Sandra Finley

2012-03-10 Vote moving, “closely contested” election ridings, Steven Bryant and David Janakowski

 Robocalls & Vote moving, Election Fraud  No Responses »
Mar 122012
 

Please go to Steven and David’s blog www.votemoving.com

“Vote moving” is introduced in  http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4536 2012-03-08 You learned “robocalls”. Now learn “vote moving”. And you get “rigged election”.

Steven Bryant and David Janakowski figured out and named “vote moving”. They had it figured out AND blogged within a week of the May 2, 2011 election.

I contacted them because I was curious: “Your work is dated May 10, 2011 – – almost a year ago. And a week after the election? What led you to put it all together? I’d be interested in talking with you, if you don’t mind.”

Steve and Dave are carrying their story on their blog.  It comes down to the “closely contested” ridings.   www.votemoving.com

2012-03-09 Robocalls: Older voters targeted by election day phone calls, Elections Canada believes

 Robocalls & Vote moving, Election Fraud  No Responses »
Mar 112012
 
Excerpt:
“Mitch Wexler, a Conservative voter-data expert, said political parties can supplement voter registration lists with CENSUS information…”
Published On Fri Mar 9 2012
Federal elections officials say that the fraudulent phone calls appear to have targeted older voters.
Federal elections officials say that the fraudulent phone calls appear to have targeted older voters.
Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Allan WoodsOttawa Bureau

OTTAWA—Automated phone calls that directed people to the wrong polling stations in the last federal election may have overwhelmingly targeted older voters, the Toronto Star has learned.

Elections Canada investigators sifting through a flood of complaints that have emerged about dirty tricks in the spring 2011 campaign have started to notice this pattern as they call individuals to verify details of the suspicious phone calls they reported receiving.
Most of those who received an automated phone call telling them their polling station had been changed say they were contacted early in the campaign by the Conservative Party and indicated that they would not be supporting their local Tory candidate.
Now federal elections officials say that the fraudulent phone calls appear to have targeted older voters.
“Every single person I’ve contacted has been (born) between 1947 and 1949,” said one unidentified Elections Canada employee who was following up on the complaints Friday morning.
The Star inadvertently overheard a number of telephone conversations between the woman and complainants located across the country while a reporter was reviewing election expense records at Elections Canada’s Ottawa offices.
The questions put to complainants included the content of the robocall, the date it was received and whether that person was able to recall or record telephone number from which the call came. The final question, of those calls that could be heard by the Star, was for the complainants’ age.
A spokesperson for the agency declined to comment or provide any additional information about the pattern investigators appear to have identified.
“You can appreciate that I can’t comment on a snippet of conversation that may have been overheard out of context,” said spokesperson John Enright.
The revelation suggests that whoever was behind the fraudulent robocalls that are now the subject of a massive investigation may have been working off of a more sophisticated list of electors than the barebones voter information provided by Elections Canada.
Enright said the list of voters that all political parties and local candidates receive during an election period contains only the names and addresses of electors. Combined, parties spend millions of dollars during a campaign to identify likely supporters as well as non-supporters and target them for donations and other forms of support.
“It speaks to a degree of sophistication that sort of flies in the face of the initial reaction that it was a scattergun approach possibly by some junior underling who maybe just tore off a page of the voter’s list,” said NDP MP Pat Martin. “It seems more targeted and focused and complex maybe than some of the stories would have you believe.”
Mitch Wexler, a Conservative voter-data expert, said political parties can supplement voter registration lists with census information and other data to paint a fuller picture of the electorate. But he said it is virtually impossible to isolate and target senior citizens.
The average turnout rate in the May 2011 election was 61 per cent, meaning that 14.8 million out of an eligible 24.3 million Canadians voted. A Statistics Canada survey released last month found voters aged 65 to 74 had an 82 per cent turnout rate — the highest of any age group.
Martin said seniors are also the most likely to fall for a fraudulent phone call purporting to come from Elections Canada about a polling station change, either because they are more trusting or less technologically savvy.
“Younger people might be a little more jaded about automated phone calls whereas seniors would be less familiar with them and more likely to believe it,” he said.
It is alleged someone with the Conservative party campaign in the riding of Guelph set up a robocall account with the aim of sending voters to the wrong polling station. The complaints received so far suggest the scheme targeted those who were likely to vote for Liberal or NDP candidates.
Matt Meier, the owner of RackNine Inc., the Edmonton-based business that was used to send out the robocalls, has been able to track the unique identifying number, known as an IP address, of the computer behind the illegal phone calls, the National Post reported Friday. He has forwarded that information to Elections Canada investigator Al Matthews to help track down the alleged perpetrator.
Meier says the individual who set up the account identified himself as Pierre Jones, a University of Ottawa student from Joliet, Que. The cellphone used to place the robocalls was registered under the alias “Pierre Poutine.”
With files from Tonda MacCharles

