Hamilton PC activist and top strategist charged in break-in
Warry-Poljanski ran for Ward 7 trustee
— Hamilton PC activist Sarah Warry-Poljanski and high-profile political strategist Nick Kouvalis are facing break and enter charges after allegedly being found intoxicated inside a Kelseys in the middle of the night this past fall, police confirm.
At 2 a.m. on Sept. 26 in Burlington, police were alerted to the restaurant after the alarm went off, and they discovered two people drinking inside.
Halton Regional Police Const. Colin MacLeod said when police entered, the two “were ordered onto the ground.”
There was “very minimal damage,” to the Kelseys itself, and MacLeod said although he couldn’t recall the exact manner of the breakin, it was “either doors left open or forced entry from pulling on the door.”
Only hours before on Sept. 25, activist Warry-Poljanski had lost the provincial Conservative nomination for Hamilton Mountain to businesswoman Esther Pauls. Kouvalis, 42, and Warry-Poljanski, 34, are both facing charges.
The exact nature of Kouvalis and Warry-Poljanski’s relationship is not known. Reached by the Toronto Star, Kouvalis directed questions to his lawyer, Dirk Derstine, who said he is “unable to comment about the nature of their relationship on that particular day.”
Kouvalis and Warry-Poljanski appeared in court in October. Derstine said they are meeting with the Crown in the new year and hope to have the case resolved.
“(Kouvalis) does not deny being at the bar that night, but he does deny absolutely having any criminal intent whatsoever in his actions on that night,” Derstine said.
Kouvalis is known as the man behind Rob Ford’s initial rise to power and prominence in the 2010 Toronto mayoral election. He has worked with candidates at many levels of government, and also was chief strategist for John Tory when he secured victory over Doug Ford in 2014.
Warry-Poljanski, who announced in May she would seek the Hamilton Mountain nomination, is an addictions counsellor. She has campaigned against school closures, rising hydro rates and against the Liberal government plan to privatize Hydro One. She ran for public school board trustee in Ward 7 in 2014 but the seat was won by Dawn Danko.
She founded and currently is the chair of the Balfour-Hill Park Neighbourhood Association and sits on the board of directors at The Society for Quality Education.
Warry-Poljanski’s lawyer Peter Boushy of Hamilton told The Globe and Mail he hoped the case can be resolved through talks with the Crown and that, “It is important to remember that Sarah is presumed innocent and that there was no criminal intent.”
Kouvalis stepped down as federal Conservative Kellie Leitch’s campaign manager in February of this year after comments on Twitter where he called a Leitch critic a “cuck,” which is short for “cuckold.” The term is used frequently by white nationalists and members of the alt-right. He admitted in a 2017 Macleans interview that he had invented a 2016 tweet that falsely listed “billions” of dollars he claimed Trudeau’s Liberal government had supposedly given to international aid organizations in the previous year, including $351 million for the designated terrorist group Hamas.
He made it up “to make the left go nuts,” he said.
This is not the first time that Kouvalis — who has been open about his issues with alcohol addiction — has found himself in trouble with the police. He pleaded guilty to drunk driving charges in May of 2016 and had to pay a $1,690 fine.
Earlier this year, Tory did not rule out working with Kouvalis again in his 2018 bid to remain in office, but said he wanted to “give him a chance to deal with his personal issues.”