Running in the red. New financial documents reveal Paul Cheng's 2018 campaign for the mayor’s office ran up a deficit of $19,999.
On Friday, Cheng was asked if creditors were unpaid, and he says, “No this is Cheng personal money. I borrowed it. And that's repaid from personal money.”
Cheng’s financial records also show he contributed $25,000 of cash to his mayoral bid, the maximum allowed.
But when CTV News reporter Daryl Newcombe tried to ask if paying off the deficit with ‘personal money’ would put Cheng over the candidate contribution limit, he interjected with questions about an unrelated construction project downtown.
“But I go back again to the $30-million question you never have the nuts or the courage to ask. That's my comeback, Daryl. If you want to say I owe people money - I don't.”
Friday was the deadline for candidates in the 2018 municipal election to file their audited campaign financial reports without incurring a penalty.
Cheng finished fourth, spending $69,763.
That’s compared to $197,641 spent by eventual winner Ed Holder, $93,663 spent by runner up Paul Paolatto and $31,908 by third place finisher Tanya Park.
Cheng's campaign deficit was about 29 per cent of the total spent by his campaign, to which he says, “It is all perfectly by the book. I overspent, so I have to suffer the slings and arrows of your report, Daryl.”
And Friday was also the start of the 90-day period when members of the public can request a compliance audit of any campaign.
Londoner Lincoln McCardle raised questions last year about some mayoral candidates spending money before the official campaign period.
Now he says he’ll spend several days reviewing all of the financial documents.
“I want to make sure that candidates did follow the letter of the law around the existing campaign as they see it, and ask the people in power to maybe readdress the rules.”
