Berardinetti filed her nomination papers for the councillor’s job this week, mere days before Toronto City Council, at its Tuesday, Jan. 26 meeting, is slated to possibly revisit a decision to help Heaps out with $65,000 in fees and other costs he incurred in settling a libel suit with Berardinetti.

In the suit, Berardinetti said a newspaper column Heaps had circulated had been enough to turn the tide in the closely-fought election, and cost her the seat. Heaps settled the suit, paying out $20,000 in damages and writing an apology in which he admitted the letter “may have had an impact on the outcome of the election”.

Berardinetti and others have called for the money to be returned to the taxpayer, noting legal fees she incurred weren’t covered in the settlement.

Earlier in the term, Toronto City Council also reimbursed Heaps for money he’d spent successfully defending against accusations that he’d misspent in the 2006 election. Those accusations, in the form of a request for a compliance audit, came from John Lyras, then an executive assistant to Berardinetti’s husband, Scarborough Southwest MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti.

Reached by telephone Friday, Berardinetti said she would be running on a platform similar to the one that got her 89 votes shy of victory in 2006.

“I feel that what I’m focusing on now is pretty much the same as I did the last time,” she said. “Jobs are very important. My top issues on this election are jobs and transportation and property taxes.”

Berardinetti said she wouldn’t make bike lanes a priority, saying they fail to deal with the transportation needs of constituents.

“They don’t help the cyclists either,” she said. “It’s not an opposition for bike lanes – it’s saying they’re not a priority for the area.”

She said that the controversy arising from her legal battles with Heaps will add a wrinkle to the campaign.

“It’s about integrity,” she said. “When you’re running in an election, that’s what you’re running for. You’re nothing without your integrity – it goes to show that with Heaps going to council and asking to be reimbursed for that.”

Heaps is keeping silent on the lawsuit until it goes to Toronto City Council this week. In the past, however, he’s maintained that he made no request to council for the money – it came forward in a notice of motion from a colleague, Toronto Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher and he absented himself from any discussion on the matter.

– David Nickle