2012-03-07 Oliver man speaks out about pipeline, gets visit from RCMP

 Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?  No Responses »
Mar 112012
 
Kelowna,            CHBC  News :             Wednesday, March 07,  2012 8:01 PM
Photo Credit: CHBC News , Eric  Szeto
John Allsop of Oliver says he’s still is on edge after an  encounter with RCMP months ago.
Last November, Allsop called the Prime  Minister’s Office to voice his opposition to the proposed Northern Gateway  pipeline.
He did not hear back from the prime minister but he says that  within days, an RCMP officer was knocking on his door.
The officer told  Allsop they had received information that he had called the PMO’s office and  asked him who he knew and who he was in touch with.
Allsop says these  were intimidation tactics.
He adds that when the constable left his  house, he said something to the effect of “don’t do anything, don’t go anywhere,  be sensitive about where you go.”
He was told by the officer that  whenever the prime minister visits, RCMP receive a “persons of interest” list by  the federal government. Stephen Harper was to be in Vancouver for the Grey Cup  that weekend.
Shocked by the events, Allsop contacted Southern Interior  NDP MP Alex Atamanenko. Atamanenko wrote a letter to the prime minister and has  yet to receive a response. Atamanenko calls this undemocratic.
“I get a  little worried that a citizen in this case expressed his opinion and instead of  getting an answer back, he was visited by the RCMP because of a perceived threat  by security for the prime minister. Something is not quite right here,” Atamanenko said.
CHBC News tried getting answers from Oliver RCMP but  they would not confirm whether they had even gone to his house.
“All I  can tell you is that Mr. Allsop is a member of our community and if there is  anything more you want specifically in regards to him, you should probably  contact Mr. Allsop or speak to the Prime Minister’s Office,” said Sargeant  Kenneth Harrington.
CHBC News contacted the PMO’s office but did not get  a response. However, a reporter at the Globe and Mail tells CHBC News that he  did speak with the PMO’s office and was told that RCMP were not asked to  investigate and there is no record of his calls.
Allsop says his phone  bills prove otherwise.
He is concerned tactics like these will have a  chilling effect on those who wish to express their opinions in the future. He  also denies that he is a threat to national security.
“I am a passionate  Canadian citizen who believes in preserving what beauty we have for as long as  we can,” Allsop said.
© Shaw Media Inc., 2012. All rights  reserved.

2012-03-04 We must take the robocalls scandal seriously, By Gus Van Harten, The Province

 Robocalls & Vote moving, Election Fraud  No Responses »
Mar 102012
 

The robocall affair puts us at the brink of crisis in our electoral  democracy. Yet there appears to be an effort to stifle public outrage, and  resolve any doubts in favour of the government, at this still-early stage in the  affair. This effort traces to the Harper government, unfortunately, but also to  media commentators (Chantal Hebert, John Ibbitson and others).

The fire-brigade’s argument goes something like this. One, there is no  evidence that the Conservative party took part in the robocall affair. Two,  there are few ridings in which Conservative victory is in doubt. Three, in any  event, the overall federal election result is beyond question.

All of these points are inaccurate or misleading and point to a lack of  concern for the integrity of the democratic process.

First, it is much too early to judge how many riding were affected, and to  what extent, by the fraudulent telephone interventions in the voting process.  These interventions – both robocalls and live calls – are now associated with  Conservative party agents based on a range of reported information, including  from Conservative sources.

The information includes, among other things, the content and targeting of  the robocalls and live calls, the past connections of RackNine to the  Conservatives, the resignation of Conservative operative Michael Sona and  publicly reported statements of Sona.

Second, the Conservative majority is very thin. In Ontario alone, there are  at least six ridings in which a Conservative candidate won by less than 1,000  votes over a Liberal candidate. There are at least three others in Ontario where  the same outcome turned on a margin of 1,000 to 2,000 votes. There are no doubt  ridings with similar margins elsewhere in the country.

