Amidst media reports that he misled voters about his wife’s allegedly Jewish ancestry and then mischaracterized John Tory’s stint on a U.S. corporate board, Doug Ford continues to duck questions about whether he is prepared to provide proof that he actually donated over $400,000 of his councilor salary to charity since taking office in late 2010. If Ford did contribute his entire pay packet for the term, he would have received a $120,000 tax credit.
Despite the sums involved, the two leading mayoral candidates declined to challenge Ford, whose polling numbers have been rising, to make a full disclosure. Ford, for his part, has remained silent on the issue, not surprisingly. Spacing yesterday contacted Ford’s spokesperson Jeff Silverstein, as well as his campaign office and Mayor Rob Ford’s chief of staff Dan Jacobs, but no answer was forthcoming.
Ari Goldkind, who has been participating in debates but is highly unlikely to win the race, took the strongest position on the disclosure question: “Mr Ford should release proof of same, as a matter of credibility, as he has made these remarks in the public realm, for public purposes,” he said in an email.
By contrast, John Tory’s spokesperson Amanda Galbraith said the campaign had no comment on the matter, even though it issued a press released yesterday morning accusing Ford of making “21 false or misleading” statements during a radio interview and then “not being honest” about Tory’s stint at Rogers Communications.
Jamey Heath, a spokesperson for Olivia Chow, in turn, said the campaign would “prefer” if he disclosed the information but added that it’s not the most important issue in the race.
“Truth is an important issue,” he said in an email. “And Doug Ford lying about helping regular people when he voted to cut bus routes, abolish free recreation programs for our poorest kids, saying only subways are good and that we should say no to ready-to-go LRT’s or, indeed, John Tory saying taxpayers aren’t going to fork out massively for his scheme should all be issues. That’s what I mean when I say donation records aren’t the biggest issue.”
Ford’s claim has been repeated often in the media during the last four years, but no information about which organizations, if any, received the funds has ever surfaced. (Critics have said the gesture devalues public service, and creates a political advantage for elected officials who can afford to do without the salary.)
According to the National Post, he first pledged to donate his entire salary, then set at about $100,000, to charity on October 26, 2010, shortly after the election. He told the Toronto Sun that he would “donate it back into the community and different community organizations.”
“When I was door knocking,” he continued, “I was up in Rexdale, I was going into government housing…I thought, ‘Man, there (are) so many people that need support…’ It’s just something I want to do to help out the community.”
In an August, 2012, council debate over a salary increase, Ford said some, but not all, of his council colleagues deserved raises. As The Globe and Mail reported:
“The mayor’s brother, who already donates his salary to charity, said he plans to reject the raise too. But the Ford brothers, who inherited a successful printing company founded by their father, don’t rely on their political salaries to `make ends meet,’ budget chair Mike Del Grande pointed out. `The Ford brothers are in a very different situation and it’s magnanimous of them to not take it [the raise] or donate their salary.’”
During a December, 2013, debate about a subsequent increase to council salaries, Mayor Rob Ford said he’d donate the additional amount to charity while Doug Ford, in an interview with the Toronto Sun, re-iterated his claim to be contributing the total amount to charity. Since then, he once showed up at a Toronto Community Housing complex with a stack of $20 bills and distributed them to children in the building.
He again repeated the promise, this time in the context of the mayoral race, during his interview last week with CBC Metro Morning host Matt Galloway.
At present, there is nothing in either council’s code of conduct or provincial legislation that would compel a public office holder to reveal such information.
4 comments
I suspect the reason the other campaigns don’t want to make this an issue is that they are afraid that it will just amplify the claim. Low-information voters, who unfortunately seem to be in the majority, will just keep hearing “Doug doesn’t take his salary, he gives it away” and won’t pay attention to the fact that there is no evidence for the claim. I suspect the reality will be enough of a weaselly partial truth (we know he’s donated at least a few thousand bucks to one thing or another) to prevent our “objective” media from calling him a liar in the headlines.
The claim that he donated to Pride is almost certainly a lie, but as a non profit organization Pride Toronto is probably reluctant to get embroiled in politics any more than they are already.
Hi Great article – I always follow your column – a quick note:
‘she said in an email’ – vs. “he said…” A critical difference as she is the only woman in the race.
Cheers,
Should he prove it? Yes. But I think you are using a bit of “Ford Math” with your numbers by including other benefits and pre-tax income for your numbers. Councillor salary after tax is about $75k/year. If he donated all of that, then what he’s saying is truthful. That would mean a tax credit closer to $85k over four years. To people saying “he does it to get a tax credit,” he’d still be missing out on about $50k/year so it’s hard to fault his motives.
More relevant to me, is that donating his salary doesn’t actually save the city any money… If he receives the salary that comes off of the city’s payroll, it doesn’t matter to the city’s books if he donates it, stuffs it in a mattress, or does whatever else his Jewish accountant tells him to do with it…. it’s a cost to the city, period.
And since Chow is also a millionaire and has stated she would donate her federal pension to charity if she won, would you demand the same disclosure from her as well? What about disclosure on other ‘take my word for it’ claims by her over the years?
Again, I have o issue with the request for proof so long as it applies to ALL.