Thursday, June 05, 2014

RoboCon CREEPshow trial of Michael Sona


At left is the draft statement robocall trial star witness and Guelph Con campaign worker Andrew Prescott sent to the accused, Michael Sona, in July 2013.
Read it first.  Really.

Three freaking years later and three days into the CREEPshow trial charging Michael Sona with sending robocalls out to more than 6,000 Guelph voters in the May 2, 2011 federal election directing them to the wrong poll locations, a couple of new things stand out.

It was indeed Andrew Prescott who logged out of his own account at RackNine on election day only to log back in again a few minutes later on the Pierre Jones/Poutine account. He did so on the instructions of Guelph election campaign chair Ken Morgan who gave him a handwitten note with the Poutine credentials. 

So Prescott was Poutine for Morgan in this instance of its use at least. However Prescott has an immunity deal with the Crown to testify against Sona and says he didn't know the significance of the alternate log-in until Sona mentioned "Pierre" later in the day in a toast that Prescott didn't remember until April 2014! 

So why isn't Guelph campaign chair Ken Morgan on trial here? Other than that he decamped to Kuwait in 2012 of course and has never been questioned by Elections Canada afawk. I guess it's a case of love the one you're with here. 

From the robocalls trial twitterfeed of Glen McGregor, Stephen Maher, Globals' Laura Stone, and Laura Payton at CBC. Excerpted  : 
  • Prescott says he was in Burke campaign office until the early hours, until sun up, on May 2 (e-day)
  • Sona was in his cubicle on that early morning of election day, Prescott says.
  • Prescott says Sona asked him about how to log into RackNine after 4:00 am on election day. "I was suspicious," he said [but he complied].
  • In February interviews with Elections Canada, Prescott couldn't recall Sona asking about RackNine.
Wait.  If, as per Matt Meier's testimony, the Pierre Poutine account on RackNine was set up on April 30, and if as Prescott is implying - Sona is Poutine, why would Sona be asking Prescott the following morning how to log in to RackNine?
  • When sun came up, Prescott says he slept on the couch in the office for a few hours.
  • Sona came out of office: "was shaking, ecstatic, and said in a low voice, 'It's working,'" Prescott says. Sona was "quiet, almost euphoric"
  • Later, as they heard [from their own supporters telling of calls saying that polling stations were closing early], Ken Morgan came up to Prescott and said "We need to counter this. They're bombing our supporters."
  • Then Morgan approached Prescott later day and said "I need you to stop the dial"
  • Morgan approached Prescott's desk; Prescott went to RackNine website and found he was logged in.
  • "I went to pending calls page and noticed there was a pending dial to go out and I immediately cancelled it," Prescott says.
After the election day vote count, Prescott :
  • People were having drinks and cigars, toasting Harper, "MIchael [Sona] had a cigar in his hand and said something like thanks, Pierre, and laughed" 
Interesting because their Guelph campaign had just lost the election so the thanks to "Pierre" would have been about bogus calls made to voters in 200 other ridings that Elections Canada has since completely lost any further interest in.
Also, Prescott says he did not *remember* Sona toasting "Pierre" until April 2014!

Also new and newish :
In Nov. 2011, RackNine CEO Matt Meier gave Prescott a heads up that Elections Canada Al Mathews was looking at Prescott's calls re fake polling station info before Mathews contacted Prescott the same month.
In March 2012, Meier discovered the Poutine IP info and passed it on to EC Al Mathews; he also copied the same data to Con headquarters.  
Prescott's memory of events three years ago has improved a lot over the telling :"The more I thought about it the better my recollections," Prescott said.
Given the appalling quality of his self-absolving testimony, you have to wonder why Prescott was granted immunity. Possibly CPC did not much care for his statement about Nixon dirty tricks (see pic).

Con layer Arthur Hamilton's four pet Hill staffers/interns also testified that Sona bragged to them afterwards about being Poutine and masterminding the whole shebang. Aside from the odd dramatic account of sign-stealing car chases, their accounts contributed nothing that wasn't already public knowledge from the media over the last three years. All very *mostly* lone wolf tv bad boy.

And it's a wrap. Sona not testifying, nor key players Ken Morgan, out of the country; Arthur Hamilton, instumental in setting up the case against Sona; and the frequently mentioned Jenni Byrne, who restricted EC access to witnesses, etc etc.

Pic at top via Laura Stone at Global is "draft statement Prescott read in court when he thought he wouldn't be able to attend CPC convention" because his name was connected to Poutine robocalls .
Note reference to Nixon's CREEP* and "widespread, national, well-organized scheme" and "not the work of any lone staffer". Prescott clarified yesterday his statement refers to national scheme, not Guelph.

OK then.

*CREEP : Richard Nixon's Committee for the Re- Election of the President, of Watergate fame
.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is of, really no surprise to many Canadians.

Wright did aid, abet, cover-up and paid the bill for a Senator, of whom was stealing our tax dollars. The PMO had also *sanitized* Senators expense claims. So if, Wright can get away with that one, from the RCMP? It stands to reason, all of the so called Cons will get away with all of their crimes too. The RCMP don't exactly have a stellar image either.