So, it is not possible to know how widely and deeply voting was tainted in  individual ridings. Indeed, it is a massive task to investigate that question  thoroughly. However, initial indications from the Elections Canada investigation  (which focuses on Guelph only) and from media reports are very troubling. Thus,  to suggest that what we know at present allows us to conclude that the overall  election outcome was not affected is dubious and irresponsible.

Third, public confidence in the electoral process is sacrosanct. The safest  course of action, and possibly the only option, to restore public confidence in  the election is to hold by-elections in any riding where there is reason to  think that the result could have been different, had the robocalls not taken  place. The process to decide this question, riding by riding, must be based on  evidence from eligible voters in the riding.

Ultimately, the decision whether to require by-elections is a matter for the  courts. But the investigation behind the courts’ decision-making needs to be  organized by a body that is independent of government and well-funded. If the  government is not prepared to commit to such an investigation immediately, then  the other parties should organize it themselves.

Fourth, the fact that the outcome in even one riding may have been determined  by fraudulent activity is an absolute scandal, deserving of an independent  investigation in itself. That the affair gets boiled down, by some commentators,  to whether the outcome in the election overall would have changed (which of  course we and they don’t know) suggests either moral bankruptcy or a lack of  understanding of the importance of a voting process that has  integrity.

Fifth, the next step is an independent and thorough inquiry into the whole  affair. The inquiry can be carried out by Elections Canada, by the RCMP or by a  public inquiry with full coercive powers.

If Elections Canada, one must ask whether the agency has sufficient  resources. If the RCMP, one must ask whether focusing on a few individuals who  may have committed crimes is enough in the face of a potentially systemic  problem.

If a public inquiry, one must ask whether the government will appoint a judge  who has an unquestionable reputation for independence from the government.

Importantly, none of these methods of inquiry is an excuse for delaying the  courts’ reviews of questionable results in individual ridings. Those court  reviews are the key. They must happen as soon as possible to ensure public  confidence in the electoral process.

Applications to the courts can be made by any individually affected voter.  However, the judicial process depends on a fair investigation of the extent of  fraudulent intervention in all of the ridings that went down to the wire. We  need the courts to protect our democracy.

Gus Van Harten is an Osgoode Hall Law School professor in Toronto.

© Copyright (c) The  Province

2012-03-08 You learned “robocalls”. Now learn “vote moving”. And you get “rigged election”.

 Robocalls & Vote moving, Election Fraud  No Responses »
Mar 082012
 

I think these kids, David Janakowski and Steven Bryant, may have figured it out.  Bless them!

– – – – – – –  – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Who would have thought it’d happen here?

I know – – it hasn’t been proven yet.   “Robocalls”  +  “Vote Moving”  =  Election Fraud, a rigged election.

A bloody rigged election?    Take a look – – –  I set out to do an update.   That’s all.

NOTE:  For the postings on “Robocalls”:

  • Go to the right-hand sidebar at www.sandrafinley.ca
  • To the category  “Corporatocracy or democracy?”
  • Click on “Robocalls & Vote moving, Election Fraud” to generate the list.

You may have noticed (recent news) that the Conservative strategy has taken an about-face.   They were antagonistic to Elections Canada and the need for capacity to investigate.  They have tried and failed at “deny, deny, deny”.   Kudos to Canadians  – –  citizen outrage won’t let them get away with it.

For facebook users:

–  The group CRUSH (Citizens Rallying to Unseat Steven Harper) has good information on robocalls and election fraud.

http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php?type=1#!/groups/292671928599/

–  And really great cartoons!

–  There’s a new F/B group started:    Robocalls – Public inquiry needed now for Canadian Democracy

– – – – – – – –  – – — – – – – –  —  —

“VOTE  MOVING”

UNEASY:

I hesitated to send David and Steven’s video on “Vote Moving” to you because it is theoretical.  It does a good job of explaining an idea, but it’s only an idea.

Then I read today’s news, the CBC report of 2,700 applications for late registration.  It looks like “Vote Moving” enacted.   Hmmm… and what about Borys Wrzesnewskyj’s story?

“Vote Moving” didn’t (possibly) happen in only one place.   (Not to mention that it also happened in conjunction with fraudulent “robo-calls” in other ridings.)

