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Politics : Al Gore vs George Bush: the moderate's perspective -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Eashoa' M'sheekha who wrote (4692)	11/4/2000 12:31:26 AM
From: Eashoa' M'sheekha	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10042

PCs deny torpedoing Chisholm's campaign. herald.ns.ca The political mud was flying Saturday as NDP Leader Robert Chisholm went on the offensive after he admitted Friday he had not revealed a drunk-driving conviction. To a pumped-up crowd of about 30 in Windsor, Mr. Chisholm said in a speech that the Tories released the information to the media in a frantic attempt to win office. "Why should anyone vote for a political party that is so desperate, so hungry, or so low that they try and sneak into power with a trick like that?" he asked. Two media outlets have reported that high-level Tories suggested they look into whether Mr. Chisholm had any convictions. But Tory Leader John Hamm vehemently denied the reports after looking into the matter in the past 24 hours. "I've checked. There was nobody in our campaign responsible for the embarrassing situation that Mr. Chisholm found himself in," Mr. Hamm said. "I checked on that very carefully and I've been reassured that we were not the originator of the unfortunate piece of information that came out recently about Mr. Chisholm." Mr. Hamm didn't directly answer whether he had checked on phone calls from a high-level Tory to media outlets last week. "The information didn't come from our campaign," he said. "That's the information I've asked for and that's the information I received back. " The Tory leader dismissed the notion that backroom strategists had taken over from him. "There's one person in charge of (this) party. I was elected to be leader. I have the support of my party and I make the decisions." The revelation of Mr. Chisholm's drunk-driving conviction came about three weeks after he failed to disclose the incident when asked by the media if he had broken any laws. He acknowledged again Saturday he should have been more forthcoming when asked, but added it is something he has been reluctant to talk about in order to be a role model. The incident happened when he was 19 and driving back to a Bedford residence after a night of drinking. "This is a mistake I made 20 years ago and I'm not proud of it and I'm also not very happy that this came up in the last days of this campaign," he told reporters in Truro. Mr. Chisholm would not say if the failure to disclose a drunk-driving conviction was more or less serious than the leaking of the information to the media. "I am not going to get into a question about what the Tories are doing," he said. Premier Russell MacLellan said he's talked to many of his senior staff and confirmed that none of them were responsible for the leak. "This is not the way we campaign," he said before canvassing door to door with Dartmouth North candidate Frank Cameron. "If I knew about it (Mr. Chisholm's criminal record), I would not be disclosing it." Mr. MacLellan said he has his suspicions about who leaked the information, but would not repeat them. "I've heard certain things, but it's just hearsay." But earlier in the day, he attacked the Tories, saying they are showing "the seamy side" of their platform. "It's not the John Hamm that I've known for 40 years," the Liberal leader said at the headquarters of Ed Kinley, Grit candidate for Halifax Citadel. "Has John Hamm changed or is someone else running the Tory show?" He suggested it's the Tory backroom boys who are returning to old-style politics. "The campaign that the Tories are running in this election reminds me of how Nova Scotians used to be manipulated by people in power," Mr. MacLellan said. Mr. Chisholm said attempts to get the information about his conviction out is a classic case of old-style Nova Scotia politics. "It has pushed the Conservative insiders over the edge into desperation, saying anything and doing anything," he said. He also denied that the decision to go after the Tories about the conviction leak was an exercise in damage control. With David Jackson, staff reporter