Campaign walks away from staffer’s attack on reporter
The campaign for the Progressive Conservative candidate in Niagara Falls is walking away from accusations made by a staffer that a St. Catharines Standard journalist is an agent of the New Democratic Party.
Morna Dalton, campaign manager for Chuck McShane, said the comments made on Twitter by her assistant Nicholas Tibollo claiming Standard reporter Allan Benner is a “PR person” for the NDP do not reflect the position of the campaign.
“That is not a position that I have ever heard McShane take, and it is not my view,” said Dalton. “Those comments were made on (Tibollo’s) personal Twitter.”
On Friday, following a story written by Benner about McShane standing by his comments that Fort Erie Race Track is on “life-support,” Tibollo took to Twitter to attack the longtime journalist.
“Mr. @abenner1, are you an impartial reporter or a PR person working for the @OntarioNDP? Because, you allege to be the former, but operate as the latter,” wrote Tibollo, who also said the story was biased and used “evocative, bellicose words while describing McShane’s comments.”
Standard reporters do not work for political parties.
The story included comments from McShane’s NDP opponent Wayne Gates, racetrack chief executive Jim Thibert and Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop who called McShane’s comments “inflammatory” and “inaccurate.”
It also included a rebuttal from McShane, who said his position is being twisted by negative political spin.
In response to questions on Twitter from The Standard, Tibollo confirmed that he is part of the McShane campaign and that he was accusing Benner of being a partisan PR agent.
Asked if his view was shared by the campaign, Tibollo did not reply.
Dalton, however, said it is not the position of the campaign and said Tibollo was “asking a question” on his personal account.
Although Tibollo recently removed his job title as Dalton’s assistant from his Twitter bio, he told a Twitter user he wasn’t hiding anything and pointed to McShane’s website listed in the bio.
Although Tibollo openly identifies himself as part of the McShane team, Dalton said he does not speak for the campaign.
“You’ll know its official if it comes from my Twitter account,” Dalton said.