2 municipal councilors used constituent emails for campaigns: watchdog

Toronto

Integrity Commissioner recommends reprimands for Brad Bradford, Frances Nunziata

Posted: 3 hours ago

Toronto’s integrity commissioner has recommended city council vote to formally reprimand two councilors it found violated election-related ethics rules.

In separate recent reports, the ethics watchdog concluded that councilors Brad Bradford and Frances Nunziata breached the council’s code of conduct when they misused constituents’ emails for campaigning purposes.

In both cases, constituents’ email addresses obtained through the work of the councilors’ respective offices ended up on campaign mailing lists – a practice explicitly prohibited by the code of conduct.

“When constituents share their personal information with their council member, they expect it to be used only for the purpose for which it was provided. Failure to exercise due diligence erodes public trust,” integrity commissioner Jonathan Batty wrote in both reports.

Batty said he received independent complaints from four Bradford, Beaches-East York ward residents who received campaign emails they didn’t opt-in to during the 2023 mayoral by-election.

All four complainants were on the mailing list for Bradford’s constituency e-newsletter.

During Batty’s investigation, Bradford admitted that his campaign used constituent contact information transferred from his mayor’s office.

Bradford attributed the ethics violation to a former staffer who had volunteered for his campaign team, though the aide declined to name the individual. Batty later learned that it was Bradford’s former chief of staff who uploaded the email addresses to a campaign database.

In response to the integrity commissioner, Bradford said it was an accidental error and staff believed the email addresses had been collected during a previous election campaign. Bradford said it took immediate action to fix the error.

“I take full responsibility for the mistake,” Bradford wrote to Batty. He also offered an apology to the four complainants. “To them and any others who may come forward, I apologize for this administrative error.”

Bradford said he accepts Batty’s recommendation of reprimand, which amounts to a public denunciation of his actions by the city council.

According to the report, Bradford’s legal counsel said the investigation was “unfair” and claimed Batty “mischaracterized nearly every piece of evidence,” despite the counsel’s admission.

The chief of staff “personally transferred” emails to the campaign database

Meanwhile, only one complaint has been filed against Nunziata, who represents York South-Weston and is the council’s spokesperson, in connection with the 2022 municipal election. Nunziata won re-election by just 94 votes.

In her response to Batty’s investigation, Nunziata said she could not determine how a constituent’s email ended up on the campaign mailing list and also argued that her office did not have jurisdiction to investigate the matter. Nunziata said she believes the complaint is politically motivated.

A forensic analysis of city databases later found that Nunziata’s chief of staff, who was part of her re-election team, had “personally transferred” constituent emails to her campaign mailing list shortly before for the complainant to receive the email reported to the integrity commissioner. Batty said the transfer “was not accidental or accidental.”

“The forensic investigation discovered a data file that the chief of staff created and downloaded exclusively for the benefit of Councilor Nunziata’s re-election. his work in the mayor’s office and his work as a campaign volunteer,” Batty wrote in his report.

While Batty said Nunziata only learned of the transfer from her investigation, she is “responsible for what her staff do on her behalf.”

Batty also noted that the same chief of staff was responsible for drafting Nunziata’s initial response to his office and provided “incorrect information.”

According to the report, Nunziata accepted Batty’s conclusions and recommendation of reprimand.

“She has taken full responsibility for her actions and those of her staff and is committed to taking the necessary steps to ensure that the privacy of constituents’ contact information is protected,” Batty wrote.

The city council will debate the integrity commissioner’s recommendations for reprimands at a meeting on Wednesday.