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Winnipeg mayoral hopeful Mike Vogiatzakis claims rival candidate Kevin Klein’s campaign offered an inducement to withdraw from the city’s mayoral race.
Klein’s campaign counters it was Vogiatzakis who pushed him to back out and offered an inducement of his own two weeks later.
Former city councillor and Progressive Conservative MLA Klein and funeral director Vogiatzakis, who are both campaigning for mayor from the right of centre, each enjoyed significant support from decided Winnipeg voters in a September Abacus Data poll commissioned by the Winnipeg Free Press.
Klein, who entered the race in early September, was the candidate of choice for 23 per cent of voters, while Vogiatzakis, who’s been campaigning since May, garnered 11 per cent support.
Both are now effectively accusing the other of contravening provincial legislation governing municipal elections, which states it is illegal to offer a bribe or inducement to refrain from running in an election.
In a Facebook post published on Oct. 4, Vogiatzakis claimed Klein offered to support his candidacy before Klein entered the race.
Kevin Klein’s campaign said Vogiatzakis tried to get him to back out of the mayoral race and offered his own inducement. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey/CBC)
Vogiatzakis also claimed Klein offered him an inducement on Sept. 1 to back out of the race.
“On the day that Kevin announced, persons from Kevin’s team reached out to my team asking me to step down in exchange for a position at city hall,” Vogiatzakis wrote.
Vogiatzakis’s campaign manager Todd Dube said Sunday in a text message that the position in question was chair of the Winnipeg Police Board.
Dube said Tim Diack, a Winnipeg police officer who ran for mayor in 2018 and supported Klein in the 2022 mayoral race, called Vogiatzakis to make that offer.
Diack said Sunday in an interview he did indeed call Vogiatzakis but denied offering the funeral director any position.
Diack, who attended Klein’s first campaign announcement Sept. 18, when he promised a crime task force, said he is not a member of Klein’s campaign team.
When asked whether he asked Vogiatzakis to leave the race, Diack said he told the candidate there are other ways he can make an impact at city hall.
Diack also said Vogiatzakis is not eligible to sit on the police board because he has a criminal record.
In 2014, the first time Vogiatzakis ran for mayor, he disclosed he was convicted of contempt of court in 1987 and assault in 1988.
Keith Poulson, Klein’s campaign manager, also said Diack is not part of Klein’s campaign team.
Poulson said Dube asked Klein to back out a transit debate hosted by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505 on Sept. 14.
Poulson said the Vogiatzakis team offered an inducement but said he does not know what that inducement was.
In a statement, Klein said he told Vogiatzakis’ campaign he would not step away from the race.
Dube said Poulson is mistaken.
“Ours were gestures, not deals,” Dube said via text. “I made another offer in Kevin’s presence to Devon Clunis to join us to fulfill his Crime Task Force plan, should we win.”
Vogiatzakis and Klein trade insults
In his Facebook post, Vogiatzakis also accused Klein of lying when he repeated said he was not interested in running for mayor.
In his own statement, Klein said he already stated on the record he had no intention of running until people urged him to do so.
He also drew attention to Vogiatzakis’s characterization of Winnipeg as being “one of the worst cities in the world” on Oct. 2
“His derogatory comments about our city, and I say our city because I actually live here, demonstrate he is not worthy of the office,” said Klein, referring to Vogiatzakis’ primary residence in the R.M. of St. Andrews.