This whole
Cadman controversy still generates a lot of unanswered questions.
One of the biggest ones is why did the Liberals hang onto this so-called 'million-dollar bribe' story for at least a year?
Paul Martin who wrote the forward,
(allegedly) had the manuscript in his hands since
Feb. 2007. If this was such an egregious offense, why didn't he
immediately contact the
RCMP?
Did the (alleged) leak come from Paul Martin who
may have
(allegedly) passed on the information to Liberal insiders? Or did it
(allegedly) come from some friends of the author?
(And who exactly were these friends? Anyone in MSM? Anyone in the LPC?)...White said Zytaruk sent versions of the manuscript to a few friends, as well as Paul Martin...
Stephen Maher suggests various scenarios as to what may have happened:
...The Liberals were entering laughingstock territory, so what a welcome surprise it must have been for them that night to tune in to The National to watch Peter Mansbridge report that Mr. Harper was being accused of trying to bribe Chuck Cadman into voting against Paul Martin’s 2005 budget.
Suddenly, the whole focus of the media pack in Ottawa shifted away from the drab non-drama of the budget and onto the sensational (though unproven) allegation that the Tories sent a couple of heavies to offer a dying man a million-dollar life insurance policy for his vote.
The Globe and Mail had the same story the next day.
It turns out, of course, that this was not a surprise to the Liberals, since it looks like they helped leak the story.
The Chuck Cadman story is contained in the book Like a Rock, a forthcoming biography of Mr. Cadman. Former prime minister Martin, who wrote the foreword to the book, has had a copy of it for a year.
The Liberals seem to have passed the book on to the Globe. The rumour mill says CBC had been sitting on the story, perhaps because of an embargo agreed upon with the publisher. When the Globe moved to scoop them, they had to run with it.
Or not. Who knows? When you accept a leaked document, you have to promise not to tell where you got it!
By getting the Cadman story out when they were getting stomped in the media, the Liberals managed to change the channel to a program much more agreeable to them.
It is even possible that Michael Ignatieff’s people leaked this story to put pressure on Mr. Dion to vote down the budget after all, bringing about the election he is said to want. Or not. Who knows? It’s a leak. You never really know what’s going on with leaks...
If this is true, I think the LPC needs to explain why they sat on this so long. Is this about
ethics or
crass political opportunism?
* * * *
Update:
CBL - Reid:
Cadman assistant confirms only one meeting on May 19.Via Albert Ardvark -
Zytaruk worng, There was only 1 meeting. From March 2 statement by
Dan Wallace:
“The May meeting date included in a soon to be released book about Chuck Cadman is inaccurate. Unfortunately, because of that error, some media are now reporting that there were two meetings, one on May 17 and another on May 19, 2005, between party officials - Doug Finley and Tom Flanagan - and Chuck Cadman. For the record, there was only the one meeting between my former employer, Chuck Cadman, with Doug Finley and Tom Flanagan and it took place in his private office on May 19th. As I have stated publicly last week, I was outside that room and not privy to the details.”
4 PM Update: The National Post editorial board has a
podcast discussing the Cadman affair.
They discuss
Don Martin's editorial -
Time for an answer, Mr. Harper.
Dr. Roy -
Grits can't afford to be sued.