  1. THE CONCEPT:  Go to  http://www.votemoving.com/,  click on the button at the top, “Vote Moving video”)
Evelyn Opalka wrote:  . . .   excellent video. Thanks, Cheena, though now I have one more grey hair. 🙂
    2.   THE CONCEPT MADE REAL,  two examples:
    a. Go to  http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4528 2012-03-08  New allegations of voting irregularities come to light in Toronto: CBC
CBC reports there were at least 2,700 applications for late registration to vote in Eglinton-Lawrence that failed to provide addresses or gave false or non-residential addresses, all of which fail to meet Election Canada rules.
    b. Click on   Borys Wrzesnewskyj on CBC News, 2 March 2012
    About voters added to the list who should not have been.  Court case.
– – – – – – – –  – – — – – – – –  —  —

NOW FOR THOSE UPDATES!

– – – – – –  – –  – – — – – – – –  —  —

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4519 2012-03-06    Robocalls answer in Tory servers

(Note:  CIMS   =  Constituency Information Management System database)

This is an interesting opinion that also explains the computerized data bases used by political parties.

– – – – – – –  – – — – – – – –  —  —

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4515 2012-03-06  Tories didn’t declare payments made to robocalls company, can’t explain why

– – – – – – – –  – – — – – – – –  —  —

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4508 2012-03-03  Robo-calls: Tory MPs used top U.S. Republican firm during May election

– – – – – –  – –  – – — – – – – –  —  —

LOVE THIS!  Quote from Rick Mercer’s twitter:   “Russians have received 4500 complaints of election fraud.  Amateurs!”

[Canada, 31,000 complaints of fraud for the 2011 Election]

– – – – – – – — – –

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/03/06/pol-supreme-court-conservatives.html

Tories ditch ‘in-and-out’ case at Supreme Court

Here’s a wild speculation:  With the robo-call election fraud matter boiling, it is too dangerous to proceed with the scheduled appeal of the Tory ‘in-and-out’ guilty verdict.  Can’t risk more irregularities being uncovered.   Cut the losses.  Can the appeal.

– – – – – – – – – — – –

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/elections-canada-told-parties-not-to-call-voters-with-polling-station-locations-141498343.html

Elections Canada told parties not to call voters with polling station locations (March 5)

(This was after the Conservatives called and asked for a list of the polling stations.  They then did what Elections Canada asked them NOT to do.)

– – – – – – – –  – – — – – – – –  —  —

http://www.globalnews.ca/spending%2Bpatterns/6442596526/story.html
Spending patterns raise more questions in ‘robocall’ affair

This March 7th report names another of the major players:   Responsive Marketing Group, a Toronto-based call centre with deep Conservative ties.

If campaigns have the money, and are within spending limits, they can hire a company to do their “voter identification”.  Political campaigns are moving out of the era when they were carried out by volunteers.

But this goes beyond voter identification:

“ . . . The call centre came into the spotlight recently, when former employees of the company who were working on behalf of the Conservative Party told media that, in the days leading up to the election, they were instructed to call voters in closely-fought ridings to tell them their designated polling stations had changed. Days after that story surfaced, the defeated Conservative candidate in the Quebec riding of Rimouski-Neigette-Temiscouata-Les Basques told the French-language daily Le Devoir he was approached by the national campaign and told to pay $15,000.01 to RMG. He was at a loss, however, to say what services his local campaign received in return. The candidate later retracted his story, saying RMG was hired to conduct voter identification in his riding. . . “

– – – – – – – –  – – — – – – – –  —  —

HOW MANY SEATS  FOR CONSERVATIVES TO LOSE  STATUS?  – – –  TWELVE

308 seats in Parliament;  majority is  half plus one  =  155 seats.

Conservatives hold 166 seats.

If TWELVE seats change hands, the Conservatives would no longer have a majority Government.

– – – – – – – –  – – — – – – – –  —  —

HOW MANY POTENTIAL BY-ELECTIONS BECAUSE OF ELECTION FRAUD?     FOURTEEN is a conservative estimate

By February 24, Andrew Coyne in the Vancouver Sun reported fraudulent robocalls in “at least 18” ridings across the country.   http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Coyne+Crank+call+scandal+fits+Conservatives+pattern+pattern+political/6206836/story.html

Now there’s the ridings with alleged “vote moving” to add.

