Coming under the scrutiny of the city's integrity commissioner for not spending enough of his annual budget allowance, Coun. Doug Holyday is striking back at other councillors.
Holyday's incredibly low office expense claim in 2006 of a mere $1,471 out of a possible $53,000 drew the attention of city council's powerful executive committee.
He and Coun. Rob Ford - who claimed $0 last year - were put under the microscope for not spending enough.
But now Holyday is striking back, saying if he is to be investigated all other councillors should be audited as well.
"It's petty," Holyday said Tuesday. "It's politicians, who I think are spending excessively, trying to up our expenses so theirs don't look so bad."
Holyday uses an office in the Etobicoke Civic Centre when he's not at city hall. It is an office space he doesn't pay for and one that the executive committee says costs $1,200 per year.
The committee has ordered Holyday to pay the bill from his office expense fund.
The audit was supported by Coun. Howard Moscoe who said the decision is not about "getting even" with Holyday and Ford.
"It's a question of transparency in expenditure and the rules are there to prevent corruption," Moscoe said.
Holyday said he has nothing to hide and thinks the bigger spenders on city council should come under equal scrutiny.
Councillor Glenn De Baeramaeker is a member of the executive committee but was absent when they voted to audit Holyday and Ford. He would have voted against it, had he been there.
"I don't think we should be going after individual councillors and auditing them," De Baeramaeker said. "And I don't think we should be doing it to everybody. It's just a bit of political monkey business.
If Holyday is forced to pay for his extra office space, the money will come from his expense account, which is funded through taxpayer dollars.
If his request for everyone to be audited is rejected, Holyday said he will ask for it through Freedom of Information rules.
With a report from CTV's Desmond Brown
