The pinko wars have erupted again at City Hall.
Reacting to the request for a compliance audit filed against his election campaign organization shortly before New Year's, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti accused his accuser, retired Toronto teacher David DePoe, of participating in the radical student movements and later joining the Communist Party. Mr. Mammoliti cited an online reference to a book published in the late 1960s.
The chair of the community development and recreation committee also claimed that the compliance audit process, which is set out in provincial law and overseen by a three-person committee, has been hijacked by opponents of the Ford administration.
"The committee can't be discussing the intent around the complaints and how the real intent is politically motivated and has nothing to do with the election," said Mr. Mammoliti.
While he was "fairly far left" in the 1970s, Mr. DePoe said, his political radicalism is long behind him.
"The reason I did this is because I want to make sure people who are in political office play by the rules."
In his filing, he alleged that Mr. Mammoliti's campaign organization spent $9,100 on advertising and other materials that are not accounted for in the financial statements. Mr. DePoe's statement also claimed that Mr. Mammoliti did not include rent payments on his campaign office on the statements, with the combined result that he exceeded the spending limit of $27,464.
Mr. Mammoliti, a onetime public-sector union leader and NDP MPP, dismissed the allegations, saying his campaign's financial statements were vetted by veteran auditor Bernard Nayman, an expert in election finance accounting.
Jack Siegel, Mr. Mammoliti's lawyer, last fall persuaded the compliance audit committee to set aside an earlier request using a similar argument.
Special to the Globe and Mail