Stephen Lee, the Mayor of Cockburn, Western Australia, resigned his post after the local government minister threatened to suspend the entire city council if Lee did not resign.
In a 100-page report that took 19 months to draft, The Corruption and Crime Commission made five campaign misconduct finding against Lee for his 2005 election. The developer of a $700 million coastal project is said to have wrongly supported Lee’s candidacy. Lee denies knowing of the involvement and the $40,000 contributed to his campaign.
“I’ve only ever done the right thing by the ratepayers,” Lee said. “I’m innocent of anything.”
Lee said he had no choice but to resign over the charges because “the damage his continuing role as mayor was having on the reputation of the City of Cockburn”.
After resigning, Lee announced he would run for election for same mayoral position.
