Resident Frank Trotz files complaint about Rob Ford’s lobbyist letters

A Parkdale artist has complained to Toronto’s integrity commissioner about the fundraising letters Mayor Rob Ford recently sent to lobbyists.

Frank Trotz submitted his formal complaint at City Hall on Tuesday. He said he hopes Ford is taken to court over the issue and forced out of office. Neither will happen.

“I’d like to see him dismissed,” Trotz said in an interview.

Ford sent letters on behalf of his football foundation to at least two registered lobbyists in the past two months. His chief of staff, Mark Towhey, said in a statement that the letters were sent in error, that no donations from lobbyists were received, and that the foundation will review its procedures.

“It is our understanding that the Football Foundation makes every attempt to remove registered lobbyists from its mass mailing lists,” Towhey said.

The city’s integrity commissioner, Janet Leiper, ruled in 2010 that then-councillor Ford violated the code of conduct for councillors by soliciting donations from lobbyists in 2009. Leiper’s report to council led to the court case that nearly cost Ford his job as mayor.

Leiper will now consider Trotz’s complaint. She will submit a new report to council if she finds that Ford breached the code once more. Ford may be reprimanded, but a significant punishment is unlikely.

Councillor Gord Perks, a Ford opponent who represents Parkdale, said last week that he would personally file a complaint if no member of the public did so. Trotz, who said he knows Perks through his work in the community, then decided to lodge a complaint himself.

Trotz, 70, is a pottery artist who has taught theatre at the Etobicoke School of the Arts and worked in children’s television for CBC and TVO. He serves on the board of Arts Etobicoke and is a member of the Parkdale Residents Association.

Trotz said he is not an “enemy” of Ford. “I am a citizen of Toronto, and I want something better from our mayor,” he said.

“I am so tired of this mayor doing the same things over and over again and never learning from them. He needs to be made aware that there are rules and regulations, and that he’s not above them.”

Ford did alter his fundraising practices after Leiper first inquired. Unlike the 2009 letters, the recent letters do not include his official city letterhead.

Ford’s press secretary did not respond to requests for comment.

Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Daniel Dale