Gus Cusimano still wants Ward 9, nearly two years after the election

Though the 2010 civic election feels like a distant memory, Gus Cusimano is still fighting Maria Augimeri for the York Centre ward. To recap: Augimeri won the ward by a slim 89 votes, but, in April 2011, the Ontario Superior Court ruled her victory invalid due to irregularities in the voter list and ordered a by-election; by December, an appeals court had decided the results were fine and the by-election was off. Now, the Ontario Court of Appeal has granted Cusimano, a Rob Ford supporter, leave to appeal that latest decision. But he may not want to celebrate just yet—this week, a city-ordered audit of his campaign finances found some dodgy-looking cheques that could get Cusimano in a lot of trouble. Auditors say that the dates on some fundraisers’ cheques were altered to make it seem like they arrived before the July cut-off for campaign contributions (a bunch of sevens were artlessly changed to sixes to make the cut). Between the voting irregularities, the campaign finance irregularities and the multiple judicial appeals, we bet the 2014 election will be fast approaching by the time this gets sorted out.  [Toronto Star]