ICTORIA — The communications manager for B.C. Premier Christy Clark has been fined $500 for failing to take his name off the lobbying registry after he went to work for her.
Ben Chin says he simply forgot that his name was on the registry and he's sorry he set off an investigation by the Registrar of Lobbyists.
Chin says he was hired by Air Miles for Social Change and, while he wasn't doing much work in B.C., he registered as a precaution in case he spoke to a minister in the province.
He says that a month later, in December 2012, he was offered a job in Clark's office, got busy, and failed to take his name off the lobby list.
The Office of the registrar of Lobbyists says Chin should have removed his name from the list after 30 days, but it took him more than seven months to update his file.
Darrel Woods, an investigator within the registrar, concluded in his report that the contravention resulted from inattention and that there was no evidence that Chin gained economically from breaking the rules.
