Party insider behind leak used in ‘Scud Stud’ article

A prominent lawyer says she made a mistake when she leaked damaging information about a former television journalist running for office and that she was “physically ill” when she saw the resulting news article.

“I was dreadfully embarrassed I allowed myself to participate in it,” said Kristine Robidoux, who was asked in court Wednesday why she shared information and private emails about candidate Arthur Kent with columnist Don Martin.

“That’s a question I’ve asked myself every day for eight years.”

Kent, 61, alleges Postmedia, the National Post and Martin defamed him when he was campaigning to win the constituency of Calgary Currie for the Progressive Conservatives in the 2008 Alberta election.

He lost the vote and filed a lawsuit that has taken seven years to get to trial.

Postmedia denies the accusations and argues it was practising responsible journalism. Lawyer Scott Watson used his opening statement to emphasize the media’s role in informing voters about candidates’ policies and actions.

Martin’s piece ran under the headline “Alberta’s ‘Scud Stud’ a ‘Dud’ on Campaign Trail.” Kent was known as the Scud Stud from his days reporting on the Gulf War for NBC.

Robidoux, who worked on Kent’s campaign, was suspended for four months by the Law Society of Alberta in May 2014 for disclosing confidential information about him.

She testified Wednesday that Martin told her he heard Kent’s campaign was “imploding” and that the party and then-leader Ed Stelmach were losing control of their candidates.

She said she shared private emails with Martin, which included complaints between the Tory campaign chairman and party brass expressing concerns about Kent not abiding by the rules.

Robidoux said she co-operated with Martin because she feared he would write a negative story about the party and Stelmach. She said she believed her comments were

After the article, several volunteers quit and I would say the reason was this article ... it became more difficult to recruit.

off the record. She was not named in the article.

The column painted a picture of the Kent campaign in disarray. It said Kent was not co-operating with the party and that a number of key campaign members were threatening to quit. Martin wrote that unnamed senior campaign strategists had never seen a candidate “so self-absorbed he has mocked the party for failing to treat him with the desired level of reverence.”

“I was shocked,” Robidoux said about her reaction. “I was physically ill over it. I was appalled.

“It was extremely negative. It seemed a little mean. The worst thing was having to acknowledge my role. I just felt awful.”

It was a major blow behind the scenes to Kent’s campaign, testified volunteer Bart Nicholls.

“After the article, several volunteers quit and I would say the reason for it was this article and it became more difficult to recruit,” he testified.