Dave said...

There is a fear, a deep and abiding fear, that this country might somehow get swallowed by the filth of a person interested only in his own personal power.
Then we think NO, we are Canada! We actually believe in those things we were taught: the rights of the minority; the rule of law; a democratically free civil service.
We didn't ever believe that such a faith could be used against us.
And now, we're wondering where all those "entrenched" things went.

MyPetGloat said...

"former RCMP superintendent says he’s never seen the degree of political control over the Mounties that exists now, and says it “does not bode well” for an objective police investigation of the Senate expense scandal."

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/26/former-top-mountie-says-political-control-over-rcmp-doesnt-bode-well-for-senate-investigation/

Or any other investigation involving the Tories.

Tracey said...

The players involved from party HQ, were all involved along with PMO in Fantino by-election. I'm still of the belief I witnessed the makings of the rollout of robocalls winding up for the May 2012 general election. From the missing invoices for teletownhall, other calls, transfers loans from EDA/campaign to other ridings, to the red goateed male in the back room with PMO staff running CIMS...also sitting on comment sections of newspapers. The link to the a Vaughan affidavits. Mine is the last one, and deals with inside the campaign http://tcnanonftp.tcn.net/Affidavit_of_Liddy_Lorello_Kent.pdf

the salamander said...

.. how has Arthur Hamilton avoided attention in this trial. He was a primary figure in Elections Canada communication re fraudulent calls prior to and during the election. He spoke with and emailed essentially every Guelph campaign worker inc Sona, Prescott & Ken Morgan + the candidate, plus Jenni Byrne, plus Matt Meier among others.

The Crown witnesses became very familiar with Hamilton, especially during interviews with Election Canada investigators. How could this not be pertinent, especially as it was he who requested some of the interviews not be recorded !!

Why wasn't Matt Meier asked if he ever met Michael Sona or Prescott or Morgan in person. Why not confirm that he was present during Fantino's campaigns & worked with Stephen Lecce, utilizing CIMS and shared space with all those campaign workers.

What was with the astounding coincidence of so many campaign workers, in so many ridings.. all self proclaimed christian evangelicals, monarchists.. rabid partisans and anti abortion activists?

Examining the roster of Harper Party campaign workers across Canada, that worked at riding level will likely reveal a massive religious percentage. Cross referencing even further would likely reveal that of the 247 ridings experiencing & reporting electoral fraud, all were permeated by evangelical zealots just like Guelph. The witness Hicks is a great example of this.. and a former PMO hire.

Anonymous said...

It's too bad the Sixth Estate blog is gone. Any idea what happened there? The twitter handle has been silent for more than a year, too.

I wonder if someone save all that info on robocalls that Sixth Estate had.

Holly Stick

thwap said...

These are people with power and money, who are paid to think full-time about how to save their corrupt skins.

Luckily for them, the entire system is corrupt. All our watch-dogs are full of partisan hacks and bought-and-paid-for flunkies.

Anonymous said...

I have to go back to yesterday's CBC reporting to find the Harper clips where he is first heard speaking of Putin's exclusion from the G7 talks but I distinctly heard him pronouncing Putin with a heavy inflection on the first syllable and the 'tin' pronounced 'teen'.

Later in the day I heard the same clip, although apparently UNedited, where he says the name Putin with the inflection on the second syllable, still pronounced 'teen' but = Poutine. The clip was not repeated in later broadcasts.

And then today, we hear our fearless leader acclaims the fallen heroes of D-Day and rejoices in the following "70 year of peace"!!!!

I think the latter quote is far more insidious and indicative of the extent to which Harper will go to rewrite history to serve his masters' interests.

~the waterbaby

Unknown said...

The CPC believes they are above the law because right now they make the law.

Elections Canada and the RCMP (royal con mounted procrastinators) have stooped so low to be enablers of the worst criminal regime harper and assorted delinquents.

Alison said...

Anon@8:10 and Gloat : Re RCMP : this is just astounding:
"RCMP investigators likely decided not to lay charges against former PMO chief of staff Nigel Wright over the $90,000 he personally gave former Conservative Senator Mike Duffy to repay Senate housing expenses because of evidence that would have given Mr. Wright grounds to say he believed he had Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s consent to make the payment, a former House of Commons law clerk says."

Dave : Wonderful to hear from you, o my captain.
Yes, Steve has been gradually accruing power to his own Politburu to reconfigure those "entrenched" things. We are indeed in deep shit here.

Tracey : Thanks for that and again for your courage in initially bringing it to light. Have read. Time to look at it again.

Salamander : All excellent questions. Charging Sona is the stopper preventing any further genies from escaping from the bottle.
Notable that Prescott cited his christianity as the reason why he could not have perpetrated a fraud like Poutine, yet when faced with stories of dirty tricks against Valeriote, explained that was different because he did not respect Valeriote.

