Mayor Rob Ford (open Rob Ford's poilcard) ’s taxpayer-funded aides sometimes discussed campaign business using their city email accounts, an apparent violation of election rules, internal emails obtained by former mayoral candidate David Soknacki reveal.

There are few possible repercussions for such breaches. Residents can complain to the council integrity commissioner, but she would not issue a report until after the election.

“The best remedy is on Oct. 27th,” Soknacki said in an interview after publishing the documents , which he obtained through a February freedom of information request.

In January, Ford policy advisor Christine Maydossian emailed chief of staff Dan Jacobs and press secretary Amin Massoudi to say she had been contacted by a Los Angeles producer with an “idea for a campaign show.” In February, she emailed them again to say she had spoken with the producer. She gave her two colleagues the producer’s phone number.

Another aide, Graeme McEachern, told Jacobs in February that someone was seeking “another meeting with the Mayor again to discuss some campaigning issues.” Jacobs responded that he does not deal with campaign matters — but said, “Refer to Cllr (Doug) Ford’s office.” Councillors’ offices are also not allowed to deal with campaign matters.

The campaign began in early January. In late January, Jacobs told Massoudi that he believed Ford had broken CRTC robocall rules by failing to include a postal code in his calls. He did not say which calls he was referring to.

In February, Massoudi told the city’s integrity commissioner that the mayor’s office had “agreed to distance itself” from the mayor’s “Ford Nation” campaign YouTube show.

“It will no longer be a mayor’s office initiative. It will be a campaign initiative only,” Massoudi wrote.

Jacobs did not respond to a request for comment. Despite the apparent email proof, Doug Ford (open Doug Ford's poilcard) claimed it is “just not accurate” that city employees were doing campaign work.

"That's just the furthest from the truth,” he said. “It's all politics. This is what happens when you stop the gravy train, stop the special interests.”

Candidate John Tory said in a statement that the documents provide evidence of the Fords’ “personal gravy train at city hall.”

“They talk a good game about respect for taxpayers, but their actions tell a very different story,” he said.

In one case, in January, Massoudi told Jacobs that he informed a constituent that “we do not deal with the campaign operations in our office.” He said he told the man that he would pass on his contact information to “the campaign team.”

The documents shed light on how some media outlets tried to secure interviews with the mayor. In February, a Chinese-languages outlet, NTDTV, told a Ford aide that its lack of interest in Ford’s “personal life” was one of the station’s “guiding principles.” The same week, a Citytv journalist suggested she would not ask Ford about his crack cocaine scandal.

“We would like to avoid the scandal and focus instead on what he has accomplished in office during his term, for example the Scarborough subway, his claim that he has saved a billion dollars, as well as look ahead to the upcoming election campaign,” Cynthia Mulligan wrote.

The next month, Mulligan was the one panelist to challenge Ford about the crack scandal during Citytv’s televised debate. She wrote on Twitter Friday: “We did award-winning scandal coverage (even specials). Serious issues on policy were being ignored. Wanted a story with a different focus.”

One email shows Doug Ford’s testiness with the media. In January, Toronto Sun reporter Jenny Yuen emailed Jacobs and Doug Ford to ask why the mayor had visited Muzik nightclub the night before. She also asked if it was a campaign visit.

“Let me assure you every stop is an election stop. Including other events he has gone to all weekend. Is there a problem with Muzik?? I am sure the people that go there vote as well. Do you have a problem with Muzik or people that go there. Should the Mayor not go to Muzik?” Doug Ford wrote back.

The mayor received an eclectic assortment of invitations. Playgirl magazine sought an interview, the Hollywood agent for Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger asked Ford to go to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and Ford’s presence was requested at a panel discussion on cities at Germany’s Goethe University Frankfurt.

The emails also show that Ford aides spent time creating and sending thank-you emails to people who bought the bobbleheads he sold to raise money for charity.

With files from Paul Moloney