Sunday, March 18, 2012

And the attempt to repair the break

As RossK points out, there is a serious attempt on the part of Conservative party operatives (and their selected tame journalists) to contain the election fraud issue to Guelph. In short, the theory that it was a "rogue" caller and nothing else happened. From comments in this post Alison reminds us of this from CBC reporter Terry Milewski:
"We now have, thanks to John [Iveson], the list of numbers called by Pierre Poutine. Now where did those come from? Well, the Conservative Party, according to John's story, is likely to use this to show that it was more limited than many people thought - it was kind of Guelph plus extra.That raises the question where did they get this list of numbers? Where did the Conservatives get it? Why did the Conservatives have it?"
On CBC's The House, Milewski was having none of Iveson's attempt to limit. As he points out there were robocalls that went well beyond the "Guelph +" fallout area. He also reiterated the point that there were plenty of live calls which used similar tactics.

I'll repeat the big question, which Terry Milewski above has put on the national table, and which The Sixth Estate asks:
These phone records, if they’re legit, are evidence of election fraud. The proper place for these records is in the hands of Elections Canada investigators. The fact that the Conservatives have them can only mean one of three things:
  • The Conservatives got the records directly from Racknine. I’m not sure how that squares with Racknine’s previous claims that they are a non-partisan organization and that the call order in question didn’t come from the Conservative Party (which would mean, presumably, that they shouldn’t be sharing the records with an unconnected third party).
  • The Conservatives got the records from Elections Canada. This would suggest either that the Conservatives have a mole on the investigation team, or that Elections Canada is under political control by the very party that it’s currently supposed to be investigating.
  • The Conservatives got the records internally. This would suggest they already know who the perpetrator is — and may have known all along.
  • On The House, Iveson, after almost slipping, stops short of stating that Matt Meier of Racknine provided the list of the numbers called to the Conservative Party insiders.

    So, Iveson's theory, (and you can bet this will be the regurgitated Conservative line), is that it's just Guelph with a little bit of fallout drift, it's just one "rogue" person and the central campaign had nothing to do with it.

    Terry Milewski's reporting provides evidence that it is much, much wider than that.

    As RossK points out in the bottom of his post:
    Have you noted the new meme....That if it wasn't a call wherein the caller, Robo or otherwise, identified him or herself as being from Elections Canada, it was not illegal....Again, it would appear that folks are trying to limit and circumscribe the hangout as much as possible to he or she who soon will be, we imagine, scapegoated...
    There seems to be further rumbling that any calls that went out from ridings were the work of riding workers and there was no central effort.

    So why then, do you need this?

    3 comments:

    Rev.Paperboy said...

    the more I think about it, the more "lost in their own minefield" seems the prefect description

    Saskboy said...

    Is it not spelled "Ivison"?

    --

    "There seems to be further rumbling that any calls that went out from ridings were the work of riding workers and there was no central effort.

    So why then, do you need this [TSMU]?"

    Precisely the next question to be answered I think. Asking it too hard will no doubt trigger slappy lawyers.

    Steve said...

    Poor Steve, half the journalists in Canada juggling for a Senate Seat.