Mayoral candidate Rob Ford is in trouble again, this time with Toronto’s integrity commissioner slamming the Etobicoke councillor for “improper use of influence” in soliciting donations for his football charity.

“Councillor Rob Ford used the City of Toronto logo, his status as a city councillor and City of Toronto resources to solicit funds for a private football foundation he created in his name,” states a report from integrity commissioner Janet Leiper made public Friday.

“Donors to the councillor’s foundation included lobbyists, clients of lobbyists and a corporation which does business with the city.”

Her investigation was sparked by a May 4 complaint from a Toronto resident who got a letter seeking donations to the Rob Ford Football Foundation.

The letter was on Ford’s council letterhead and included a watermarked drawing of Ward 2, Etobicoke North.

On the back was an embossed gold seal, the City of Toronto logo and “Rob Ford Etobicoke North Councillor” stamped on the seal. The letter was dated March 19.

Toronto has strict rules prohibiting councillors from using their position or city symbols for non-city endeavours.

Leiper concluded Ford breached three regulations: those governing gifts and benefits; use of city property, services and other resources; and improper use of influence.

She also took issue with Ford’s website statement that his charity “has raised more than $100,000 to purchase equipment and establish football programs.” Records from the Toronto Community Foundation, which administers the charity, revealed it raised just $37,294.68. Leiper recommended Ford correct this statement, but as of Friday night, it stayed on the website.

She is recommending that council, at next week’s meeting, adopt her finding that Ford broke the rules and order him to reimburse the lobbyists and corporate donors.

The report says that, when asked about the issue, Ford responded: “I do not understand why it would be inappropriate to solicit funds for an arm’s-length charitable cause using my regular employment letterhead.”

Leiper adds: “He wrote that the complaint had no basis in policy or law and he expressed concern that a ‘worthy cause would be undermined by an inconsequential complaint about the use of letterhead.’”

Leiper said she gave Ford time to reconsider his position in light of the fact he had been warned twice before, last December and February after other citizen complaints, to stop using his position to raise money for a private charity.

Ford, who met Leiper twice and spoke with her twice by phone during her investigation, chose not to revise his stance, she said.

Ford has made his work as a volunteer coach at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School and his foundation a central part of his campaign. According to a solicitation letter on city letterhead posted on Ford’s campaign website, he established the foundation to “help start up high school football programs by purchasing equipment that the school can otherwise not afford . . . Your support will give youth in some of our most vulnerable neighbourhoods the opportunity to participate in an extra-curricular athletic endeavour and will help to provide them with hope for the future.”

He has repeatedly raised his football work as proof of his social conscience and community work.

The report was released one day after Ford admitted to being convicted of a drunk driving offence after a traffic stop in Miami in 1999, in which a marijuana joint was found in his back pocket.

He said he initially denied to a Toronto Sun reporter that he had been arrested for pot possession because he forgot about that charge, which was dropped. He didn’t tell the reporter that he was charged with drinking and driving.

In a statement posted on his election website Friday night, Ford stated: “If it’s okay for Kyle Rae to spend $12,000 on a party, but wrong for me to raise money for needy children to get off the streets, out of gangs, and play sports, then something is wrong at City Hall.”

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Ford has criticized retiring councillor Kyle Rae for throwing himself a farewell party with more than $12,000 from his office budget.

Ford added: “They’re trying to stop me from helping out youth, but won’t stop behind-closed-door secret deals or Councillors abusing their expense accounts. This is ridiculous.”

Ford noted that he paid for the city logo-bearing stationery out of his own pocket, but didn’t address Leiper’s criticism that he used his taxpayer-funded office staff to prepare solicitations to his private charity and track its progress.