Hamilton's witness Dockstaeder quite the poster girl for National House of Prayer.
"The experience is like becoming a part of a family. We did chores around the house, we had classes in the morning, we had prayer times, and then in the afternoons we would also volunteer - we would volunteer in MP's offices, go to receptions, meet MPs, meet senators. The inpact of NHOP was honestly life-changing. I discovered God in ways that I hadn't before. I was really excited to see how your prayer life and your interest in politics could really meld together and really work together really well."

Holly Stick : Really miss his invaluable research. I've sent emails out into the ether - no reply.

Thwap : So I guess you weren't thrilled to hear Mayrand fine with Fair Elections Act now apparently, despite the unlikelihood the Senate will be making any amendments before passing it and Cote still not able to compel witness testimony.

Waterbaby : Heard that! and people making fun of it. Guess Poutine was on his mind. Yes, we have always never been at war with Eastasia.

Mogs : Did you read this ?

Unknown said...

Alison,

Thanks for the link. It gets creepier and creepier by the day but it is being exposed.

This is my favorite quote of this day:

"...Clinton, of course, is no different than your garden variety Republican, including the any number of neocons. All of them are propped up by the military-industrial-intelligence complex and the banksters who run the show and who laughingly pretend we all live in a pluralistic democracy. Of course, anybody who has more than two brain cells to rub together and is not in serious denial knows we live in an authoritarian plutocracy run for the sake of a small clique of mega-rich and powerful global internationalists..."

Apparently some of us still have more than two brain cells to rub together and are not in serious denial.

Above quote from:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/hillary-clinton-warmonger-for-the-bankster-elite/5385878

I am reading the rabble article now and well umm a quote:

"...The big problem here, even for me, is our collective capacity for denial..."

Thank-you J. Baglow for the above quote.

Denial is not a river in Africa as I've learned.

Unknown said...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-fourteen-defining-characteristics-of-fascism/5386112

e.a.f. said...

All of this is very interesting. However, we can all go to sleep. Nothing is going to happen, except 1 person maybe found guilty.

This is not going to be the news Watergate was because Watergate had national news coverage. This isn't going to have that. The MSM simply won't do anything really important with the information. Their masters don't want it out and about. Unlike Watergate, where there were two journalists, who were following the story and had a prominent newspaper behind them, this is not happening in Canada. Now go back to sleep, nothing happening here.

Harper and his herd will be re-elected in 2015 and all will be well in the new dictatorship, known as Canada, a province of China.

Unknown said...

Perhaps you are right e.a.f. but I am guessing you are a bigger cynic than me.

A province of RED China?

We already provincial slaves of the harper Imperium? Why?

Anonymous said...

eaf:
Unlike Watergate, where there were two journalists, who were following the story and had a prominent newspaper behind them, this is not happening in Canada

Glen Mcgregor at the Citizen, Stephen Maher at the Post, Laura Payton at CBC, Maher news segment on CTV - I don't think we can blame lack of MSM on this. Lots of coverage - no trending on twitter. No, it's the people who don't give a toss.

Anonymous said...

Eight years of blogging, Alison - a complete waste of your time.

Boris said...

Anon, no, not a waste. This blog is an important part of the record of what is transpiring in Canada. The links between the various nefarious characters are all established here. The readership of this blog is wide and includes academics, activists, politicians, mainstrean media, and so on.

You are right, I think, in that there's apathy among the public, but I think it's more a boiling frog kind of thing. Harper's policies are starting to hit people's kids and grandkids in the gut. The young generation who has to live with whatever the old bitter white men leave behind them as they shuffle off. This is the generation that has grown up being taught about human rights, climate change, the tar sands, democracy, and so on. They are used to a degree of communication, access to knowledge, freedom, individuality, and non-conformity that we as civilisation have never seen, ever. They are acutely aware of efforts to undo this, mistrust the political system, and generally ignore any rule that impacts their ability to be themselves - it's wonderful. The feedbacks that lead to the end of the Cons and the beginning of something else are built into the system. Yes, people are in state of shock and daze, but even overseas where I am, people are beginning to notice that something has gone very wrong in Canada. The seas will keep rising.

Boris said...

People's lack of engagement with politics could be read as sign we've outgrown politics as we know it.

Unknown said...

@Anonymous Anonymous said...
Eight years of blogging, Alison - a complete waste of your time.

8/6/14 10:11 pm

I stand by Alison anon she is a much better journalist than the for hire paper media presstitutes (not my invention of an English language new word) her research is beyond reproach.

If you do not like it you may leave at anytime in the near future. Not one soul is forcing you to stick around.

Me myself and I keep coming back here because it keeps me informed.

Alison you are not wasting your time. Keep up the wonderful journalism.

Alison said...

Mogs : You are most kind but I don't mind in the least being just a blogger using paid journalists' work as a jumping off point to connect some dots or dig a little deeper into some aspect or other - couldn't do it without them. I do think it's a loss in public information that the way the biz end of media is set up results in rejection of blogs/info found in blogs though. I look at a piece of research like this and think - Really? Not a single journo thinks this is worth mentioning?

Boris : People's lack of engagement with politics could be read as sign we've outgrown politics as we know it.

Agreed. Party politics, the backroom boyos, and FPTP have choked off any chance of real movement.

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