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So I'm at the Compliance Audit Committee meeting where they'll decide whether to launch a compliance audit of Faith Goldy's mayoral campaign.
(How could I not show up to something situated at a unique intersection of my areas of expertise.)
A compliance audit is essentially a forensic audit of a campaign's finances that is basically the only means for enforcing municipal election law.
The public gallery in committee room 2 is basically full, as though this were a request for an audit of a Ford, or at least a Mammoliti.
Jack Siegel, the lawyer who has acted in defense of Mammoliti (and many others) at these things in the past, is acting on behalf of applicant Evan Balgord.
Bernie Farber, the chair of @antihateca, is also representing Balgord.
@antihateca Some of the usual suspects are here today, including Ron Banerjee, Free Bird Media's Alex Van Hamme, and uh, my cousin (but not the one who was on Degrassi).
@antihateca An interesting twist with this hearing is that Goldy has not actually filed her financial statements yet. She has another 50 minutes to do so (unless she got them in this morning).
@antihateca Usually, lawyers argue over the validity of decions reflected in the candidate's paperwork. This will more be an argument over the Goldy fundraising we already know about.
@antihateca Goldy's own submission to the committee suggested that she funnelled donations to her legal fund through her personal bank account, thereby potentially bypassing fundraising rules about who can donate and how much they can give.
@antihateca If the committee were to decline an audit, that would likely upend the Municipal Elections Act, since Goldy would have effectively discovered a giant loophole.
@antihateca Regardless of what the committee decides, if Goldy doesn't file her financial paperwork before 2:00 p.m. today, she'll almost certainly be barred from running in 2022.
@antihateca And if Goldy does file her paperwork, we'll be able to see the names of every person who gave her at least $100.
@antihateca Siegel: "It would appear from her own admissions, as much as anything else, that she has accepted donations to her election campaign and deposited the money into her personal account."
@antihateca One of the things that people sometimes don't think about before signing up to run for municipal office is that there are a shit ton of rules to follow.
@antihateca Historically, Compliance Audit Committees have been forgiving of candidates who make a, er, good-faith effort to follow the rules. I suspect that may not be the case here.
@antihateca Goldy is now up, doing her usual thing, not really attempting to endear herself to the committee.
@antihateca I think she just namedropped me.
@antihateca Goldy is, wrongly, telling the committee that they don't have the authority to audit her personal bank account.
@antihateca (More specifically, a forensic auditor can look at any bank account they deem necessary for the purpose of a compliance audit.)
@antihateca Now Goldy, like a self-represented litigant trying to assert freeman-of-the-land privileges, is trying to convince the committee that the usual campaign audit is the same as a compliance audit.
@antihateca (Campaigns need an auditor to sign off on their financials, but it's typically just a matter of making sure the numbers add up. Compliance audits are about ensuring compliance with the law.)
@antihateca Goldy has finally filed her paperwork with the City (which has not yet uploaded a scan): 
@antihateca Goldy says an @antihateca supporter wrote that he'd "love to have the deets on Goldy supporters."
"'Deets' being short for 'details,'" she explains.
"'Deets' being short for 'details,'" she explains.
@antihateca Oh! Kevin Johnston is here. He came second in the Mississauga mayoral election, and last I checked was still facing a hate-crime charge.
@antihateca Four people have now signed up to speak after Goldy. This should be a show.
@antihateca Now addressing the committee is Jack Reynolds, whose submission to the committee contained section headers like this:
@antihateca He's just talking about Islamic immigration.
@antihateca Not only did he not speak to the audit, he didn't mention Goldy's campaign at all.
@antihateca Now up is Kevin Johnston, who claims to have fought off "46 members of Antifa," with his bare hands, I think.
@antihateca Oh, apparently he's up in court this afternoon as part of the lawsuit by the guy who owns Paramount Fine Foods:
@antihateca Steven Handler, my cousin, is up to speak. He takes out a yarmulke, puts it on, and says, "I'm Jewish, and I support Faith Goldy."
That's his whole speech.
That's his whole speech.
@antihateca (I forget how many years now I've been avoiding eye contact at family events.)
@antihateca Goldy's financials are posted now: app.toronto.ca/EFD/jsf/candid… (click "G" and then scroll down and click on the "1")
@antihateca She claims to have received $56,666.78 in contributions less than $100 each. (Plus another 79,500.80 in contributions of $100 and up.)
@antihateca She doesn't record the contribution of $25,000 from her own bank account, suggesting that she doesn't believe the money she spend on her lawsuit against Bell counts as a campaign expense at all.
@antihateca Siegel clarifies that it's a normal part of the compliance audit process for a candidate's personal accounts to be examined.
@antihateca Siegel: "There have been a number of ad hominem attacks on my client and his character."
The crowd shouts variations of "Boo hoo!"
The crowd shouts variations of "Boo hoo!"
@antihateca Goldy keeps referring to Bernie Farber as the "Work Dad" of Evan Balgord.
@antihateca Goldy reminds us that she had to pay a $500 penalty for filing her financial paperwork after the March 29th deadline.
@antihateca I'm not sure @ebalgord's surname has been pronounced correctly once during this meeting.
@antihateca @ebalgord They're going in camera, meaning public and media have to leave. The second-floor rotunda is about to get interesting.
Goldy leads her supporters in prayer:
The committee has been meeting in camera for half an hour, which isn't unusual in the scheme of things, but is longer than I would've guessed in this case.
We're past an hour now. But like a jury, the Compliance Audit Committee doesn't issue reasons for its decisions, so regardless of the outcome, we won't know how or why they reached it, or what took them so long.
On the other hand, the filing does note a spending of $25,000 in legal fees, so who knows what's going on.
CORRECTION! As brought to my attention by @AdamCF and @jacksiegel, a recent amendment to the Municipal Elections Act now mandates that the Compliance Audit Committee provide "brief written reasons."
That would explain why they're taking so long.
BREAKING: The committee has decided to go ahead with a forensic audit of Faith Goldy's mayoral campaign.
"Sufficient concern was raised that contributions ma have been solicited from outside Ontario… The Committee did not receive adequate information that contributions were kept separate from campaign and personal accounts…"
Now Goldy is declaring that her "personal accounts will not be affected" by this audit.
My understanding is that an auditor appointed for this purpose could potentially compel a bank to produce documents.
"Who's the auditor? How do we find out who the auditor is going to be?" a man shouts.
The reasons for the Compliance Audit Committee's decision have now been posted: app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…
(Apparently, they usually try getting bank statements directly from the candidate first.)
Goldy won't give an interview to @DavidNickle because he works for the Torstar-owned Metroland, and she takes issue with a recent Star headline about her.
"The campaign was nine months ago. Get over it," she says before leaving.
"The campaign was nine months ago. Get over it," she says before leaving.
@DavidNickle (I believe the election was six months ago.)
@DavidNickle More than the audit itself, Goldy seems chiefly concerned about anyone getting to take a look at her personal bank account.
@DavidNickle (It's very unlikely that the auditor would publish any information about her personal account beyond that which is necessary to make the case for an apparent violation in the report.)
(That is to say: She probably has less to worry about than she fears.)
@antihateca On her YouTube livestream tonight, Goldy paraphrased the above tweet as "Ugh, oy vey, this is so bad for my family."
Never mind the above. On one of the livestreams, she admitted that she's worried about "people who donated to me privately" being identified.
(Campaigns aren't supposed to take "private" donations.)
(The inclusion of "oy vey" is both antisemitic and a not-wholly-inaccurate reading.)
