimano “hilarious.”