Top political “bagman” Ralph Lean said in 2012 and again in 2013 that he planned to raise money for Rob Ford’s campaign. He has changed his mind.

Lean, a Conservative lawyer now at the firm Gowlings, said Wednesday that he will sit out the campaign and instead serve as a commentator on friend Stephen LeDrew’s CP24 show.

“You can say to the world: they will not get a call from Mr. Lean here,” he said. “I used to have people — because I would do so much charitable and political fundraising — they would see me, they would go to the other side of the street.. . . Now, they see me, they’ll shake my hand.”

Lean said he thinks his importance is “far overrated.” Some political strategists, such as Olivia Chow organizer John Laschinger, have said the same. Still, his departure from Ford’s camp is another indication of the mayor’s isolation and organizational challenge as he prepares to confront the sophisticated machines backing John Tory and likely candidate Chow.

Nearly two months into the 10-month campaign, Ford has not announced the names of any aides other than campaign manager Doug Ford, not even a spokesperson. His website is a one-page shell. And Doug Ford has made public and private efforts to obtain the mayor’s voter data from 2010, suggesting that he is no longer in possession of this valuable information.

Fundraising, of course, is not everything. Ford was far out-raised by Lean-backed George Smitherman in 2010 but won by 11 percentage points.

The official spending limit this time is about $1.3 million. Candidates can both raise and spend much more, since fundraising events are exempt from the limit. They can also borrow if they need to: Ford had a post-campaign debt of a whopping $800,000.

Lean has raised money in all but one of Toronto’s elections since 1980, backing only two losers. Though he planned to support John Tory if Tory ran in 2010, he said his decision to abandon Ford has nothing to do with any candidate or the mayor’s scandal-plagued last five months.

He noted that his former law firm, Heenan Blaikie, recently collapsed. He said he now doesn’t have the time to get involved in a campaign.

“When you’re with a law firm, and you have a change of life, and you’re one place and a week later you’re somewhere else, and you’re servicing your clients — I can’t get involved in something that I don’t give 150 per cent to. So I’ve told everybody that I’m totally neutral,” he said.

On Monday, Doug Ford dismissed the importance of big donors, noting that his brother is supported by many average residents. Tory, he said, will receive cheques for the maximum $2,500; “with Rob Ford, we raise $20 cheques.”

Lean said the Fords are indeed “pretty self-sufficient.” And he said others in the business community are raising money for the mayor.

“I know they’ve got people,” he said.

Lean said conservatives Tory, Ford and Stintz will all compete for the same Bay Street support. His “money” contacts, he said, are united in opposition to Olivia Chow, the NDP MP who would be the flag-bearer for the left.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“So what money might do,” Lean said, “is sit back and wait until the summer, and see who is the alternative to Olivia Chow. So it might make early money more difficult.”

More on the upcoming Toronto municipal election

Read more about: