Lawyer Leo Adler said the judge in Del Mastro’s 2014 trial erred by failing to consider the commercial value of the voter-ID and get-out-the-vote calls that were actually made when determining whether his campaign breached the legal spending limit.
“Does the mere providing of that cheque qualify for an election campaign expense, or does there have to be more than the provision of telephone calls?” Adler told the court.
“It’s not the amount that I paid, it’s what did you do for me, specifically, in the writ period that qualifies as an election expense.”
Del Mastro is appealing his 2014 conviction and jail sentence for exceeding the legal spending limit of $92,000 on the 2008 campaign and attempting to conceal the overspending. His campaign agent, Richard McCarthy, was also found guilty but is not appealing the decision.
As issue in the case was a $21,000 payment Del Mastro made to Ottawa call centre Holinshed Research, headed by Frank Hall, who would later become the key Crown witness against Del Mastro.
The Del Mastro campaign declared only $1,575 in payments to Holinshed. Had it reported the full amount, it would have pushed the campaign over the cap.
In the 2014 trial, Hall described calls his company made to identify Del Mastro supporters in Peterborough, Ont., and, on election day, to get them to the polls. Emails introduced by the Crown showed regular updates from Holinshed to Del Mastro’s campaign officials about the call campaigns.
But in the appeal hearing Tuesday, lawyer Leo Adler alleged that Hall had misled Del Mastro’s campaign about the number of calls made. He said different figures had been provided at different times, ranging from 7,000 to 10,000 – and less than the 25,000 calls that Hall had promised.
“Hall is lying,” he told the court.
Hall, he alleged, was desperate for money at the time, as evidenced by a bank statement showing the firm’s CIBC account was more than $42,000 in deficit. The company later went out of business.
Adler noted that Hall couldn’t produce phone records showing the calls were made and the employment records he provided were “useless” in determining how much work was actually done.
“Which begs the question, where is the record-keeping?” Adler said. “Why is there no accurate record-keeping?”
Adler also raised issue with the decision of the trial judge, Lisa Cameron, to take an “adverse inference” about Del Mastro’s credibility because he didn’t call three campaign workers to give evidence supporting his testimony. In fact, Adler says, there was an agreement between the Crown and defence that the campaign workers needn’t be called as witnesses.
Last year, Del Mastro was sentenced to one month in jail and four months of house arrest. He served just one night before he was freed on bail, pending the outcome of the appeal.
If the conviction stands Adler wants the sentence reduced.
“He was not found guilty of any corrupt act,” Adler said. “He was found guilty of one illegal act.”
The Crown is also appealing the sentencing, asking that it be increased to between nine and 12 months in jail.
The conviction meant that Del Mastro, who once served as parliamentary secretary to prime minister Stephen Harper, could not stand for re-election in Peterborough last fall.
Adler’s arguments are scheduled to wrap Tuesday morning and the Crown will present its response.
Original Article
Source: ottawacitizen.com/
Author: GLEN MCGREGOR
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