ONTARIO (March 15, 1998) - Several members, supporters, and associates of Freedom Party received personalized 'anonymous' letters bearing the typed name 'Frank Stevens', accusing Fp president Robert Metz of improprieties with respect to Freedom Party's 1995 Election Campaign Return. Because the letters were typed, unsigned, and bear no return address, they have been regarded as anonymous, even though there is a 'Frank Stevens' (who has denied any knowledge of the letter) on Fp's membership list. The letters read as follows:

"Dear (Specific Fp member/supporter),

"As a fellow member of the Freedom Party of Ontario, I think you should contact the Commission on Election Finances, to request a copy of our party's Annual Financial Statement, the one submitted December 8, 1995 and received by the government on December 11. In it you will find that Robert Metz, the founder of our party, paid himself $4,400 as an administration fee for running the campaign. In addition, he overpaid his friends, Robert and Jean Vaughan, $1,918.20 for a computer and wanted to give them a tax break for this over-inflated donation.

"I think that we as members have a responsibility to see where our party donations are going and am very disappointed to see what is in this document. Just what do we represent, and who are our representatives... really?

"Yours very truly, Frank Stevens."

The letters, all unsigned and bearing no return address, were apparently mailed to a number of Fp contributors, executive members, and associates, among them Canadian author and historian Joe Armstrong, who was the first to notify us of their content.

"I am a member of no political party," Armstrong emphasized, while questioning the motive of anyone who would send such a letter unsigned, and without a means of responding.

Lest there are others who have received this letter, and who may be curious about the validity of the concerns raised therein, we offer the following facts:

(1) No payment of any sort was made to anyone regarding the computer in question. The $1,918.20 reported represents a contribution made BY the Vaughan's TO Freedom Party, and is clearly marked as a 'donation' on Fp's Financial Statement.

(2) Nor is there any issue of overpayment. On June 1, 1995, then-Fp executive member Robert Vaughan made a special trip to purchase a brand new 486DX4-100 Package System from Compu-Silv on Eglinton Avenue East in Scarborough Ontario. He paid $1,918.20 cash to the company (which was the best price available for the given package that we could find anywhere in Southern Ontario), and promptly delivered the computer system and the $1,918.20 receipt from Compu-Silv to Freedom Party. We are obligated by Commission regulations to issue a tax-credit for the full amount, in order for the Commission to be able to limit any future contributions made by the contributors in the same year.

Such a donation is regarded as a 'kind' contribution by the Commission, and thus it is the name of the contributor that shows under the 'supplier' list on the Commission's statements, not, as in this case, Compu Silv.

Contributors should know that Freedom Party, like all Ontario political parties, is audited annually as a condition of retaining its official registration. Ironically, Fp's 1995 returns were audited twice, once by external auditors, and once by the Commission itself (See our related coverage, Freedom Flyer, April 1997), following Fp's refusal to comply with a Commission order.

(3) The 1995 election campaign period ran from April 28, 1995 to September 8, 1995, inclusive. Mr. Metz's $4,400 fee represents over 1000 hours of his time expended during that period. We leave it to the judgement of our members, supporters, and readers, now more fully informed, to determine whether this represents any impropriety.

If any other Fp members or supporters have received a copy of the letter in question, we'd like to hear from you! Call 1-800-830-3301 or visit our Feedback page.

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Page last updated on April 28, 2002