FORMER West Vancouver top cop Kash Heed won't lose his seat in the legislature but will have to pay an $11,000 fine for overspending his election campaign limits, B.C. Supreme Court's Chief Justice has ruled.
"Regardless of Mr. Heed's inexperience in campaigning and his personal good faith in the conduct of his campaign, that campaign has apparently seen a serious breach of a critical provision in the act," wrote Chief Justice Robert Bauman in his decision issued Aug. 31. "Responsibility for the conduct of the campaign rests ultimately with the candidate."
An auditor hired by Elections B.C. found Heed's campaign spent just over $74,000 to win the VancouverFraserview seat by a slim margin of 748 votes in May 2009. That violated election spending limits, which set Heed's total at $70,000. Heed himself filed a supplementary finance report that put his total election spending at about $75,600.
Part of the additional cost that wasn't declared came from pamphlets that were illegally distributed under the direction of Heed's campaign team in the final days of the election.
Heed's campaign manager Barinder Sall now faces 10 charges under both the Elections Act and the Criminal Code in connection with the flyer, including publishing election advertising without identifying a sponsor, and filing a misleading disclosure report about advertising sponsors. He also faces charges of obstructing the RCMP for allegedly lying to both Elections Act officials and police who were looking into the scandal.
Heed was forced to step down twice as solicitor general over the issue. A special prosecutor cleared him of criminal wrongdoing earlier this year, but the politician - who quit as West Vancouver's chief constable in order run in the 2009 provincial election - was still on the hook for potential penalties for violating expense limits.
Heed argued in his submissions that he acted in good faith, relying heavily on his campaign staff to file paperwork - including accounting - properly.
Bauman said in his decision he took that into account in allowing Heed to keep his seat. But he said he also agreed with the chief electoral officer that he needed to "impose some responsibility on the candidate for the conduct of his campaign and the actions of those whom he chose to run it."
