Judge lifts ID ban on robocalls witnesses
Names of six Tory staffers who allege Sona bragged of involvement in scandal are released
An Ontario court judge has lifted an order that prevented publication of the names of six Conservative party political staffers who alleged that former campaign worker Michael Sona claimed credit for the Guelph robocalls in the 2011 election.
At the request of the Ottawa Citizen, supported by two other media organizations, Judge Celynne Dorval agreed to remove the ban that was placed on a sworn statement filed in May by Elections Canada investigator Allan Mathews.
The statement, called an Information to Obtain a production order (ITO), detailed interviews Mathews conducted with the six staff, who had all worked for Conservative MPs or senators, in March 2012 — after the robocalls story broke.
The Crown had claimed the witnesses were concerned that they could lose their jobs if their names were publicized in connection with the politically charged robocalls case.
Dorval said while she agreed there is a need to protect the privacy of witnesses, there was no evidence they were concerned about their employment or, as the Crown had also claimed, of harassment.
There is a real risk that witnesses will be deterred from coming forward because of publicity, Dorval said, but that isn’t sufficient to support a ban.
“This is true of any investigation into significant offences, but the fear of publicity is not isolated to the pretrial process but to the entire process, including the trial,” she wrote.
She noted that the names of the witnesses would be revealed should the case against Sona to go to trial.
After Dorval’s decision was handed down Friday morning, Ottawa Citizen lawyer Richard Dearden — who conducted the cross-examination of Mathews in Wednesday’s hearing before Dorval — said “the publication of the allegations made by the six Conservative Party staffers shines light on the issue of the independence of this investigation which is a matter of public interest.”
In these interviews, Mathews said the witnesses described conversations they had with Sona in the weeks after the 2011 election about automated calls that directed voters to the wrong polling locations.
According to the witnesses, Sona admitted participation in a scheme that sounded remarkably similar to media reports about the Guelph robocall, which investigators had traced to someone using pseudonym “Pierre Poutine.”
The staffers named in the ITO are:
❚ Rebecca Dockstaeder: Worked for Conservative MPs Chris Warkentin and Rod Bruinooge. She now uses her married name, Rebecca Carleton.
❚ John Schudlo: Currently works as a special assistant to Warkentin.
❚ Mitchell Messom: Worked for Conservative MPs Rob Moore, Steven Fletcher and Conservative Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen. He now lives in Nova Scotia.
❚ Tyler Barker: Worked for Stewart Olsen
❚ Benjamin Hicks: Worked in the Prime Minister’s Office but had left Ottawa when he was interviewed by Mathews. Now lives in New Brunswick.
❚ Conrad Johnson: Worked for late Conservative Sen. Doug Finley and, later, as assistant at the Ottawa office of law firm Fasken Martineau with former PMO chief of staff Guy Giorno.
Sona was director of communication on the unsuccessful campaign of Guelph Conservative candidate Marty Burke. He is the only person charged in the robocalls case and faces up to five years in prison if convicted on the Elections Act offence.
Sona has denied involvement in the calls and claims he has been scapegoated by the Conservative Party.
Of the witnesses, Dockstaeder provided the most damning allegations against Sona.
She told Mathews about a closed-door conversation with Sona in which he allegedly described “what sounded very, very similar to the story that we’d been hearing about these robocalls. He went on to talk about how he had been involved in these robocalls,” according to the ITO.
Dockstaeder also said Sona told her and a colleague that he paid in cash for a disposable phone and a Visa gift card, then obtained a list of phone numbers of Liberal voters from a friend who owed him a favour, the ITO says.
Sona “then recorded a message impersonating Elections Canada,” Dockstaeder told investigators.
The scheme was part of a “juvenile competition” with the Liberal campaign in Guelph, Dockstaeder said, according to the ITO.
“And according to what Mike told us, he understood this was going to be his way of one-upping them or kind of having the last say.”
Under cross examination this week by Dearden, Mathews said that he was contacted by Conservative Party lawyer Arthur Hamilton and told that Dockstaeder, Schudlo and Messom might have information relevant to his investigation.
Hamilton was present for all the interviews with five of the witnesses. Hicks provided his information through a written statement.
Hicks also referred Mathews to Tyler Barker, who agreed to the interview only after talking to Hamilton.
“He seemed to be reluctant to be interviewed,” Mathews testified.
“I contacted Mr. Hamilton to see if he could assist in persuading Mr. Barker to be interviewed.”
Hamilton also helped Johnson during his interview by reading aloud responses he typed into a computer. Johnson has cerebral palsy and cannot speak — a detail that could not be reported earlier because it could identify him, in violation of the publication ban.
The original publication ban on the ITO has been varied twice with consent of both the Crown and defence, to allow publication of all the details save for the names of the witnesses.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Global News also participated in the legal proceedings to rescind the publication ban.
Sona tweeted his response to Dorval’s decision Friday, saying, “It’s what I’ve been having to deal w for last year. And now they’re exposed to the same public scrutiny.”
One Twitter message he directed at Croft Michaelson, the federal Crown responsible for his case.
“You lost today, Prosecutor. Better get used to it.”
He also tweeted a link to a music video of the song Nightmare by metal group Avenged Sevenfold, with the message, “John Schudlo, Becky Docksteadder, Mitch Messom, Ben Hicks, Conrad Johnson... next 6 months should be fun.”
Sona’s trial is scheduled for June 2014.