Calgary mayor uses donations to return legal costs to city hall

CALGARY Mayor Naheed Nenshi wrote a cheque to the city Tuesday for the nearly $300,000 legal bill he incurred while battling a $6-million defamation lawsuit, after 100 people donated between $50 and $10,000 to his cause.

The biggest contribution came from Nenshi, who paid $16,910.34 to the City of Calgary to chip away at the full $284,835.07 tab for legal fees and disbursements associated with the lawsuit filed by home builder Cal Wenzel in 2013. The suit was settled out of court in 2015.

“I am pleased to share with Calgarians that along with many, many other citizens, we have reimbursed every penny of the legal fees associated with the lawsuit,” Nenshi said.

A group of five volunteers, headed by Dean Koeller, spent nine months soliciting donations for Nenshi’s legal costs. Donors received tax receipts from the city for their contributions, which were capped at $10,000 per person.

The mayor was not constrained by the $10,000 limit, and his $16,910.34 payout will not receive a receipt for tax purposes.

City solicitor Glenda Cole determined Nenshi was acting within the scope of his duties and would be indemnified by taxpayers after he made comments on a radio show during the 2013 election campaign, in which he characterized Wenzel as a fictional mob boss.

But last year, council agreed to Nenshi’s request to reimburse taxpayers out of pocket or by soliciting donations for the bill.

The two-year legal dispute didn’t go to trial.

Instead, it ended in late 2015 when Nenshi and the founder of Shane Homes issued a joint statement in which the mayor apologized and retracted the comments he made on the radio show.