2 city councillors used constituent emails for campaigns: watchdog

Toronto's integrity commissioner has recommended city council vote to formally reprimand two councillors who he found broke ethics rules related to elections. 

In separate recent reports, the ethics watchdog concluded councillors Brad Bradford and Frances Nunziata breached council's code of conduct when they improperly used constituent emails for campaign purposes. 

In both cases, constituent email addresses obtained through the work of the councillors' respective offices ended up on campaign mailing lists — a practice explicitly prohibited by provisions in the code of conduct. 

"When constituents share their personal information with their member of council, they expect it will be used only for the purpose it was provided. If due care is not exercised, it erodes public trust," Integrity Commissioner Jonathan Batty wrote in both reports.

Batty said he received independent complaints from four residents of Bradford's ward, Beaches-East York, who received campaign emails they did not sign up for during the 2023 mayoral byelection.

All four complainants had been on the mailing list for Bradford's constituency e-newsletter.

During Batty's investigation, Bradford admitted his byelection campaign used constituent contact information transferred from his city hall office.

Bradford attributed the ethics breach to a former employee who had volunteered for his campaign team, though the councillor declined to name the person in question. Batty later learned it was Bradford's former chief of staff who had uploaded the email addresses to a campaign database.

In response to the integrity commissioner, Bradford said it was an inadvertent error and that the staffer thought the email addresses were collected during a previous election campaign. Bradford said he took immediate steps to rectify 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 a reprimand, which amounts to a public denouncement of his actions by city council. 

According to the report, Bradford's legal counsel said the investigation was "unfair" and alleged Batty had "mischaracterized almost every single piece of evidence," despite the councillor's admission.

Chief of staff 'personally transferred' emails to campaign database

Meanwhile, a single complaint was filed against Nunziata, who represents York South-Weston and serves as council speaker, in relation to 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 her campaign mailing list and also argued his office did not have jurisdiction to probe the matter. Nunziata said she believed the complaint was politically motivated.

A forensic analysis of the city's databases later found 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 the complainant received the email flagged to the integrity commissioner. Batty said the transfer was "not accidental or inadvertent."

"The forensic investigation discovered a datafile the chief of staff had created and downloaded solely for the benefit of Councillor Nunziata's re-election. There does not appear to have been any effort to monitor the chief of staff to ensure he was maintaining the appropriate separation between his work in the city hall office and his work as a campaign volunteer," Batty wrote in his report.

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

Batty also noted the same chief of staff had been responsible for drafting Nunziata's initial reply to his office and provided "incorrect information."

According to the report, Nunziata accepted the findings and Batty's recommendation for a reprimand. 

"She has taken full responsibility for her actions and those of her staff and is committed to taking the necessary steps to make sure the confidentiality of constituent contact information is protected," Batty wrote.

City council will debate the integrity commissioner's recommendations for reprimands at a meeting on Wednesday.