An auditor’s report has demonstrated reasonable grounds to believe Dave Wrobel contravened the municipal election act regulations in his unsuccessful bid to become mayor, a compliance committee has found.
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The municipal elections compliance committee has also recommended commencing legal proceedings against Wrobel based on the findings of the audit.
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The committee released its decision Thursday (May 23) after hearing from four people including Wrobel during a two-hour committee meeting. The committee released its findings after close to 30 minutes of deliberations behind closed doors.
The committee did not provide any reasons for its findings and declined to comment following the meeting.
Wrobel also declined to comment following the meeting.
At issue was an auditor’s report that alleged Wrobel and his spouse contributed more money than was allowed to support his campaign.
The audit also alleges there were expenses incurred in the campaign that were not included in his initial financial statements. As well, Wrobel’s initial financial statements understated the total expenses and some contributions were not included in his initial financial statements.
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The audit, conducted by MNP LLP, of Toronto, was presented to the compliance committee and heard from Coun. Dan McCreary and Wrobel and Wrobel’s auditor William Molson.
Wrobel lost the 2022 election for mayor to Kevin Davis who received 9,220 votes, 208 more than Wrobel’s 9,012.
A subsequent recount confirmed Davis’s victory by a vote count of 9,223 to Wrobel’s 9,012.
Speaking at Thursday’s committee meeting Wrobel said his contributions to his campaign were less than his confirmed personal campaign contribution limit of $22,473.
However, the MNP audit determined the Wrobel contributed $31,938 to his campaign or $9,465 more than was allowed.
Much of the discussion during Thursday’s meeting focused on the $9,300 Wrobel included in his revised financial statement to cover the cost of the vote recount.
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According to MNP’s audit report, recount costs should have been included in his campaign expenses.
Wrobel, asked by the committee to explain the recount, said he initially approached Davis for a recount. But Davis, citing a conflict of interest, declined.
The idea of the recount was brought to city council for consideration by Coun. Richard Carpenter by way of a notice of motion. However, Carpenter’s notice failed to get the required two-thirds majority of council to even discuss the issue prompting Wrobel to take legal action.
But Ron Kaufman, a member of the audit committee, said the councilors were well within their rights to not entertain Carpenter’s notice of motion.
“There was nothing undemocratic” about council’s process, Kaufman said.
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“Mr. Kaufman, you are correct there was nothing undemocratic with their process,” Wrobel replied. “But what the process hampered was my ability to effectively deal with a recount without having to hire a lawyer.
“Council could have stopped this but didn’t.”
Wrobel also told the committee that he believes in transparency and has been open about his campaign finances. When issues arose, he took steps to address them and make sure the campaign complied with regulations.
McCreary, however, pointed out that the MNP audit concluded Wrobel’s campaign violated the Municipal Elections Act act not just once but four times.
“Mr. Wrobel should be required to produce unedited and unredacted personal banking statement to examine whether undeclared donations were obtained through those accounts and whether check exchanges disguised ineligible corporate donations and/or excessive personal contributions,” McCreary said.
McCreary spoke on behalf of Davis and advisors Rose Sicoli and Greg Martin, who, along with himself, filed an application to have Wrobel’s 2022 mayor campaign finances audited.
The province’s elections act defines fairness and helps ensure candidates understand that rules apply and that there are consequences for those who through ignorance, neglect or purposeful action break those rules, McCreary said.
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