Tories knew of Chisholm conviction.By Christine Doucet / Staff Reporter
Tory Leader John Hamm confirmed Sunday that he too got an anonymous letter about Robert Chisholm's drunk-driving conviction.
He said he received an e-mail July 9 about the NDP leader's criminal record and forwarded it to his campaign team.
Campaign officials verified the information, but did not leak it to anyone, Mr. Hamm said in a telephone interview Sunday night.
"On July 15, the campaign informed me of the allegations and I informed them that they behaved responsibly in verifying the e-mail and informing me of what occurred," Mr. Hamm said.
"I told the campaign team to destroy the information, to have no further contact with the sender and not to pass on the information in any way, shape or form."
Mr. Hamm said he threw his printout of the letter into the fireplace of his Stellarton home. It was not worthy of becoming a campaign issue, he said.
"I'm not interested in talking about Mr. Chisholm's teenage years, I don't think it's relevant to this campaign. That was my decision and we acted accordingly."
Late last week, reporters were also anonymously tipped off about Mr. Chisholm's conviction more than 20 years ago. The NDP leader was then forced to explain why he didn't fess up to the conviction earlier in the campaign when asked by a reporter if he had ever broken the law.
Since then, the NDP has accused the Tories of leaking that information to the media. Two media outlets have also reported that high-level Tories suggested they look into Mr. Chisholm's record.
Mr. Hamm said he knows who sent him the e-mail, but said it wasn't anyone he had ever had any contact with.
"I believe when the sender realized we weren't going to use it, it went in other directions."
In Halifax on Sunday, Mr. Hamm reiterated to reporters that neither he nor his campaign officials leaked the information.
"I asked our campaign committee 'Do we have anything to do with this?' and I was reassured that we do not," he said.
The Tory leader said the other parties are trying hard to make an issue out of the leak accusation.
"It's in their best interest to keep it going. They don't have a good message. We do."
Premier Russell MacLellan said Sunday he never received a copy of the letter that was later leaked to the media.
"I didn't even know anything like that existed," the premier said before speaking at a packed Liberal rally at the Social Action Centre Community Hall in Little Anse.
Mr. Chisholm, who went after the Tories on Saturday for leaking his drunk-driving conviction to the media, did not want to comment on the matter Sunday during a campaign stop in Dartmouth.
"I don't really care at this point, frankly, what Dr. Hamm has to say about this," he said. |
