... argued Con lawyer Arthur Hamilton today as he attempted to have the robo/live fraud calls case thrown out of Federal Court before it even begins.
Eight voters in 6 ridings, backed by the Council of Canadians, are asking the judge to overturn the election results in their ridings.
Shorter Arthur :
1) Council of Canadians doesn't like Steve.
2) The applicants' lawyer Steve Shrybman doesn't like Steve.
Therefore ... um ... I'm losing the legal argument here ...
Oh here we go : Pogge : You're only allowed to challenge an election result if you voted for the winner.
Back in September, Arthur wanted the 8 voters to put up a $250,000 security deposit in order to get into court at all. Apparently in his view, defending democracy is a frivolous pursuit best left to people with a quarter of a million dollars to spare.
Or as Judge Mosley asked him when he brought it up again today : "So we leave it to the wealthy?"
*cough* Court Challenges Program *cough*
Besides, continued shorter Arthur, the Council of Canadians stands to gain financially from backing this case, and from getting a brand new database of donors : "They're going to come out ahead."
Thanks for the reminder, Arthur. Donate here.
Hamilton also unhappy that witness pollster Frank Graves of EKOS, whose statistical study on voter suppression is part of the applicants' case, donated $236 to Iggy or Rae or maybe the Libs but Graves' donation docs aren't clear which and neither is Graves.
Oh - brilliant witness credibility smackdown there, Arthur : Graves also donated to a Con candidate.
Anyway, Arthur, please read Pogge again above.
So the election fraud case is all about Steve and money, according to Arthur so far.
I'm snagging all this live off twitter.
To follow along at home :
CBC Laura Payton and Ottawa Citizen Liveblog
And a reminder of the 6 ridings represented in court here :
Nipissing-Timiskaming, Ont. won by Con Jay Aspin by 18 votes
Yukon, won by Con Ryan Leef by 132 votes;
Elmwood-Transcona, Man., won by Con Lawrence Toet by 300 votes
Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, Sask., won by Con Kelly Block by 538 votes
Winnipeg South Centre, Man., won by Con Joyce Bateman by 722 votes
Vancouver Island North, B.C., won by Con John Duncan by 1827 votes
.
4 comments:
Well it is all about Steve and money - just not in quite the way he's putting it .
Who is paying Hamilton? Us or the Cons?
I don't know but suppose it depends on the outcome of the case and what the court asks for.
The Cons $1.3M in-and-out election finance violations cost us over $2M not counting staff time, and then they only paid a $52,000 fine and the court did not ask them to pay costs. The Cons referred to this at the time you will remember as a "victory".
And they were not far wrong about that, were they?
Champerty, motions for dismissal- not really bothering to try to win on merit this time either.
Just as an aside... I'm glad to see you back, Alison!
Post a Comment