Mayor Rob Ford’s re-election campaign is rejecting suggestions that a trip to Los Angeles to appear on late night television should be filed as a campaign expense.
The Municipal Elections Act states that any expenses incurred by or on behalf of a person “wholly or partly for use in his election campaign” must be filed as a campaign expense and count towards the campaign spending limit of $1,305,066.
On the surface, the rule would seem to cover Ford’s appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Monday night in which he threw Ford Nation T-shirts into the crowd and plugged his campaign website and YouTube channel, but in an interview with CP24.com on Wednesday the mayor’s campaign manager said the trip will “absolutely not” be filed as a campaign expense and he took issue with the suggestion that it should be.
“We were there promoting Toronto. We went down to city hall, we met with city councillors and it was Toronto we were promoting,” Coun. Doug Ford said. “They (other candidates) want to do their little spin and I guess they are a little nervous and I don’t blame them. If I were in their shoes I would be nervous as well.”
Ford travelled to Los Angeles on Saturday along with his brothers, his chief of staff, his driver/personal trainer, and his spokesperson.
Though he initially ducked questions on who paid for the trip, Ford’s office later confirmed that it was paid for out of the mayor’s own pocket and did not cost taxpayers a dime.
The issue of whether Ford’s trip should count as a campaign expense was then floated by John Tory’s mayoral campaign on Tuesday, but on Wednesday a spokesperson for the campaign refused further comment on the matter, saying that that the campaign had raised “important questions” and would “let the Fords answer them.”
Speaking with CP24.com, Doug Ford said counting the late night appearance as a campaign expense could set a bad precedent, one that would preclude himself and the mayor from so much as mentioning the re-election bid while discussing municipal matters with local media.
“Are they going to charge me (the campaign) every time I come on here (CP24) and plug the website? Are we going to follow him (the mayor) around everywhere,” he said. “It is just politicking. That’s it.”
Ford says T-shirts weren’t related to campaign
Ford has previously told reporters that his trip to Los Angeles was intended to promote Toronto and its vibrant film scene, but the mayor never actually met with anyone from Toronto’s film industry prior to leaving on the trip and it is not known if he had any official meetings with members of the Los Angeles film industry while visiting the city.
During his appearance on Kimmel’s show, Ford did mention the Toronto International Film Festival and referred to the city as “booming,” but he also discussed his re-election campaign at length and threw the Ford Nation shirts into the crowd, though Doug Ford told CP24.com that the shirts were not campaign material.
“What it said on the T-shirts is ‘Discover the World in One City: Toronto’ and ‘Not Discover the World in One City: Vote for Rob Ford,’” he said. “It had Toronto, it had the skyline and it had nothing to do with electing Rob Ford.”
Stintz not concerned about trip
Ford’s appearance on late night television has generated considerable debate at city hall, but at least one mayoral candidate told CP24.com that she doesn’t believe the appearance was related to his mayoral campaign or should count as a campaign expense.
“I do not feel that it was a campaign event,” Coun. Karen Stintz said in an interview Wednesday morning. “It is unclear to me who paid for the trip but he took it, it is done and we didn’t learn anything new.”
This isn’t the first time that Ford ‘s campaign expenses have come under scrutiny.
Last year, a forensic audit found that Ford exceeded the campaign spending limit by $40,168 or about three per cent in 2010, though the compliance audit committee ultimately decided not to pursue charges in the matter.
Requests to David Soknacki’s mayoral campaign for comment on the trip have not yet been returned.
