John Reynolds wants Paul Martin to dump Chris Axworthy.

Reynolds is the national Conservative election chair, Paul Martin is still the Liberal leader and Chris Axworthy is a liberal candidate who is probably wishing he’d never heard of a guy named as an accusatory caller to a debate phone in show who has disappeared.

Most local campaigns don’t blow up like this.  Shaw Cable ran the all candidates meeting for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin live this past week. A caller subsequently identified by the Conservatives can’t be located. The media can’t find him for a statement, although he was quite chatty when he made the call from the liberal campaign office.

Where the call came from is not in dispute. The name the caller gave isn’t in dispute.  Now security is a bit tighter at the campaign office, a sign in sheet is required and liberal workers are paying a bit more attention to who comes and goes. Tightening traffic in a campaign office this late in the election is a bit like locking the barn door after the horse is gone.

Richard Maksymetz, a campaign worker in Axworthy’s office, confirmed Friday the man named in Hengen’s affidavit is a volunteer who was in the campaign office on Monday night, but said he’s not a regular visitor.

“I’ve been here most days and I’ve seen him in here maybe three times in the past 50-some days,” Maksymetz said.

There were 12 office phone lines in use at the time of the call-in show, and as many as 40 people were in and out of the office that night, Maksymetz added.

“We’re certainly wanting to make sure that we do find out who that was. We had lots of people here and we’ve spoken to as many of those people as we can,” Axworthy said. “(Paul) Martin was in town and a number of people came back to the office and we don’t know the names of all those people, so we’re trying to track them down, but it’s not very easy to do.”

The man in question denies making the defamatory call, “and that’s all I can go on. I don’t have any reason not to believe him, so I do believe him,” Axworthy said. “If we tracked down everybody (and they all denied making the call), that’s all we can go on.”

Axworthy said he does not have any new contact information for the man named in Hengen’s affidavit. His campaign office now has a sign-in sheet for visitors so his team knows who has been there, he added.

Most campaigns are fueled by the work of volunteers, and I have to question the wisdom of the Conservative Party chair asking that Axworthy be dumped two days before the election.
Given the speed information is disseminated these days, this may wind up being a case study for campaign managers.
It’s politics to tar and feather everyone within radius, but the person who made the call is the one that should be held responsible first.

There is no indication the liberal candidate or his workers had a clue what this guy was up to. They may be faulted for poor security, they may be faulted for not paying attention. Liberals in Saskatoon-Wanuskewin are feeling the backlash of what this man did. Making that call was so stunningly stupid it beggars belief. If this caller actually believed he was helping the liberal candidate, he needs psychological help.  It’s fashionable to bash Liberals the final few days, (I don’t doubt they’ll be on the other side of the house by Tuesday) and incumbent Maurice Vellacott is a master at it; he was publicly falsely accused and he is making his hay.

Given Axworthy has provincial experience as a justice minister and given this is his second kick at the federal can, I question whether he or his staff would conscience something this patently stupid in a tough election. The Liberals and the media have not released the callers name because no charges have been filed as yet. They don’t have to, the Conservatives have been all over it.

There are always more than two sides to a story.

“The Liberal campaign was caught making false allegations, and now appears to be caught in a coverup,” Conservative party campaign chair John Reynolds said in a Friday press release.

“Mr. Axworthy had a chance to come clean and instead chose to deny any involvement. Paul Martin should take immediate action to remove his party’s support from Mr. Axworthy,” Reynolds said.

Maybe it isn’t ‘denial’ or a ‘coverup’. Maybe Axworthy and his workers had nothing to do with this individuals choice and are just as sideswiped as Vellacott was.
What does ‘coming clean’ mean?

Hard to know, and with all the racket, truth may take second place. The NDP , The Christian Heritage Party,  and The Green Party are quiet about this incident. The vote out Vellacott site is  loading some of the time as people take time to look at the players and what has happened. 

The man lied on air, it’s ‘plausible’ he lied to Axworthy’s face. And I suspect Axworthy knows that by now, but he isn’t breaking a law by not releasing the name of an accused person. The caller is facing possible charges, his name is all over conservative blogs and he has taken off, leaving his mess behind him.

Update: Sunday January 22nd: According to The Wayward Reporter, Maurice Vellacott has said he will proceed with a defamation lawsuit against the operator of the website mentioned above - Vote out Vellacott