If there are court-ordered by-elections because of election fraud, the Conservatives could well lose their status as the ruling party.

2012-03-08 New allegations of voting irregularities come to light in Toronto: CBC

 Robocalls & Vote moving, Election Fraud  No Responses »
Mar 082012
 

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1142931–new-allegations-of-voting-irregularities-come-to-light-in-toronto-cbc

Alleged voting irregularities in the 2011 federal election have taken a new twist with accusations that hundreds of unregistered voters cast ballots in the Eglinton-Lawrence riding, according to CBC.

The Conservative Party has been dogged for weeks now with allegations that it was behind so-called robo-calls and other dirty tricks that critics says swung the results in its favour.

CBC reports there were at least 2,700 applications for late registration to vote in Eglinton-Lawrence that failed to provide addresses or gave false or non-residential addresses, all of which fail to meet Election Canada rules.

Former veteran Liberal MP Joe Volpe lost the riding to Conservative Joe Oliver by 4,062 votes. Oliver was rewarded with a cabinet post, minister of natural resources, for dethroning Volpe.

Volpe’s lawyer, Anthony Pascale, told CBC he wants Elections Canada to investigate.

“There were an inordinately high number of voters registering who were not on the voters list in order to cast ballots,” Pascale said.

Meanwhile, as first reported in the Toronto Star, federal elections investigators are probing robo-calls in another riding — Nipissing-Temiskaming in northern Ontario — that could have tipped one of the tightest races in the country in favour of the Conservative party.

Incumbent Liberal Anthony Rota lost by just 18 votes to Jay Aspin, the Conservative candidate.

In the week before Election Day, an automated voice message was received by a North Bay environmental activist that raised her suspicions.

“I got a call that said it was Elections Canada calling to say that due to higher than anticipated voter turnout that my polling place was changed,” Peggy Walsh Craig told the Star.

Craig said she had received two calls during the spring 2011 campaign, the first a few weeks before voting day on May 2. It asked if she intended to vote for the Conservative party. She did not. The second came in the week prior to the election.

Elections Canada has been flooded with complaints from across the country about suspicious calls telling voters their polling booth had been changed
Richard J. BrennanNational Affairs Writer

2012-03-06 Robocalls answer in Tory servers (CIMS – Constituency Information Management System database )

 Robocalls & Vote moving, Election Fraud  No Responses »
Mar 082012
 

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/Robocalls+answer+Tory+servers/6255473/story.html

  • John Ivison, National Post · Mar. 6, 2012 | Last Updated: Mar. 6, 2012 3:06 AM ET

    • Stephen Harper and Guy Giorno, his campaign manager, have come over like T.S. Eliot’s Macavity the Cat in relation to the robocalls saga – whatever time the deed took place, they weren’t there.

    Both have made public denials about any links between robocalls and the official campaign.

    How can they be so sure? Perhaps because they already have a pretty good idea who the culprit is. The digital trail likely ends inside the Conservative party’s own computer system – specifically the Constituency Information Management System (CIMS) database that contains voter information and telephone numbers.

    Anyone who wanted to make robocalls sending Liberal and NDP voters to the wrong polling station, similar to the ones received by Liberal supporters in Guelph, would likely need CIMS to identify and then contact them. But CIMS is tightly held by the party, with access passwordprotected.

    “You can’t do a transaction in CIMS without it being logged. The party will know who was doing what, how long they were on for and what information they were looking for,” said someone with knowledge of the database. “It’s a difficult system to do something illegal on. It’s jealously guarded information.”

    No one believes that a coordinated voter suppression campaign could be carried out without CIMS – the last thing anyone seeking to boost the Conservative turnout would want to do is call its own supporters and misdirect them.

    So a detailed inventory of who was using the CIMS database in the ridings allegedly hit by robocalls should narrow down the search for the culprit considerably.

    A spokesman for the Conservative party said the Elections Commissioner, who is investigating the issue, has not yet asked for this information.

    The strong suspicion among people familiar with the Conservative campaign is that the voter suppression effort may be the work of a rogue telemarketing company, employed by one or a number of riding associations to identify Conservatives and then get out the vote.

    The most frequently mentioned company in connection with this regard is Torontobased Responsive Marketing Group, which worked on the national campaign, particularly the 75 ridings on the Tories’ “target” list.

