Ford’s expenses report questioned in complaint

The former editor of a left-wing political website has filed a complaint with Toronto’s integrity commissioner in which she says Mayor Rob Ford’s first office expenses report may have violated city rules.

Jude MacDonald, a freelance writer and former editor-in-chief of Rabble.ca, says it “strains credibility” to believe that Ford’s office spent as little in the first quarter of 2011 as the proudly frugal mayor claimed: $1,718.46, less than the much smaller offices of 25 councillors and a miniscule portion of his $2 million limit. She believes it is “possible” that Ford paid additional costs with his own money without reporting having done so, a violation of council’s expenses policy.

The mayor and councillors are allowed to cover office expenses themselves rather than drawing from their taxpayer subsidies, but they must report even out-of-pocket expenditures in their official filings. The city’s auditor found in 2007 that Ford, then a councillor, had broken the rule by neglecting to report his personal spending.

The auditor said the rule exists for the sake of transparency, to ensure expenses are not being paid by third parties, and to ensure wealthy politicians are not quietly exceeding their spending limits.

“I can’t prove a negative. But it’s only with full disclosure that we will know,” MacDonald said. “Because the reporting I’m seeing online falls so short of the basic minimum, we can only look at his past practices.”

Ford’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Origin
Source: Toronto Star