Maggio broke rules: auditor
Candidate spent more than he filed, but was still within limit, report says
A failed Ward 3 candidate in last year’s municipal election spent about $2,700 more than he filed in his financial documents, according to an auditor’s report. Gabe Maggio, a Windsor immigration lawyer who sought a council seat in the Oct. 27, 2014, election, appears to have broken several rules when filing his campaign expenses, the report said.
William Molson, a licensed public accountant, was tasked with completing the audit after an application was brought forward by Paul Synnott, a longtime follower of municipal politics. Synnott highlighted a number of apparent discrepancies in Maggio’s financial statement in his application for a financial audit.
“I am sure that if you audited all 51 candidates, you would probably find issues with all of them, to varying degrees. It is easy to make mistakes. But this was more than just accounting mistakes. There were a wider range of issues,” he said.
Synnott said the findings are a reminder of the need for the province to dramatically improve municipal reporting. He’s made an appeal to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for a system that doesn’t rely on citizens bringing forward complaints — and risking paying the audit cost if their application doesn’t find any contraventions.
Molson’s report found that Maggio appears to have contravened the act for each of the items Synnott had listed, as well as in several other cases.
It found Maggio made and accepted $1,800 cash that were above the limits allowed by election law. As well, Maggio didn’t properly record expenses he received for free, such as a promotions booth at Bluesfest or the cost of his office and phone line.
Even with revenue nearly $3,000 higher than he’d filed in his public records, Maggio did not go over his spending limit according to the report. Molson also wrote that Maggio co-operated fully with the audit.
“Any Toronto auditor worth even one cent of what the Windsor taxpayers were nailed into paying this audit bill, the auditor must come out the other side having found some inadequacies, violations, errors, oversights etc. That is what they are paid to do,” Maggio said in an emailed response to questions.
Maggio said although the auditor found some inadequacies, he remained within the spending limit.
The auditor’s report does not assign penalties based on any of the contraventions noted. Molson will present it at a compliance audit committee meeting next Thursday.