Disqualified candidate complains to integrity commissioner for unfair treatment - Action News
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Disqualified candidate complains to integrity commissioner for unfair treatment

A disqualified candidate for Ward 3 in the City of Windsor is filing a complaint to the integrity commissioner because she believes she was treated unfairly in the paperwork filing process.

Patsy Copus alleges the city's manager of records helped other candidates but not her

There are 50 certified candidates running for council in the upcoming election. (Peter Duck/CBC)

A missing signature is the reason for a Ward 3 candidate's disqualification from the upcoming municipal election in Windsor.

Patsy Copus had all 25 names and addresses of people who were endorsing her nomination papers, but she was missing a signature from one of them.

And unfortunately for Copus, she said the municipal advisor in Toronto told her there is no appeal process.

"If there's a mistake, you're finished," she said.

Joining Copus in the list of disqualified candidates are Steve Gavrilos for Ward 7 and Angela Fitzpatrick for Ward 8 both having to do with incomplete nomination papers.

Patsy Copus who had hoped to run for Ward 3 was disqualified because she did not have 25 complete endorsements. (Submitted by Patsy Copus)

The city's manager of records, Chuck Scarpelli, said Gavrilos had one endorser who endorsed someone else on the form and Fitzpatrick handed the nomination paper with some people who endorsed her by signing on torn pieces of paper.

Scarpelli did not verify if a typo had cost Gavrilo's candidacy.

"Well I don't know if it was a spelling mistake or not, but it wasn't the individual at the top of the form," he said.

Angela Fitzpatrick signs her candidacy papers at Windsor's city hall on Friday, July 27, 2018. (Dale Molnar/CBC)

Allegations of unfair treatment

Scarpelli said it's not the clerks' job to ensure the nomination forms are filled out correctly.

"The actual role in making sure that a nomination paper is correct is the role of the candidate themselves, not the staff person," he said. "The only thing we can do is count the names, that's it."

However, Copus said her nomination was not treated the same as other candidates who filed their paperwork and she will be filing a complaint to the integrity commissioner.

On her website, she alleges Greg Lemay running for Ward 8 told her that Scarpelli had gone over his application "line by line" and Scarpellihad interfered with the election process by not giving her that same treatment.

Lemay responded in a Facebook comment that Scarpelli had only "counted" there were 27 names and have not helped him fill out any forms.

Chuck Scarpelli says it's not the role of city staff to ensure the paperwork is filled out appropriately. (Kaitie Fraser/CBC )

Scarpelli said he's read about Copus'comments but he refused to comment on the allegations.

"I'm not going to comment on any of her allegations against me. Because I don't know where she's getting all her stuff from," he said. "And to me they're just allegations."

In the upcoming municipal election on Oct. 22, there are 50 certified candidates running for council and five running for mayor in the City of Windsor.