When Janice Meighan opened her inbox on Saturday, she was surprised to see an email from the Rob Ford re-election campaign soliciting donations in exchange for a variety of Ford Nation merchandise, including t-shirts and bobbleheads.

“I was shocked because I’m not a supporter of Rob Ford and I’ve never signed up to receive any emails, materials or information from Ford’s current or previous campaign,” said Meighan, a lifelong Torontonian. “My email and my name has now been co-opted into his campaign and he’s trying to put me down as a friend and supporter.”

She figures the Rob Ford campaign likely got her email address from a list of residents who signed up to receive an e-newsletter published periodically by the mayor’s office. Meighan, who says she has already made a complaint to the city’s ombudsman, put her email address on the e-newsletter list when David Miller was mayor, but never unsubscribed.

Meighan is just one of several voters who contacted the Star saying they received the Rob Ford fundraising email even though they had never signed up as a supporter or provided their email addresses to the campaign.

“I have never given my email address to them that I am aware of,” wrote one voter. “I certainly did not want to receive emails from him and I certainly do not want to give him money or collect any of his memorabilia.”

Another voter wrote: “I have no relationship with his campaign and I resent such an intrusion. This should be stopped immediately!”

“Eww. Got an email asking to support Ford’s re-election. Likely taken from emails I made to mayor’s office. Legal?” wrote Toronto resident Paul Daniel on Twitter Saturday.

The email, which is signed by the mayor’s brother and campaign manager, Doug Ford, states “you are receiving this email because of your relationship with the Rob Ford campaign.” It offers various Ford Nation merchandise in exchange for donations. For example, a Ford Nation flag and bumper sticker comes with a $25 donation, while a $100 donation comes with a Mayor Ford bobblehead.

“If you want your taxes to stay low, and you agree that we need to be building rapid underground transit, we need your vote, and your financial support!” the email states.

Doug Ford told the Star on Saturday by phone that he’s “not too sure” where the campaign got the email addresses of the letter’s recipients.

He said concerned recipients should unsubscribe.

“Everyone has lists all over the place. I’ve got to get back to door knocking here,” he said before ending the phone call.

The issue of unsolicited fundraising emails during the campaign first arose in June when Doug Ford alleged that Karen Stintz, until recently a mayoral candidate, “stole” confidential email lists from the mayor’s office.

Ford claimed he had heard from as many as 40 citizens who were concerned because they had received unwanted emails from the Stintz campaign. Stintz then said that she had reached a “mutual understanding” with the Ford campaign over the list of emails, an assessment Doug Ford debated at the time.

Stintz dropped out of the mayoral race on Aug. 21.

John Mascarin, a lawyer specializing in municipal law and local government, said if the Rob Ford campaign is using the email addresses of citizens who contacted the mayor’s office for non-election purposes, the practice could constitute a breach of the city’s code of conduct for councillors.

The code states that councillors cannot use city facilities, equipment, supplies, services or other resources for any election campaign or campaign-related activities.

“In my view, if someone has written to the city and provided their personal information for a certain purpose, then that becomes property, in the very broad sense of the term, of the city,” said Mascarin, a partner at the firm Aird & Berlis.

“Personal information is protected. You shouldn’t be able to then just go and use it for other purposes. You can use it for purposes consistent with which you have collected the information.”

Myer Siemiatycki, a professor of politics and public administration at Ryerson University, said the practice of any elected official making fundraising requests to citizens who may have made contact with their offices is “problematic.”

“It conveys the message that this is an elected official who keeps lists and I think it would be understandable if recipients of that letter feared that if they did not make a campaign contribution, any future request they made of a public official as a resident would not be well regarded,” he said. “It puts those on the receiving end of that kind of blanket mailing for solicitation for funds kind of on the defensive.”

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