By John Klein (aka Saskboy)
With the Robocalls trial under way, some newer information is becoming public. That’s no thanks to the judge who has imposed a partial publication ban on investigative documents.
One person with a legitimate account to make robocalls at RackNine was Andrew Prescott. On Thursday he wrote me to bring to my attention a new detail, other than Rogers’ IP mistake, brought up in court. Apparently Matt Meier of RackNine made an error initially in linking Prescott’s RackNine robocall account to a proxy server in Saskatchewan. The same proxy server was used by “Pierre Poutine” to order illegal robocalls for Guelph’s non-Conservative electors.
[Investigator] Mathews had traced the misleading calls in Guelph to an account with RackNine, a company that provides clients the ability to make automated phone calls to thousands of people at once. The account, under the pseudonym “Pierre Jones,” accessed RackNine using a specific IP address.
“The true subscriber for [the IP address] during the timeframe requested was ‘The Marty Burke Campaign,’ Mathews said.
All times below ET.
April 30, 2011 5:30 p.m.
Andrew Prescott, the campaign staffer who dealt with RackNine for voice broadcasts, or robocalls, replies to an email by Ken Morgan, the campaign manager, and Sona. Morgan and Sona had asked Prescott to provide the contact information for RackNine. RackNine President Matt Meier only provides his direct line to current clients.
6:49 p.m.
A $75 pre-paid Visa card is purchased at the Shoppers Drug Mart on Scottsdale Drive in Guelph.
7:04 p.m.
A pre-paid cell phone, or burner phone, is bought at Future Shop on Stone Road West in Guelph for $45.30. The buyer pays cash and activates the phone under the name “Pierre Poutine,” using the same gmail address that later communicates with Meier. Mathews says in the affidavit that he has driven between the Shoppers and the Future Shop, and they are 1.3 kilometres apart, nearly in a straight line.
7:19 p.m.
The pierres1630@gmail.com account is created. Mathews says in his affidavit that Google has confirmed the email account was created at the same IP address used by the Burke Conservative campaign.
Below is the information Prescott asked me to share with my readers.
– On 2013-08-29, at 5:26 PM, “Andrew Prescott” wrote:
Hey man,
You went pretty hard at me back in December, over the issue of proxy server use. (http://saskboy.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/concalls-proxy-investigation-robocon/)
Yesterday, EC corrected the record . . . they confirmed what I’ve said all along, that I in fact never used a proxy server. (http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/29/robocalls-investigator-suspected-that-others-were-involved-elections-canada-sworn-statement-reveals/)
While I don’t expect that I’ll ever be able to convince you of my innocence, it’s the truth.
That being said, no hard feelings . . . based on the information that was printed, I can see why you jumped to the conclusions you did. Heck, as an IT guy myself, even I’d think that I must have done it.
But my moral code would never let me do anything like that.
Just hoping to appeal to your sense of right, and see if you’d like to correct the record on your blog.
Thanks for your time,
Prescott
–
On Friday, August 30, 2013, Saskboy From SK wrote:
Hi Andrew,
Do you mind if I post this email to my blog?
John
Sent from my unlocked iPad
—
>>
I wrote it, of course, assuming that you would… Thanks for asking though. 😉
Be nice. 😉
>>
—
On Friday, August 30, 2013, Saskboy From SK wrote:
Hi Andrew,
May I ask why you waited until now to contact me to ask me to reveal your version of what happened? That article is nearly a year old.
John
—
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 09:23:02 -0600
Subject: Re: EC’s correction RE: Proxy Servers
From: andrew christianconservative.ca
To: saskboy hotmail.com
Because EC finally “officially” verified my side of things re: the proxy server. Not much point trying to wave my hands in the air screaming “BUT IT WASN’T ME!” when the printed “evidence” looked pretty convincing.
Again, no hard feelings . . . You were going only on what info was out there, and you didn’t know me well enough to know any better. A number of prominent Libs and CPC bloggers have reached out to me in private to offer their support, but that’s only cause they know the integrity of my character.
All the best,
AP
Here’s the last of the CBC timeline as learned from court.
May 2, 2011, 4:54 p.m.
“Pierre Jones’s” account accesses RackNine but the access is stored in internal RackNine logs as Prescott’s user number. The session is left logged in as Prescott’s user ID.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party has been giving Elections Canada a hard time during the investigation.