A Ward 1 candidate in the last municipal election accused of not reporting financial contributions says he did nothing wrong and wants the allegations dismissed.
Thai Mac filed a response to the allegations with the city ahead of Tuesday's special meeting of the municipal election compliance audit committee that is looking into a citizen's complaint that Mac accepted financial contributions from individuals but did not report them as is required by law.
In his financial statement filed with the city, Mac reported spending $7,718.67 on his campaign – all from him and his spouse.
The audit committee complaint, filed by resident Amanda Turner, alleges Mac didn’t provide a complete list of campaign donations and donors, excluded expenses related to his campaign website and failed to report advertising expenses.
Mac, who runs a Facebook page called Caught In Guelph and had a campaign website during the election period, responds that the fact he solicited for contributions is not evidence that he actually took any.
"It is common practice for there to be a donation option on political campaign websites. Having such an option does not mean that any such donations may be received," Mac said in his written submission to the compliance committee.
"My campaign did NOT receive any donations apart from my wife and I. We cannot refund contributions when none had been received, nor did my campaign give notice to the Guelph City Clerk’s Office of any such pause or withdrawal."
As for website expenses, Mac provided paperwork he said shows that he billed his own company for self-creating his campaign web site.
"In a meeting with (city clerk) Stephen O’Brien and (manager information, privacy and elections/deputy clerk) Jennifer Slater on Wednesday August 10th, 2022 at 3:30pm, we touched base on campaign website costs and it was discussed that it is a gray area with no defined set costs for campaign websites. As such, we see candidates of the Guelph 2022 Municipal Election claiming their website expenses through a diverse range of costs ..." Mac said.
Mac also says he decided "not to accept monetary political advertising" through his Caught In Guelph Facebook page.
He also suggested to the committee that he is being unfairly targeted by the complainant, who was a vocal critic of Mac during the campaign.
Mac came under fire from many during the election after old internet posts surfaced containing remarks many found to be offensive to the LGBTQ+ community. Another comment surfaced making comment about "little skirts on the waitresses"at a downtown bar.
Mac withdrew from the election when the criticism surfaced, but shortly thereafter announced he would continue running for councillor.
He ended up finishing third in the race for two seats representing Ward 1, garnering 1,247 votes, behind Dan Gibson (2,375 votes) and Erin Caton (1,418).
Mac previously said via email that he did not wish to provide comment on the allegations to GuelphToday.
