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

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