The Week in Sum: Conservatives had Monopoly on Racknine Services, Fed False Data to Press on Robocalls
Well, well. The plot thickens. I suppose I’ll start by asking why the new story has been leaked on a Friday afternoon, as the NDP convention gets underway. From what little I can gain from a few cryptic anonymous sources, most of the details were known earlier this week — if not over the weekend. So why sit on them until now?
Anyways, down to business. First, the officially non-partisan robocall service Racknine had an exclusivity contract with the Conservative Party during the 2011 election. Racknine’s services were used to send out the bogus phone calls. Ergo, the mysterious “Pierre Poutine” was able to persuade Racknine that he was actually an authorized Conservative Party operative. That still doesn’t prove fraud on the part of Racknine, I want to emphasize — again, they’re just the service provider, and Sixth Estate does not shoot messengers. But it is evidence that whoever they were talking to convinced Racknine that it was a genuine Conservative message.
Second, we know that “Pierre Poutine” also uploaded a seemingly pro-Liberal message onto the Racknine server, but never had it sent out. Why? The media thinks it must have been another harassment call. Of course, some Conservatives will seize on this as evidence that Pierre Poutine was actually a Liberal agent, not a Tory one. And I’m sure that’s precisely why the two messages were uploaded together. It’s a false flag intended to throw pursuers off the scent and send them on a wild goose chase for Liberal covert agents. If you were intelligent enough to use a fake cellphone and a mysterious Paypal address, why would you make the inexcusable mistake of uploading your own party’s legitimate campaign ad alongside your fraud call?
Update: The answer, according to the Grope & Flail, is even better than I thought: the Liberal message in question was initially keyed in to go out over night and wake up people. Which would mean that Pierre Poutine is one of several operatives responsible for sending late-night harassment calls in numerous ridings in southern Ontario. Further proof of an organized plot.
Third, and most importantly, the records reveal that Racknine made a total of 7676 calls to a total of 6738 telephone numbers. Not 5198, the way John Ivison claimed last week on the basis of his anonymous Conservative sounces. Now, it is almost inconceivable that the Conservatives could accidentally think their supposed list of 5198 target phone numbers was somehow equivalent to the actual list of 6738 numbers. Last week there was a list of 5198 phone numbers. This week there’s a list of 6738 phone numbers.
Obviously at least one of these descriptions is fake. The most logical explanation is that John Ivison’s sources in the Conservative Party were feeding him false information, which he then used to print a morally abysmal whitewashing of the entire affair. (And we should therefore expect him, as a professional and ethical reporter, to either print an apology and take responsibility himself, or name the sources that obviously tried to lie to us by using him as their tool.) This is the most implausible explanation.
And yet… The flip side is that it hardly makes sense for the Conservatives to leak bogus numbers when they already knew the real ones were in the hands of Elections Canada. It was sure to get out eventually — and even if it didn’t, it was sure to make the investigators exceptionally suspicious. The second possibility is that Racknine gave Elections Canada a bogus list, and I’m not buying that for a second. Even in the unlikely event their “non-partisan neutrality” schtick is a facade, they still wouldn’t be stupid enough to give false evidence to an investigation. That’s a fast way to earn yourself an unnecessary prison term.
There is one intriguing third possibility. If more than one robocall was used in the Guelph region, then it’s conceivable that Elections Canada is chasing down one lead from Racknine, while the Conservatives accidentally leaked the other list to Ivison. Does this sound unlikely? Perhaps. But it’s the easiest way to reconcile all the numbers without concluding that an element within the Conservative Party was authorized by the Prime Minister’s Office to “leak” fraudulent telephone records to the press with the intention of interfering with an ongoing investigation.
Either way, the fact that the Conservatives leaked the phone records to Ivison means we’re still left with the ironclad logic that the Conservatives know who Pierre Poutine is. And they’re not telling us. There can only be one reason why they wouldn’t.
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P. D. Carswell
More Friday-afternoon-NDP-convention announcement timing – and this one stinks big time: I hope you will get more info on it: will this be an all-party committee? Will it be in-camera? Will any press at all have access to what happens?
“MPs summon elections watchdog to talk robo-calls on budget day”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/
Sixth Estate
Yeah, I saw that too. I can’t make up my mind whether they’re trying to deflect attention from the fact that he will be saying something controversial, from the fact that he will be saying nothing at all at a time when there is a perception that he ought to be saying something meaningful, or that the meeting will be in camera at a time when the public is expected to have little patience for such chicanery.
My money is on the third of these options. They will hold an in camera discussion with the Chief Electoral Officer, so that the Opposition is not allowed to talk about what does (or doesn’t) come up in it. Then they will hope that because all the reporters are busy blabbing about the budget, all there will be is one small notation slipped in here and there: “an in camera meeting was held but we didn’t bother with that, because, in camera, right?”
P. D. Carswell
I think (hope) the media are hipper than that – they seem to be onto the Con cons. Also – we’re in a position to ask publicly – and we should be asking now why this suspicious scheduling. Keep the pot simmering.
