An unprecedented election scandal is unfolding in Winnipeg while the self-proclaimed Democracy boosters in the mainstream media are purposely ignoring it.
At least eight people have now come forward to election authorities saying they heard Mynarski candidate Ross Eadie tell an all-candidates forum that the provincial NDP are helping to fund his campaign.
Another two attendees at the meeting have posted these internet messages on the New Winnipeg community forum confirming Eadie's public statement:
Re: 2010 Winnipeg Civic Election
by Northender on Fri Oct 01, 2010 10:04 am
I was there. The context was Eadie taking a swipe at the three independent candidates to his left who had just completed their remarks. Eadie seemed out of control and was yelling that they were just as political as he was, but how could he run a campaign without the financial backing of the NDP and after he was elected he would be just as independent as the rest of the candidates...
Re: 2010 Winnipeg Civic Election
by CanadaIsDying on Fri Oct 01, 2010 12:39 pm
...
You see, I think saying that he yelled the whole time is a tasteless misdirection. Eadie is blind, nobody needs to berate this fact and during his turn in discussion he wasn't always able to align himself with the microphone. So - yes - sometimes he chose to just forgo the mic and stand up and address the crowd. Which was fine by me. His performance during the forum was ugly, but he wasn't in a state of absolute flailing lunacy.
snip
I'll also confirm that Ross did implicate NDP support. Potentially accidentally, but I'll wait on that.
Accepting financial support from a political party is illegal under the Municipal Conflict of Interest and Campaign Financing Act which bans financial contributions from unions, organizations and political parties. Only individuals can "make a contribution to a registered candidate."
But despite this flood of witnesses to an NDP candidate's confession of an NDP campaign to subvert the civic election, Winnipeg's Senior Election Official Marc Lemoine is doing absolutely nothing.
Instead of launching an investigation when memories are fresh, Lemoine has told one complainant he'll wait until after the election to decide what, if anything, to do. One upset voter called him the day after the meeting and hadn't even received a callback after more than a week.
The Point Douglas Residents Committee is known to have made the only recording of the candidates forum, but the tape's whereabouts are unknown. Would it be surprising to find out that the recording has, ahem, disappeared or been tampered with? The PDRA has let its support for Eadie be a poorly-kept secret.
Meanwhile, Lemoine, the man in charge of enforcing the law, has chosen to sit quietly on the sidelines while the law is allegedly being broken right under his nose. The electorate is owed an explanation why.
This wouldn't be the first time the provincial NDP has resorted to cheating in an election, and covering it up with the help of a top election official. In 1999 the party engaged in an organized scheme to defraud the public treasury of $76,000 in unwarranted rebates.
( Here's how it worked: unions supplied election workers for NDP candidates; the NDP covered their regular salaries but the unions kicked back the same sums as a "donation", the NDP then filed campaign finance statements claiming the union workers as paid help for which they would get rebates from the public purse.)
When an auditor eventually uncovered the scheme, the NDP attacked him and demanded he be removed from the file. Then, after stalling for almost 3 years, they made a secret deal with Richard Balasko, the head of Elections Manitoba, to cover up the scheme provided they simply repaid the money they hadn't been entitled to receive.
The kicker was that the NDP had been doing this for years before they got caught. The hundreds of thousands of dollars in rebated funds went into an election kitty that could be tapped to provide untraceable financing for future elections.
When an NDP insider revealed the rebate fraud scheme in 2009, the public learned that current NDP leader Greg Selinger, the dirtiest politician in Manitoba, had been part of the coverup for years.
In the Legislature, then NDP leader Gary Doer and Crazy Dave Chomiak, when he wasn't stupified on tranquilizers, dismissed the 1999 election fraud by declaring they deserved credit for ensuring nothing like it could happen again because they passed---wait for it---the provincial Conflict of Interest and Campaign Financing Act, the exact law they're accused of subverting in the Winnipeg civic election.
Today, as it turns out, is an excellent day to measure the bias of the local news media.
River Heights incumbent John Orlikow is accusing the provincial Conservative Party of interfering in the election in his ward against him.
Let's see how the CJOB, Winnipeg Free Press, the Winnipeg Sun and CBC cover Orlikow's allegations --- and compare that with how they covered Ross Eadie's confession.