Wednesday, April 09, 2014

The Voter Suppression Projection.

HelpingPeopleVoteIsNotTheSameThingAsStoppingThemFrom
VotingVille


Exasperated, the fastest thumbs on parliament hill punched out the following last
weekend:




Which resulted in a certain member of a certain highly venerated flack-hackery triumvirate to respond thusly:



And thusly.


And thusly.



Now.

Firstly, we all remember which pol. Mr. Boessenkool last worked for before he was let go in the wake of a 'paperless' investigation.

But some may have forgotten what the good Mr. B. did before that.

Here is a quick summary which I have taken directly from the website of that highly venerated flack-hackery triumvirate mentioned above:

...Mr. Boessenkool has played senior roles in three national election campaigns for the Harper Conservatives...


OK.

So.

With that in mind, let's go back to where we first met a fine fellow named Michael Sona who was a low level Harper Conservative operative in the pre-Poutine run-up to the 2011 election:


Mr. Michael Sona is the communications director for the campaign of Conservative Coalition candidate Marty Burke in Guelph Ontario.

He was also, according to a number of eyewitnesses, present during the controversial confrontation on the University of Guelph campus last week.

The following is a report on that confrontation in the Guelph Mercury published yesterday April 16, 2010:

....Several students and a Liberal scrutineer present at the polling station allege Marty Burke’s director of communication, Michael Sona, attempted Wednesday to grab a ballot box in an effort to stop voting at the U of G polling station.


Sona and the Burke campaign team directed all requests for media comment about this episode to the Conservative Party of Canada national campaign.

In a news release issued Friday morning, the party “vehemently denies that any of its workers or volunteers interfered” at the polling station.

“In particular, the Marty Burke campaign denies that any of its workers or volunteers touched a ballot box or ballot,” read the release. “The outlandish and unfounded claims being spread on the internet are the product of desperation, and are most regrettable.”

Students Brenna Anstett and Claire Whalen both said Sona tried to grab the ballot box. Anstett was “100 per cent” sure it was Sona after she identified him in a group photo provided by the Guelph Mercury.
Sona is a former University of Guelph student and former member of the Guelph Campus Conservatives. He also founded the group’s Facebook page.
Conservative party spokesperson Ryan Sparrow, the official responding to media queries about the case, wouldn’t say if Sona had been on campus in connection with the episode....

And do you remember the Harper Conservatives' furious pushback, not against the actions of operatives such as Mr. Sona, but, instead,  against such voter enhancement initiatives, even those voter enhancement inititatives publicly supported by University presidents, because they are, apparently, terrible, awful, no-good things.

Now go up and have a quick re-read of Mr. Boessenkool's rapid fire tweets in response to Ms. O'Malley's exasperation.

Gosh.

Do you think it's possible for a political operative, even a 'senior' one, to rationalize just about any action as a justification for something they perceive to be a grave previous injustice?

Even if it is not?

A grave previous injustice, I mean.


.

4 comments:

James King, Victoria said...

Y'know Ross, I tried to tell Brian Kopp he was making a huge mistake getting into bed with Kool and Guy before the writ was dropped last spring.
I don't believe it was the only thing wrong with the campaign but it was a huge thing that hurt.

And, Brian, whom I'd supported in the leadership thingy, never even bothered to respond.

The party is in trouble and the country is in worse trouble unless there's a change soon.

Sorry to be negative on such a lovely morning.

James King, Victoria said...

Whoops I guess that transposition of Topp to Kopp is sort of Freudian, you think?

I think the meaning's still intact!

Anonymous said...

RossK: "HelpingPeopleVoteIsNotTheSameThingAsStoppingThemFrom
VotingVille"

SH: And just a little reminder -- that "helping" got really helpful when the Liberals "helped" the super-able vote at the Kelowna International special voter air transfer station.

... And of course, this had nothing to do at all, with laying the ground work for West Kelowna's sloppy seconds...

RossK said...

SH--

Point taken.

____

Thanks JK--

As you so well know, this was something that Ian Reid got into, with a vengeance, in the aftermath of the debacle last May.

.