A Richmond city councillor has been fined $1,200 by Elections BC for accepting “prohibited contributions” during the 2022 municipal elections.
Coun. Bill McNulty said he’ll take his “medicine” and pay the fine, although he has the option to dispute it.
Elections BC found McNulty accepted two cheques written by the same person. The contributions of $1,200 each were meant to be from a husband, wife and their child.
McNulty thought the cheques were coming from a joint account, but, in fact, they were both from one individual account, according to the enforcement notice from the agency that oversees elections in the province.
McNulty told the Richmond News he’ll pay the fine, saying, “the rules are the rules.”
Elections BC stated in its enforcement notice that accepting prohibited contributions “gives a candidate an advantage in that they had access to money during the campaign period that they were not entitled to.”
But Elections BC also noted McNulty was responsive to the investigation and gave information in a “timely manner.”
Furthermore, the Elections BC investigation didn’t “identify any evidence that would suggest a deliberate attempt to circumvent the legislation.”
The contributions in question were returned in October 2023.
McNulty said that, while going through the investigation process with Elections BC, he learned “an awful lot,” for example, everything should be in writing.
He wants to pass what he’s learned onto his colleagues.
“Mistakes made but I don’t want anyone else to make (the same) interpretive mistake,” he said.
McNulty acted as his own financial agent during the municipal election.
This is the first time McNulty has had a penalty from Elections BC since first being elected as a city councillor in 1993.
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