[Section 15] In and out: Not just about moving money around

If you don't yet understand the Conservative In and Out scandal (where have you been?), go read Cherniak's In and Out in 30 Seconds, then come back.

Now, Aaron Wherry over at Macleans has been doing the thankless task of reading the entire search warrant, and typing up the interesting bits for us to read. Here's one of interest:

From page 50:

"I note, in reviewing one such ad (Appendix 9), that the official agent for Mr. Don Gillis, the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the electoral district of Cardigan (Prince Edward Island), is mentioned in the 'tag line' of the ad ... as having authorized media buy advertising. Mr. Gillis is not one of the 67 candidates identified as being part of the media buy. The Gillis campaign did not report to Elections Canada having financially participated in such advertising."

You see, if the media buy was not authorized by the local candidate, then the CPC can't argue that the media buy for that candidate was not for the central campaign, which is central to their argument.

From page 54:

"Based on the comments of Ms. Dixon (paragraph 75), I believe the alteration was carried out by the Conservative Fund Canada or the Conservative Party of Canada because it did not appear to conform to the appearance of the invoices issued by Retail Media to the Conservative Party of Canada or Conservative Fund Canada ... with respect to the purchase of media airtime during the 39th federal general election."

And from page 23:

"As an example of the invoices filed with Elections Canada, I showed the representatives of Retail Media an invoice in the amount of $39,999.91 (Appendix 23) filed by the candidate for the electoral district of York South-Weston, who was one of the 14 candidates (paragraph 37) contacted by Elections Canada for additional information subsequent to the filing of Candidate's Electoral Campaign Returns following the 39th federal general election. Upon viewing the document, which bears the letterhead of Retail Media, Ms. Dixon speculated that this invoice must have been altered or created by someone, because it did not conform to the appearance of the invoices sent by Retail Media to the Conservative Party of Canada with respect to the media buy."

From pages 55-56:

"Executives of Retail Media did not recognize the one invoice shown to them ... as coming from their company."

Do those read like developing allegations of forged invoices?

Now, this is just a search warrant, so we shouldn't make conclusions... except that there's a lot to wonder about here, which doesn't fit so neatly into the CPC's story that this was all aboveboard.

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Posted By Mark Francis to Section 15 at 4/21/2008 10:33:00 PM