The following Press release was issued by the Ford campaign. As noted last month in Eye on a Crazy Planet, Smitherman has been reluctant to release his donors' list.
Mayoral candidate Rob Ford announced today that if elected Mayor, he will ask Council to pass an amendment to the City of Toronto Act that would require all candidates to release their full donor lists before Election Day so that voters know who is financing the campaigns of potential Mayors.
“The voters deserve to know where the money is coming from. Every major candidate since 2003 has done this willingly, but with George Smitherman refusing to release his donors’ lists, it’s clear we need new rules to improve transparency and accountability,” said Ford. “It raises the question: what is George Smitherman hiding?”
George Smitherman has already been embroiled in multiple scandals involving the sole-sourcing of contracts to consultants that happened under his watch as Ontario Minister of Health. He is the only major candidate in the race for Mayor that has refused to release his donor list in this election.
“Are Mr. Smitherman’s friends at the Courtyard Group paying back some favours for all those sole-sourced contracts? We don’t know. George won’t tell us,” added Ford. “I believe strongly that Torontonians deserve to know before the election who is paying for Mr. Smitherman’s campaign, and that’s why, if elected Mayor, I will work with Council to change these rules.”
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Adrienne Batra
Director of Communications
Rob Ford for Mayor Campaign
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