    Yet, the consensus among those on the inside is that RMG will be cleared of any wrongdoing. For one thing, the company does not make robocalls. For another, it is understood to keep recordings of every call it makes, which should make the Election Commissioner’s life easier as he probes allegations that RMG’s call centre in Thunder Bay misdirected voters to the wrong polling station.

    But there are other companies that had the motive – they would profit from a reduced opposition turnout – and opportunity – they would have access to CIMS across the ridings on which they worked.

    At this stage, there is no evidence of any such coordinated campaign. The 31,000 complaints received by Elections Canada will be whittled down in short order. Many of the “harassing” phone calls were likely simple mistakes.

    All parties acknowledge the voter lists they receive from Elections Canada are often incorrect. The parties then compound the errors as they attempt to add telephone numbers to the raw voter information.

    The key question is whether the tactics apparently used in Guelph were repeated in other ridings. There is only anecdotal evidence that this is the case. The widespread presumption of Conservative guilt by many Canadians is largely the consequence of previous dirty tricks.

    Bob Rae, the interim Liberal leader, raised one such instance during Question Period, when he referred to calls made to constituents in Irwin Cotler’s Montreal riding that made the misleading claim the Liberal MP was stepping down and a byelection was imminent.

    The Speaker of the House of Commons, Andrew Scheer, called the tactic employed by Campaign Research, a telemarketing firm hired by the Conservatives, “reprehensible” and Mr. Rae asked the government if they agreed.

    Dean Del Mastro, the Prime Minister’s parliamentary secretary, deflected the question, saying that the Liberal “unsubstantiated smears” were the issue.

    But the Conservatives have form in this area. They remain the Nasty Party for too many Canadians. Even if it’s eventually proven the national campaign did not instigate a widespread robocalls effort, the Tories will be found guilty by association if a company they employed has been subverting democracy.

    jivison  AT  nationalpost.com

     

    2012-03-06 Tories didn’t declare payments made to robocalls company, can’t explain why