Sixth Estate
Don’t be so sure. Next week will be entirely taken up with (a) welcoming the new NDP leader and (b) covering the new Conservative attacks targeting said new leader. And then it will be time to go gaga over the budget. It’s possible someone will be detached to stand morosely outside the locked door of the committee room, but everyone in the press gallery who has the pull to get out of such a terrible assignment will be in the lock-up. The Globe’s coverage is a case in point; it actually accused the government of planning to hold the hearings while its reporters were stuck in the lock-up, as though the lock-up wasn’t a voluntary exercise but a literal locking up of all journalists in Ottawa for the day.
I’ll do what I can, and I hope today’s news keeps the story alive, but we’re passing onto other news now. These media organizations supported the Harper government a year ago, and I’m a little bit skeptical of their willingness to pull the trigger on it now.
Mogs
Because you are still a child you tend to be naive to how these things work. I am old enough to be your grand pa. Enough said on that.
There is absolutely no way on this green and blue planet that Harper was not on the hot seat of this election fraud.
Any criminal investigator asks the same questions, namely motive, opportunity and gain or profit. All of these simple detective questions lead to Harper, Harper, Harper.
Harper if he landed another minority government he was toast within his own ranks… gone!
If he did not give back to big business which funded him in the first place… gone!
And further if he did not deliver to the extreme radical right church he was supposed to he was … gone!
Motive outlined above.
Opportunity: Biggest political war chest in Canadian history, much of it crooked.
Gain is to have the majority government that has eluded him as a far right radical and deliver on the promised goods for the politically extreme he represents.
Any questions?
I will go to the undeniable truth of giving my email public:
iamarighteouslypissedcanadian@google.com
I am sick of this Harper scandal and the media race including yours to protect him, he needs a jail term, end of sentence period. Also why were people of my generation targeted specifically in the robo calls? Do your homework.
Mogs
ALL57
Didn’t Elections Canada already track down “Pierre Poutine” through IP address to a house? Are they obliged to keep him a secret until their investigation is complete, or is some other cover-up going on?
Saskboy
You didn’t answer your last sentence. Don’t leave me hanging! LOL
Sixth Estate
Mogs — If you’re that old, you’ve probably heard of plausible deniability. And if you think Sixth Estate is part of a plot to protect Harper, obviously you haven’t been reading my blog very long either. The people protecting him are the Postmedia editors who are busy printing new headlines tonight implying that the new evidence implicates a Liberal as the Pierre Poutine conspirator.
Harper is responsible morally and politically for anything authorized by his office and by his party. That’s part of what being leader means. But by the same token, it is increasingly common for politicians to wrap the covert ops in enough layers of willingly sacrificed staffers that they can try and claim innocence in the event something goes sour. Which is why I’m quite sure we will never find evidence linking this directly to Harper.
And why, also, it doesn’t matter. If and when we name the Conservatives responsible, I will be arguing that Harper is responsible for their actions, whether he knew about them or not.
ALL57 — There have been a great deal of contradictory rumours about what Elections Canada has and hasn’t done. At this point I wouldn’t believe everything you read in the papers… I certainly don’t.
Minor Detail
The data comes from an affidavit provided to get the production order for Paypal, so this wasn’t leaked.
The information was included in a legal document that reporters under law are able to retrieve from the courthouse.
sushi
SE – I agree with you on Harper’s involvement and ultimate responsibility.
However there are a number of firewalls in place to protect him.
The first is the claim that these are the actions of a rogue operator acting without party sanction. This firewall crumbles when it is shown that this was a pattern of activity undertaken in multiple ridings across the counter. That implies a higher level of control.
The second firewall is the fact of a campaign organization and a campaign director discrete and apart from the elected members. As the first firewall crumbles the liability shifts to the upper echelons of the campaing organization. The problem faced by Harper & Co is that the punishment may suffciently severe that no one is willing to take the fall.
Sixth Estate
Minor Detail — The leak in question was a special briefing of an unknown number of journalists, one of them John Ivison, last week, at which they presented a call list with about 5200 numbers that they said Pierre Poutine had downloaded from the CIMS database.
sushi — Good analysis. I think they are currently looking for a fall guy. Clearly at one point it was supposed to be Michael Sona. There’s probably still a chance they’ll convince him to come around, but at this point it won’t be terribly convincing.
The more comes out about Poutine, the more people tend to forget the broader picture, so it will be especially important to keep hammering home that these calls were not confined to Guelph.
Linda
We can expect every dirty tactic in the book, when it comes to Harper. We can suspect anything from anyone, when it comes to Harper. We have to pray, Harper doesn’t control Elections Canada, as he does everything else. We have been victimized by Harper, far more than once. The media is Harper’s propaganda machine, so it will be very hard to trust them either. Ibbitson and Wente of the Globe and Mail, are a good example of, who not to trust.
I firmly believe Harper is behind the robo-calls and guilty of election fraud. Read: Harper gives a speech in New York, at the Council of Foreign Relations. This was Sept 25/2007. Harper made his evil agenda, abundantly clear.
