pcpo Archives - Page 2 of 3

Hudak and Elliott campaigns protest party decision on London debate

I received news this evening that the PC Party had moved to prohibit recording devices from a leaders debate to occur today in London. I’ve verified with a reporter covering the race that this indeed was the case. The Elliott and Hudak campaigns were quick to protest the decision. Here are their emails (forwarded to me by the respective campaigns).

The Elliott campaign,

Dear, Christine, Janet, Michael and Tom:

It has recently been brought to my attention that the Party intends to restrict journalists from recording video or audio of the upcoming debates.

On behalf of the Christine Elliott Campaign, I would like to express my sincere disappointment with this decision. It is not in the best interests of the public or the P.C. Party of Ontario to impede journalists from carrying out their responsibilities. We ought to be showcasing the great ideas and individuals in this contest.

There are several problems with this decision. For one, why would we want to deny party members who can’t attend the debates from getting information through their local media outlet? Additionally, by restricting video and audio coverage of these debates we are missing the opportunity to promote the P.C. Party, our values and our principles.

I would ask you to seriously reconsider your position on this as I believe that it will be detrimental, not only to the leadership campaign, but to the P.C. Party overall. I don’t believe this is the message we want to be sending to our friends in the media or to the public at large.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Dan Miles
Communications Co-Chair
Christine Elliott Campaign

and the Hudak campaign,

From: Lesley Harmer
Sent: Wed 5/20/2009 5:14 PM
To: RBenzie@thestar.ca; John.McGrath@cbc.ca; antonella.artuso@sunmedia.ca; KHowlett@globeandmail.com; SMallen@GlobalTV.Com; rrath@chchnews.ca; rrath@chtv.ca
Cc: Jeremy Adams; Mike Low
Subject: Ontario PC Party London Debate

Please note, it came to our attention this morning that the party would not allow recording devices during the debate tomorrow. We do not support this decision. Our official agent is conveying that to the PC party of Ontario. We believe the media should have open access to the debates.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Lesley

Lesley Harmer
Tim Hudak Campaign

Finally, I’ve heard that the party will go ahead and allow reporters to use recording devices during the debate.

UPDATE: This is confirmed. Here is the media advisory from the party.

From: Wilson, Michael J.
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 10:34 AM
To: Wilson, Michael J. [PCPO]
Subject: Media Advisory: Ontario PC Party London Debate * Update

**Important notice to the media, revised debate protocol
Camera and recording equipment allowed

ONTARIO PC LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES KICK-OFF DEBATES IN LONDON

Toronto, ON- Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leadership Candidates will be available to speak to the media following the first in a series of provincial debates.

Date:
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Time:
6:00 p.m.: Media registration
7:30 p.m.: Debate begins

10 minutes following the end of the Debate: Candidate media availability

Location:
University of Western Ontario
Arthur & Sonia Labatt Health Sciences Building
Room 40
Huron Drive
N6A 5B9

Candidate Media Availability to follow in HSB 9 (Room Location)

Note: Only accredited media and those holding debate tickets will be permitted to attend the event.

Debate speaking order will be as follows:

Opening Remarks:
1. Randy Hillier
2. Christine Elliott
3. Frank Klees
4. Tim Hudak

Closing Remarks:
1. Frank Klees
2. Tim Hudak
3. Randy Hillier
4. Christine Elliott

Media Availability order will be as follows: (5 minutes each)
1. Randy Hillier
2. Christine Elliott
3. Tim Hudak
4. Frank Klees

-30-

Hudak memberships in question?

The story broke on PerezHudak.com earlier today. It is rumoured that the Hudak campaign filed a number of their membership 1.5 hours late of the deadline.

I’m hearing that the Tim Hudak campaign has failed to meet a deadline for submitting some of their paperwork, and as a result many of their memberships may be in jeopardy:

As you probably know the deadline to submit actual membership forms with signatures was today for the leadership campaigns – an electronic list was submitted last thursday to the party by campaigns.

Apparently Team Hudak submitted their forms 1.5 hrs late today and could result in all their sales being disqualified.

Rumour is that the Christine Elliott campaign is pushing to have these members struck from the list of eligible voters for the leadership election. The Leadership Election Committee is meeting tonight to consider the matter.

I’ve learned that about 5,000 memberships may be in questions. This was confirmed to me by sources close to both the Elliott and Klees campaigns.

Yet, where the story differs, and where it may have instead developed, is in the Elliott campaign reaction. I received this from the Elliott campaign addressed to the Party.

Dear Committee,

It has come to our attention that there has been a breach of Section 5 (b) of Guideline No. 2 issued pursuant to the 2009 Leadership Election Rules (the “Rules”) by other leadership campaigns. This is an unfortunate violation of a very clear set of rules.

The Leadership Elections Committee has a tough decision ahead of them regarding any reprimands it may levy, but the position of the Christine Elliott Campaign is that all members, who signed up in good faith to vote in this Leadership, should be given that right to vote, regardless of any error made by these campaigns.

This leadership race is an excellent chance to showcase the very best of the Ontario PC Party and it is in that spirit that we strongly urge you to permit these members to vote, even if they were invalidated by campaign error.

In the interest of fairness, let them vote.

Sincerely,
Andrew Boddington

Andrew G. Boddington
Christine Elliott Campaign

This is either a sportsmanlike gesture from the Elliott campaign or an attempt to bring more attention to the issue and flesh it out within the news cycle.

UPDATE: I’ve heard that Elliott’s campaign lobbied the Leadership Election Committee all day to toss the Hudak memberships, but when they received a “definitive no”, that’s when the strategy changed to put out a statement supporting the memberships in question.

UPDATE: I’ve received formal communication from the Hudak campaign explaining what went wrong,

Regarding your story posted tonight, the issue in question requires an important clarification.

All memberships were submitted as per the established Party Rules before the required cutoff. Any member who signed up before 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 14 is entitled to vote next month.

This is simply an administrative issue. Because of the large number of memberships submitted to our campaign, we asked that an extension to file supporting documentation be granted to all campaigns more than 48 hours in advance of the deadline. We had no indication from anyone at the party that this request for an extension would be refused. The party failed to respond to our request until after the deadline, upon which we immediately filed all supporting documentation.

All memberships submitted by our campaign are valid.

Jeremy Adams
Communications Chair,
Tim Hudak Campaign

Frank Klees interview

Frank Klees is running for the leadership of the PC Party of Ontario and took some time to chat with me today about what his bid means and where Ontario needs to go given the tough economic times and new taxation structure being implemented by Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty. Frank also discusses specific policy measures that he would or would not implement.