     Robocalls & Vote moving, Election Fraud  No Responses »
    Mar 072012
     
    Mar 6, 2012 – 9:28 AM ET | Last Updated: Mar 6, 2012 2:46 PM ET
    Reuters files
    Reuters files
    A sign from a demonstration on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday. Elections Canada wants to know why the costs of automated calls the Tory campaign has admitted sending out never appeared in the campaign’s expense report.
    By Glen McGregor and Stephen Maher
    OTTAWA — Elections Canada investigators probing the robocalls scandal are interviewing workers on the Conservative campaign in Guelph, Ont., and trying to determine why payments made to an Edmonton voice-broadcasting company were not declared in financial reports filed with the agency.
    In recent days, the agency has spoken to at least three workers from the campaign of Conservative candidate Marty Burke, including the official agent responsible for ensuring the campaign’s financial report was accurate.
    Elections Canada wants to know why the costs of automated calls the campaign has admitted sending out never appeared in the campaign’s expense report, as required by law.
    Andrew Prescott, the deputy campaign manager, said he is co-operating with the investigation and handing over bills he received from RackNine Inc. for a series of robocalls promoting Burke events during the election.
    The same company was used to transmit misleading Elections Canada calls on election day.
    Prescott maintains he had no role in the fake Elections Canada calls that directed voters to the wrong polling stations.
    Prescott said Monday that he had given his campaign manager invoices for the calls but could not explain why the expenses did not appear on the financial report sent to Elections Canada.
    He said he used a RackNine account he held through his own company, Prescoan, to place the automated calls announcing Burke campaign events. He said he then submitted invoices to the campaign for these costs.
    “I gave them to the campaign manager,” Prescott said. “There was definitely no effort to hide anything or obscure anything.”
    There is no record of these expenses anywhere in the Burke campaign return, however.
    Meanwhile, Elections Canada is also investigating records at PayPal, an online payment and money transfer service, the Globe and Mail has reported, and is using a court order to ask the company to hand over information as a part of the Guelph investigation.
    Burke’s unsuccessful campaign against Liberal incumbent Frank Valeriote was managed by Ken Morgan, a former candidate for city council in Guelph. Burke has not spoken publicly since the robocalls controversy and has not responded to emails requesting comment. Postmedia was unable to reach Morgan.
    It is unclear why the Burke campaign did not report the costs Prescott said he submitted. Failing to declare campaign expenses is a breach of the Elections Act.
    The detailed expense claims submitted to the Burke campaign included receipts for everything from local advertising costs, gasoline and pizza for campaign workers. But the Burke campaign’s accountant, Abdul-Qayum Ali, said he never received any invoices for RackNine.
    The campaign’s bills typically were given by staff to Morgan and then passed on to him, said Ali who, as official agent, was responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the expense report.
    Ali said he was contacted by Elections Canada last week and asked if there were any other invoices he hadn’t submitted to the agency. There were not, he said.
    Elections Canada’s investigators have traced the fraudulent robocalls misdirecting voters in Guelph from a disposable cellphone purchased under the pseudonym “Pierre Poutine” in Joliette, Que. The phone was used to call RackNine to record the outgoing call sent to voters in Guelph.
    RackNine says it was unaware its service was used to place the calls.
    Prescott said he set up an account with RackNine in 2010 that he had used for other provincial and municipal election campaigns.
    A sworn statement filed by Elections Canada investigator Al Mathews lists 31 calls made to RackNine from four phones associated with the Burke campaign to RackNine, including two on election day. Most of the calls were to a customer service log-in number.
    In Mathews’ sworn statement, he writes that it is “reasonable to conclude that the absence of an expense report . . . is inconsistent with the pattern” of the calls.
    Prescott would not say how much the various calls cost.
    Prescott said he has spoken with Mathews by phone and has another meeting scheduled in the near future.
    Before the robocalls story first broke last month, Prescott told the Ottawa Citizen he had paid for RackNine bills himself and was reimbursed by the campaign through the $1,100 he was paid.
    But an agreement signed by Morgan and Ali on March 26, at the beginning of the campaign, shows Prescott was always to be paid $1,100 as an honourium for providing “general labour” on the campaign.
    Other campaign workers who had similar agreements in place were reimbursed for the costs they incurred during the course of the campaign. But there is no sign of any expenses Prescott incurred.
    In a blog post in July, not long after the election, Prescott described himself as a “cellphone expert.”
    “Being an IT guy, and being the resident cellphone expert amongst my friends and political circles, people ask me for advice on who’s got the best deals for cellphones.”
    Handout
    Michael Sona (left), a Tory staffer who worked in Guelph during the Election campaign, resigned shortly after the robocalls scandal broke.
    The Guelph Mercury reported last week that Elections Canada, which started the investigation in May, interviewed campaign worker Michael Sona last Tuesday for the first time.
    Sona, who was director of communications for the Burke campaign, made headlines during the campaign when he tried to shut down a special ballot being held for university students by trying to grab the ballot box.
    He was first associated with this story when Sun TV reported that senior Conservatives believed he was a person of interest to the investigation. Sona soon resigned from his job working for Conservative MP Eve Adams.
    After Defence Minister Peter MacKay suggested Sona was responsible for the misdirection in Guelph, Sona issued a statement denying it.
    “I have remained silent to this point with the hope that the real guilty party would be apprehended,” he said in a statement to CTV News. “The rumours continue to swirl, and media are now involving my family, so I feel that it is imperative that I respond. I had no involvement in the fraudulent phone calls, which also targeted our supporters as can be attested to by our local campaign team and phone records.”
    The Conservatives have steadfastly denied any knowledge of voter suppression calls by higher-ups. On Sunday, Conservative campaign chairman Guy Giorno said he hopes investigators get to the bottom of it.
    “I wish Godspeed to Elections Canada and the RCMP investigators,” he told CTV. “We want them to get to the bottom of this and let’s hope the full weight of the law is applied to any and all.”
    In Mathews’ sworn statement, he describes an interview with Central Poll Supervisor Laurie Rotenburg, who was running the polls at the Old Quebec Street Mall in Guelph when 150 to 200 deceived voters showed up to vote.
    “He observed that many of the misdirected voters responded with anger that a dirty trick had been played,” Mathews wrote. “Many were upset. Some electors just stormed out of the polling location. Several ripped up their Voter Information Card.”
    With files from the National Post
    = = = = = = == = = = =
    You may be interested in this poll:
    http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/44424/most-canadians-think-robocalls-were-used-broadly-in-last-election/

    Most Canadians Think Robocalls Were Used Broadly in Last Election

    Four-in-five respondents call for an independent investigation to find out who was behind the misleading robocalls made in the 2011 federal ballot

     Older Entries  Newer Entries