'Kamikaze' candidate's $70K fine reduced after judge sends case back to election commissioner

Alberta's elections commissioner must consider mitigating factors and reassess the $70,000 fine levied against former Alberta UCP leadership candidate Jeff Callaway, a Calgary judge has ruled.

Callaway, who ran a "kamikaze" campaign aimed at helping get Jason Kenney the party's top position in 2017, was fined after the commissioner's investigation found he hadbreached elections laws.

The Callaway campaign collected $60,000 from businessman Robyn Lore and distributed it to "straw" donors in order to stay within the maximum $4,000 annual contribution limit.

Court of King's Bench Justice Janice Ashcroft issued a decision this week following an appealof the commissioner's findings and fines in November.

• Alberta kamikaze candidate suffered 'severe reputational harm,' lawyer argues in fine appeal

While Ashcroft upheld most of the findings that Callaway breached numerous provisions of the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act (EFCDA), she did quash the ruling that he colluded with Lore because that provision of the act did not exist at the time of the leadership race in 2017.

"[The collusion provision] cannot be applied retroactively as the provision changes the legal jeopardy of leadership contestants and affects substantive rights," wrote Ashcroft.

"The commissioner made an error of law in applying a provision of the EFCDA retroactively."

Callaway was fined $15,000 for that breach.

'It ruined my life'

The judge also sent the case back to the commissioner to reassess an appropriate fine for Callaway's other violations.

The commissioner did not address any mitigating factors in considering Callaway's penalty, but Ashcroft ruledthe reputational harm and stigma faced by the former candidate "could potentially qualify as mitigating."

In an interview with investigators, Callaway said his reputation was "destroyed" after he spent 20 years building a career that "is being trashed in the media and in the public."

"It ruined my life," reads part of the interview transcript. "I don't know where I go from here."

• 'Kamikaze' Alberta UCP leadership candidate fined $70K for irregular donations

Ashcroft rejected arguments made by Callaway's lawyer that the commissioner was biased in his investigation and that he did not give Callaway a proper chance to respond to and defend himself against allegations before the fines were levied.

Callaway was given 53 days' notice of the substance of the allegations against him and did not respond to investigators' efforts to meet with him.

"The commissioner, through his investigator, actively sought Mr. Callaway's participation and his side of the story," wrote Ashcroft.

"It was Mr. Callaway that received the messages and chose to let them languish, not the commissioner."

Callaway offered not to run again

Callaway ran a kamikaze campaign on behalf of Jason Kenney with the sole purpose of targeting Kenney's chief rival, former Wildrose leader Brian Jean.

Then, at an agreed-upon date, Callaway dropped out of the race to support Kenney, who went on to become Alberta premier.

In 2019, Lorne Gibson, the election commissioner at the time, sent a notice to Callaway, advising of his investigative findings and issuing the $70,000 penalty against the former candidate.

• Kenney, Callaway campaigns collaborated to attack Brian Jean during UCP leadership race, leaked documents show

In arguing for a reduction in fines, Callaway's lawyer Hardeep Sangha said his client would consent to an order that he not run again in another election.

Ashcroft rejected the proposal.

"An undertaking to eschew politics is not consistent with the purpose of administrative penalties generally," wrote the judge.

The Callaway investigation became the largest electoral investigation ever in Alberta. More than $200,000 in fines have been levied against Callaway, campaign staff and strawdonors. Many of the fines are the subject of judicial reviews.

Evidence gathered through that investigation and a further criminal complaint spawned an RCMP investigation into the funding of the kamikaze campaign and alleged voter identity theft during the same leadership race.