Rory Ring legally barred from running in next municipal election

Rory Ring, who stood up for fiscal responsibility and transparency in his bareknuckle 2018 mayoral bid, is now officially prohibited from running in the next municipal election in 2022.

Neither Ring nor fellow mayoral candidate Ted Johnston met today's final deadline for filing mandatory campaign spending disclosures.

Frank Fata, whose re-election campaign for a Ward 5 council seat was similarly unsuccessful, also failed to meet today's 2 p.m. deadline.

The original filing deadline was March 29, but the three candidates could have avoided ineligibility in 2022 by paying a $500 penalty and filing a spending report within a 30-day grace period that ended today.

The ineligibility penalty is automatic if a financial statement is not submitted before the end of the grace period.

Ring, who took leave from his day job as chief executive officer of Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce to oppose incumbent Mayor Christian Provenzano, told SooToday earlier this month that he would be filing before today's deadline.

Today, he said his non-filing was deliberate – intended to make a statement to the community.

"I didn't file for one explicit reason only. It's not in my future to run again," Ring told us.

"I want to make sure that it's fully acknowledged that I don't intend to run again. This is a way to legitimize that statement, if you like. In this role, I work a lot with politicians. I need them to know that there's no intention of running again, period."

Under provincial elections law, Ring, Johnston and Fata may still file financial statements for purposes of having their campaign expenses on the public record.

The ineligibility penalties will still apply, but Ring says he may still file the documents so they will be publicly available.

And the three non-filers may also face further proceedings before a compliance audit committee or the Superior Court of Justice.

The following is from the Ontario government's 2018 Candidates' Guide for Ontario Municipal Council and School Board Elections:

Compliance audits

Each municipality and school board must appoint a compliance audit committee.

If an eligible elector believes that you have contravened the election finance rules, they may apply for a compliance audit of your campaign finances. The application must be in writing and must set out the reasons why they believe you contravened the rules.

An application for a compliance audit must be submitted to the municipal clerk who conducted the election within 90 days of the deadline to file the campaign financial statement.

The compliance audit committee will consider the application and decide whether to grant or reject the application. You may appeal the committee’s decision to the Superior Court of Justice within 15 days after the decision is made.

If the committee grants the application, it will appoint an auditor to conduct a compliance audit of your campaign finances. The auditor is entitled to have access to all of the financial records related to your campaign. The auditor will produce a report, which you are entitled to receive.

The compliance audit committee will meet to consider the auditor’s report. If the report concludes that there is an apparent contravention of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 the committee will decide whether to commence legal action.

The compliance audit committee does not have any authority to set penalties. Only the court can decide if you contravened the act and, if so, which penalties should apply.

A person who does not want to or who is not able to apply for a compliance audit may decide to commence legal action on their own. A prosecution related to the 2018 election must be commenced before November 15, 2022.

Penalties

If you are convicted of an offence, you may be subject to the following penalties:

• a fine of up to $25,000
• ineligibility to vote or run in the next general election
• up to 6 months in prison
• forfeiture of your elected office, if the judge finds that you committed the offence knowingly

If you are convicted of exceeding the spending limit, you may also be fined the amount by which you exceeded the limit.

Ring told us he and other candidates ran a campaign deficit, meaning expenses were greater than campaign income.

"I spent a significant amount of my own money," he said.

"Ending your campaign with a deficit may result in questions being raised about how expenses were paid for, and whether you contributed more than your self-funding limit by paying outstanding expenses with personal funds," says the 2018 Candidates' Guide for Ontario Municipal Council and School Board Elections.

"I'll work with the audit committee and the steps that follow through not submitting the expenses," Ring told SooToday,

"That very well could be submitting the expenses anyways.... I will work with them to come to the proper conclusions."

Provenzano collected 15,303 votes in the Oct. 22, 2018 election.

Ring received 5,143 votes.

Johnston received 1,178 votes, compared to 192 for the fourth candidate, Kemal Martinovic.

Frank Fata placed fourth in Ward 5, supported by just 967 votes.