Saturday, March 17, 2012

Don't buy Sona as "Lone Gunman" story.

Sona and his American-Style Idol
When the Robo-Calls story broke some weeks ago, Michael Sona, the former Director of Communication for the Guelph Reform-a-Con campaign resigned his most recent position as assistant to Conservative MP, Eve Adams. He has never articulated his reason's for resigning and has generally remained silent on the whole Robo-Call affair except to say he wasn't involved.

It could be that Sona simply fell on his sword as die-hard Reform-a-Con staffers are prone to do from time to time, they being typically possessed of blind, zealot-like allegiance to the Party and their demigod  leader, Stephen Harper. It could also be, that the party decided Sona was just the right man to throw under the wheels of the bus- the Reform-a-Cons being just as willing to sacrifice staffers for the sake of the party as staffers are willing to commit political Hara-Kiri.

But of late, opposition politicians, including a prominent NDP MP have taken to defending Sona, claiming he was nothing more than an innocent pawn in what we are  now coming to understand as a nationwide campaign of voter suppression and election fraud during the May 2011 Federal Election. While it is clear that the scope of the 2011 election fraud campaign is certainly beyond  that of a zealous man-child like Sona, he is far from innocent. Sona was all about voter suppression during the 2011 election. Consider:

- Sona did his level best to disrupt and otherwise put an end to an advanced polling station at Guelph University. University students typically tend to be more "left-leaning" so it was in the best interest of the local Reform-a-Con campaign to stifle the democratic right of the Guelph students to vote. Students nation-wide were beginning to become "engaged" in the political process and "vote-mobs" were being organized all across the country in an effort to encourage students to get out and vote. On the surface of it, you would think this was a good thing, unless of course, you happened to be the Reform-a-Con party who feared the results of these advanced polls. It was then in their best interest to SQUASH the university vote. It started with Little Mickey Sona and ended by killing  most of the Vote-Mobs.

Sona at the UofG advanced poll
- Here's what Sona did personally with the Guelph poll:

-He tried to snatch the ballot out of the hands of a female student who was trying to vote.
- He then tried to snatch the actual ballot box into which the young lady was trying to vote. (It was only the quick thinking of an Elections Canada Official that prevented the theft of the          
 ballot box)
- Sona attempted to intimidate students from voting by filming them with his phone-camera as  they waited in line to vote. Clearly a breach of privacy as he did not have anyone's permission to film them.
 - Sona personally called Elections Canada from the polling station  in an effort to have them put a halt to the advanced  poll. 

- While still with the Guelph Campaign, Sona also arranged for Reorm-a-Con propaganda vans to be planted close to various other advanced polls, clearly in breach of the Elections Act. Once again, he was not sanctioned or out right fired because the propaganda was quite literally, on wheels. 

- Also at other advaced Polls, Sona arranged for scrutineers to slow the voting down to a snails pace by having them take their time while scrutinizing prospective voters and ballots. This, of course, was an attempt at discouraging voters. Well intended citizens,  for example, who had to take time out of their busy days would have been discouraged from voting once they saw how long the process was taking.

Sona's efforts failed to put an end to the UofG advanced poll and the 700 plus votes he tried to steal were allowed to stand. His efforts however, brought to light a technicality in the Elections Act that subsequently put an end to other University Polls, thus killing the momentum of the student-vote.  Sona was never charged for his disruption of the Guelph poll or his attemts to steal ballots, a ballot box or the filming of the would-be voters. But despite these reprehensible acts, Sona remained an active back-room yes-man in the party. After the failure of the Burke campaign in Guelph, Sona signed on with Adams, a bonafide elected Conservative MP. Sona had done his job well and his star was shining brightly within the Reform-a-Con universe.  

So plainly, Michael Sona was an active participant in the suppression of votes and voter rights  during the 2011 Guelph campaign. He willingly crossed the line repeatedly by partaking in acts that were not just unethical, but  illegal. It is not much of a stretch to then believe he was involved in some way with the Robo-calls affair. While it is clear  the length and breadth of the fraudulent campaign was beyond the scope of Sona, he was far from innocent.  He should not be considered the "Lone Gunman" in this affair but whether he was thrown under the wheels of the bus by his party or not, he remains guilty of Election Fraud and attempts at disrupting the democratic rights of Canadian Citizens. I'm sorry, the "Nuremberg defense doesn't apply here, that he was "just following orders". He should have gone to jail in May. He deserves to go to jail now.

Sona also likes to play with Guns. Where do you suppose he stood on the Gun Registry issue.?  
Does this look like the kind of pose someone would strike if their love of guns revolved around hunting? Or perhaps, it's more about power, control and intimidation?