Kyle Rae won't return the $12,000 he spent from his discretionary budget on a retirement party two weeks ago at the Rosewater Supper Club - and he won't leave his job as Ward 27 (Toronto Danforth) city councillor either, despite calls to do both from mayoralty candidate Rob Ford.
"My response is that I checked with the city clerk and said that I wanted to hold a reception saying I was inviting my constituents," said Rae. "The clerk said it's completely in compliance with the city's rules around these monies. It's a no-brainer. The reception was packed with people that lived in my ward. I spent the whole evening shaking hands and hugging people."Rae was responding to a public campaign by Rob Ford to force the 19-year council veteran's resignation and demand the reimbursement of the money.Ford, who has frequently been at odds with the openly gay councillor Rae, said Torontonians are "outraged" at the expenditure and he will move a motion at Toronto Council next month demanding the money be returned.On Monday, June 14 he also expressed outrage that Rae will be attending the International AIDS Conference in Vienna in July as a representative of the City of Toronto. "When people heard about Kyle Rae and the $12,000 lavish party they were outraged and then they found out he was going to Vienna, Austria afterwards. This is terrible," said Ford.Rae shrugged off the criticism. He maintained the farewell party was something his constituents wanted and he pointed out the $12,000 is less than half of the $26,000 surplus from the 2006 election that he will be donating back to the City of Toronto when he retires this year.He said his trip to Vienna was approved by Toronto Council this past winter and pointed out he's a regular attendee at the conference."I went to council in January and council agreed," said Rae. "(Ford) doesn't support AIDS grants. He thinks the world's knowledge is in his head."