UPDATED: Memories of Moments of Goldsteinian Candor Past ...

If only the former Conservative candidate for Trinity-Spadina hadn’t stormed off before  his turn to speak, just imagine what he might have had to say to the Ethics committee. Especially considering what he told the Ottawa Citizen reporters who wrote the very first In-and-Out story ever:

Tories clash with Elections Canada; Candidates got national party cash, applied for federal rebates, Citizen analysis reveals The Ottawa Citizen Thursday, August 23, 2007 Page: A1 / FRONT Section: News Byline: Tim Naumetz and Glen Mcgregor

[...]

Lawyer Sam Goldstein, who ran a token campaign for the Tories against New Democrat Olivia Chow and Liberal Tony Ianno in the Toronto riding of Trinity Spadina, said the advertising money he paid was not for his campaign.

"It’s national advertising is what it is," he told the Citizen.

Mr. Goldstein’s campaign received a transfer of $49,989 from the Conservative Party of Canada on Dec. 28, 2005. Six days later, his campaign paid $49,999 to the Conservative Fund of Canada -- the party’s national fundraiser -- and listed it as a radio-TV expense.

The more money candidates spend on a campaign, the more they can get back from Elections Canada. Candidates who get 10 per cent or more of the vote are reimbursed for 60 per cent of allowable expenses from the campaign -- up to the maximum spending limit for each riding.

The transfer Mr. Goldstein’s campaign received allowed it to increase reported expenses by almost $50,000.

Had he captured 10 per cent of the vote, the top-up from the party would have netted his riding association nearly $30,000 more for the next election.

As it happened, Mr. Goldstein fell slightly short, finishing a distant third and taking just under 10 per cent of the vote. But Mr. Halicki won 17 per cent of the vote in his riding and, should the Tories win their court case, stands to boost his rebate by nearly $24,000.

Mr. Goldstein said the transfers and payments helped candidates with small budgets and he says all the major parties do the same thing.

"The way they try and help out their smaller ridings is by saying, ’We’ll give you this amount of money and then you give it back to us.’ It counts legitimately as an expense."

He said the process was not exploiting a loophole in the law. "The rules are what the rules are."

UPDATE: Somehow, this report on an all-candidates’ debate in Trinity-Spadina during the last election sounds oddly familiar:

The Toronto Star Monday, January 16, 2006 Page: B3 Section: News Byline: Rita Daly Source: Toronto Star ... Suddenly, the mood in the room turned dark as Conservative candidate Sam Goldstein, seething in his seat, took his turn. Pointing a menacing finger at the crowd, he chastised them for wanting candidates to control gun crime in their city, while wanting to legalize a drug that was causing the gang warfare on their streets. "You are supporting gang violence in this city!" he roared. The crowd erupted in anger, shaking their fists as he continued to vent his disgust.

ITQ is sure, however, that former Goldstein campaign staffer David Simpson was just being flip when he refers to "wardriv[ing]" opposition polling data from sources with "poor security" on what might be the most unintentionally hilarious election blog ever written: Down and Out in Trinity Spadina.