Police board member Andy Pringle, who once went fishing with Chief Bill Blair and is now facing conflict-of-interest allegations from Councillor Doug Ford for it, says the claim has “no merit.”

Pringle defended the spring 2012 fishing trip to New Brunswick in a letter written to board chair Alok Mukherjee on March 3 and obtained by the Star. The letter follows renewed complaints by Ford that were first voiced in November, when the Fords were under intense pressure over the crack video.

“Though the allegations have no merit, I believe I must address them, not only because of their potential impact on my personal and professional reputation, but also, more importantly, because of the impact these false allegations may have on the reputation and good work of the Toronto Police Services Board,” Pringle wrote.

Ford has more recently filed a complaint to the board that included allegations about the fishing trip as well as Blair’s comments after the release of the Rob Ford crack video on Oct. 31. The board considered whether Blair’s statement that he felt “disappointed” about the video could constitute misconduct and passed it on to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director.

But Mukherjee has said the allegations about a fishing trip were previously dealt with and dismissed by the board, and that it is not the basis for the complaint being reviewed by the OIPRD.

Mukherjee and Blair have both said previously that the board found no misconduct by Pringle or Blair over the trip. Pringle has not waded into the issue publicly until now.

The fishing trip was raised again recently by both Fords after John Tory entered this year’s mayoral race.

Pringle, who was appointed to the board in 2011 and is chairman of RP Investment Advisors, was once Tory’s chief of staff. He was also one of several people tapped by the Ford administration to sit on boards and committees. His name appeared on a secret list of Ford-preferred candidates obtained by the Star in 2012 (long after the fishing trip).

Pringle also donated to Ford’s 2010 mayoral campaign, according to municipal records.

In his letter, Pringle said he saw the trip as an opportunity to “develop a closer professional relationship with Chief Blair and to discuss better business practices in a less formal environment.”

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Pringle says he informed Mukherjee of the trip beforehand and did not ask the chief to reimburse any trip expenses. Earlier, Blair told reporters that he drove to the exclusive fishing club and paid for his own gas.

Pringle said he would not participate in any discussions about Ford’s complaint as part of the board.

His letter includes correspondence from David Beatty, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and Conway chair of the Clarkson Centre for Board Effectiveness.

“In my opinion, the act of inviting the CEO of an organization (in this case the Chief of Police) of which one is a member of the board of directors, on a trip, does not in any way create a conflict of interest for you,” Beatty wrote. “Far from being a conflict, your action in spending more time with the Chief — in this instance, through the mechanism of several days offsite — was an example of good governance practice.”

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