Audit ordered into Ford’s campaign financing

If an audit finds that Rob Ford breached election laws, potential penalties could run from a fine or — if it's found the breach was deliberate — removal from office or even imprisonment.

The Toronto Star:

A city panel has ordered an audit of Mayor Rob Ford’s unorthodox campaign financing to see if he broke any election laws.

The three citizen appointees made the unanimous ruling Friday morning, agreeing with an application by Toronto residents Max Reed and Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler that there are enough questions to warrant the audit.

The request for a “compliance audit” from Reed and Chaleff-Freudenthaler, and another from fellow resident Ted Ho, centred on the role of Ford’s family company, Doug Ford Holdings Inc., and its payment of more than $77,000 in campaign expenses.

The campaign repaid the company with a single cheque, with no interest or surcharges, on March 25, 2011, exactly one year after Ford declared his candidacy.

The complainants said the money was either a loan from a private company — not a bank or recognized lending institution as stipulated by provincial law — or a corporate donation, which is prohibited by a Toronto bylaw.

Reed and Chaleff-Freudenthaler questioned the inclusion of events that included Ford’s March 26, 2010, “wine and cheese” campaign launch.

No admission was charged. There were tables near the door for anyone wishing to donate to Ford’s campaign. The event raised $7,655, plus $250 collected inside the hall by people wandering around with tubs, but cost the campaign $34,371.72 to hold.

If an audit finds the event was not a fundraising event and is included in campaign spending, Ford will have exceeded the spending cap.

“The Rob Ford campaign tried to run, they tried to hide from the auditors (but) the audit committee would not have any of it,” Chaleff-Freudenthaler, a member of the Toronto Public Library board who has criticized Ford’s cost-cutting efforts, told reporters.

“It makes me really proud to be a Torontonian because it means that our democratic process is the same whether you are a very wealthy man or not … It’s a great day for Toronto.”

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