The independent watchdog overseeing MPPs’ finances is demanding to know why Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Patrick Brown has not declared rental income on his upscale lakefront home, the Star has learned.Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake wrote to Brown asking for details following a Star story that raised questions about how he could afford the five-bedroom house on Lake Simcoe’s Shanty Bay.“I note that an article in the Toronto Star on February 9, 2018, an employee in your constituency office is quoted saying that you receive rental income from your home,” Wake wrote Feb. 12, well before Conservative MPP Randy Hillier filed a complaint about Brown alleging financial irregularities violating the Members’ Integrity Act earlier this week. “The Act also requires that you disclose all sources of income to my office, and as such I ask that you provide me with confirmation of same,” adds Wake’s letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Star.Brown, who now sits as Independent MPP after being ejected from the PC caucus, was reluctant to answer questions about the lack of disclosure Thursday in a brief interview, initially saying he was “busy.”“Everything is in compliance with the integrity commissioner,” said Brown, who quit the leaders’ job Jan. 25 after a CTV News report — which he vigorously denies — accusing him of sexual misconduct with two 19-year-old women. “We’ll have a response to the integrity commissioner shortly,” added Brown, who declined to provide details before being whisked off by a waiting minivan near Yonge and Eglinton.The embattled former PC leader would also not answer questions on whether he receives an income from his 9.9 per cent stake in the downtown Barrie restaurant and sports bar, Hooligans.Later Thursday, Brown released a letter to Wake describing the Hillier complaints as “fabricated” and accusing the ...
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