Mayor Larry O'Brien said he may sue a former election rival who accused him of trying to bribe his opponent into dropping out of the mayoral race.

Terry Kilrea is shown here in 2003, the year he came second behind Bob Chiarelli in the mayor's race. Kilrea ran for mayor again in 2006, but dropped out in August.
(CBC)

Terry Kilrea, who decided last August to quit running for mayor during the Nov. 13 municipal election campaign, alleged in a report Saturday that O'Brien offered to cover his campaign expenses of up to $30,000 if he dropped out of the race and supported O'Brien.

In a sworn affidavit presented to the Ottawa Citizen, Kilrea said O'Brien made the offer at a meeting in July, before entering the race himself. Kilrea said he formally declined O'Brien's offer 25 days later. He went on to endorse then Mayor Bob Chiarelli and run for a council seat in Ward 7 (Bay), but lost to council veteran Alex Cullen.

'This is sour grapes, plain and simple.'— Mayor Larry O'Brien

On Saturday, O'Brien suggested he might take legal action over the accusations, which he denied.

"I profoundly disagree with it. This is sour grapes, plain and simple," he said, adding, "As this potentially involves legal matters, I will not comment further on this issue or his new version of the facts."

O'Brien said Kilrea previously denied that O'Brien tried to bribe him, but Kilrea said he was talking about a different topic when he made the denial.

Kilrea added that he was bringing up the accusations now to quell rumours that he had actually taken the money, and he was unafraid of O'Brien's threats.

"You can't sue the truth, so if there's a lawsuit, that's fine by me," Kilrea said.

Councillors stay out of spat

Meanwhile, Ottawa councillors said the accusations were not their concern, and remain focused on the city budget, which must be approved at the end of the month.

"It's up to Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Kilrea…. it's not up to me to pass judgment on either one of them," said Coun. Maria McRae. "I respect both of those men. I'm looking forward to working on the budget."

Coun. Peggy Feltmate said she was also staying out of the fray.

"That's a whole process that will be taken care of by other people and that's certainly not my focus."

In both 2003 and 2006, Kilrea ran for mayor on a conservative platform similar to O'Brien's. Kilrea was opposed to light rail expansion and favoured increasing Ottawa's police force. He came second, behind Chiarelli, in the 2003 mayoral election. He said he dropped out of the 2006 mayoral race because it was too costly.