Canadians despise Dictatorship, and Harper has stepped has stepped, way over the line. Harper is now known, as the worst P.M. in the recorded history of this Nation.
Sixth Estate
Prayer doesn’t work, Linda. I doubt Elections Canada has both the resources and the will to carry through an investigation on a national scale. It’s been over a year and they still haven’t finished their audit of Julian Fantino’s campaign, where the allegation (a covert bank account with hundreds of thousands of dollars in it) are much more cut-and-dried true-or-false than the present issue.
Mogs
Would the real Treason Stephen Harper Please stand up:
“More on Stephen Harper and the Northern Foundation as documented by Trevor Harrison”
“Stephen Harper was Reform Party Policy chief, at a time when it had numerous members of the white supremacist group Heritage Front as members. Trevor Harrison, further documents that Mr. Harper even had Heritage Front members doing security for Preston Manning at Reform Party events in Ontario. The Reform Party would evolve into the Alliance Party of Canada, which sought to take over the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC Party) toward the formation of the “Conservative Party of Canada”. The taking over of the PC Party was sought to provide legitimacy to a movement that was largely continued to be perceived a fringe group from Alberta. However, the current Conservative Party is still apparently governed by the same fringe Reform Party mentality, which in turn is linked with the architects of the far right Northern Foundation.”
Read the full article here:
http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2011/04/19/03610.html
Election fraud is peanuts to these boys, a way of business.
He is planning on dismantling all environmental and wildlife habitat in favor of big business development.
“Prime Minister’s Office Tries to Silence Pipeline Critics; Labels Environmental Group “Enemy of the Government of Canada” and “Enemy of the people of Canada.”
A Whistleblower’s Open Letter to the Citizens of Canada.”
Found here, scroll down:
http://richardhughes.ca/tag/pm-steve-harper/
If BC Premier can cheat her way in and at the same time have her friends stop the federal RCMP from investigating her role in the BC Rail scam which saw BC Rail sold to Ex-Premier Gordon Campbell friends in a crooked deal, their is no end to how the PM can manipulate any investigation into him stealing the election.
Ms. Clark’s sl(cr)ime here:
http://alexgtsakumis.com/2012/03/22/exclusive-during-rcmp-surveillance-of-dave-basi-deputy-premier-christy-clark-was-in-the-cross-hairs-of-the-rcmps-special-o-twice-how-does-this-square-with-the-crowns-and-premier-clarks-d/
It was a sad day indeed the 2011 election, hopefully the Con party rots from within and self destructs because even some of them can’t stand Mr. control freak Harpo.
Mogs
Mogs
PS I don’t think you are involved in any plot, I just call a spade a spade when it comes to Harper and his gang of far right radical crooks.
Mogs
Mogs
Also I agree about the ‘firewalls’ but don’t forget about the over-zealous body-guard’s he has surrounded himself with that will take the fall (bullets) so that the Harper Reich can continue to trample Canadians, Canada, her flora, fauna and environment in favor of Mega-Corporations who will pillage and destroy in-order to make a profit.
We will be left with a moonscape like the disgusting tar sands.
Mogs
Sixth Estate
The question will be, how many people will be willing to fall on this grenade, yes. The fact that Sona was first pointed to, and then backed away from, suggests they wanted him to do so and he didn’t.
Mogs
Agreed read what this grandma has to say:
One Young Staffer is Not Enough: @
http://pushedleft.blogspot.ca/
Mogs
Mogs
Here is a great one that has the con’s enraged:
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/03/16/Ethical-Oil-Rap/
Have a good laugh:)
Holly Stick
That article by Debra Chin is years old and gets recycled over and over, and I frankly don’t trust it. Nobody knows who “Debra Chin” is.
But Mogs, you are right about Harper dismantling environmental regulations and defunding research, etc. The whistleblower, Andrew Frank, has his own blog: http://andrewfrank.ca/
P. D. Carswell
Good possibility that Kady O’Malley will cover the Mayrand (head of Elections Canada) appearance before committee on March 29, two hours before budget announcement. Fingers crossed – this cannot be allowed to get lost in all the noise.
Sixth Estate
I couldn’t say whether it would be Kady or not (a logical choice), but it’s a safe bet SOMEONE will be tasked to cover it. It’s not that I doubt it will be covered in some fashion. It’s that I expect it to be inevitably drowned out by the budget coverage, which is where the cameras will be.
CBC is already advertising its special coverage of the budget announcement. Of course budgets are more important than election fraud in this country.
P. D. Carswell
Then it’s up to you and other bloggers, SE. And up to your readers to promote and repeat what you write until it spreads.
Sixth Estate
So business as usual, then.
Saskboy
It would be a nice change in business if the fourth estate, and Fifth Estate, bothered to cover widespread electoral fraud with a touch more urgency than us amateurs.
Timing
The papers printed everything from the Paypal production order as soon as they got it. Timing was coincidental.
David Ostrosser
Here’s the link for the Maynard committee appearance at 16:30 this afternoon.
http://www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?dsp=template&act=view3&pagetype=watch&hl=e&watchID=2e