As a public service, here’s what Nick Kouvalis used to say about John Tory. Below that, my column about what everyone has to say about Nick Kouvalis – with bonus stuff about the time he was charged for threatening to kill someone, and a damning report about his ethics. Your’e welcome.

NICK ON JOHN

“It’s all about accountability and John Tory’s leadership.” – Nick, explaining why he was starting a campaign to remove John from the Ontario PC leadership. Press release, December 6, 2007

“Based on the devastating loss that we’ve just experienced as a party, John Tory must command a significant majority of support to be able to effectively lead us into the next election.” – Nick, in a story headlined about how he was seeking to “oust” Tory. CBC News, December 6, 2007

“John Tory [lost] his own seat and receiving less votes than Ernie Eves…John Tory’s support is not vast nor overwheling [sic]…Tory is slipping.” – Nick, on the The Politic blog, December 23, 2007

“[We] called into the radio show and challenged John’s integrity, and then John decided not to get in the race. And that was a huge victory for Rob. We kept John out and Rob won because of it.” – Nick, bragging about Rob Ford’s win to BlogTO, November 7, 2010.

EVERYONE ON NICK

Nick Kouvalis is a big man. Or he used to be.

He allows that he had a surgical procedure that helped him shed nearly 200 pounds.

Kouvalis is also kind of a big deal. Just ask him.

He brags to reporters about how he created a fake Twitter account, and how that single bit of trickery helped to elect Rob Ford. He yaps about a crude YouTube video he created, and how that was important. He says he’s “good” at ending Liberal careers. He recounts how he told Ford to punch his main opponent, and “make him bleed.”

Now, all of this tough-guy talk isn’t such a good idea, sometimes. Not so long ago, Kouvalis was tried for uttering a death threat against a Conservative MP. In July 2005, it was alleged by the Crown that Kouvalis said to two young women: “If I could kill Jeff Watson with my bare hands and get away with it, I would.” He did this while campaign manager for another Conservative in Windsor.

The judge acquitted Kouvalis, believing he wasn’t serious. But, a few years later, Kouvalis could again be seen trying to suggest that it had all been clear evidence of his superior strategic mind. “Actually,” Kouvalis said, “I thank Jeff. It made me.”

If that’s so, Kouvalis must be simply delighted – Thrilled! Overjoyed! – by the recent finding of a panel of the Market Research and Intelligence Association.

The association oversees the activities of the Canadian polling industry, of which Kouvalis is ostensibly part.

The panel was struck after the association received no less than seven complaints about the activities of Kouvalis’ firm, Campaign Research. According to the complainants, Kouvalis’ company bombarded residents of Irwin Cotler’s Montreal riding with false claims about the Liberal MP.

Among other things, callers were told that Cotler was about to resign, which was a lie.

MPs complained about the calls in the House of Commons. The Conservatives’ odious House leader, Peter Van Loan, defended it.

“It’s a normal part of politics,“ Van Loan said. The House of Commons’ eunuch of a speaker, Andrew Scheer, said it was all “reprehensible,” but he couldn’t do anything about it. (He used Kouvalis, too!)

The Market Research association wasn’t nearly so pathetic. They spent a few months looking into the matter. Last week, they concluded Kouvalis’ firm had violated no less than three sections of its code, and that the violations were “more serious than a minor transgression.”

The violations were serious enough to discredit the entire industry, they concluded. Kouvalis’ firm acted in a way that diminished the public’sconfidence, it found. In particular, an interview Kouvalis gave to the media in which he attempted to minimize what had happened, amounted to a “blatant contravention” of the association’s code, the panel ruled.

Now, given that Campaign Research has been linked to the ongoing robocalls investigations, none of this should be particularly surprising. Nick Kouvalis is who he is. He does not hide it. He is a boor and a loudmouth, and now he is someone who “blatantly contravened” the rules of his own profession.

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I don’t do this thing, for free, to play host to someone to let them libel me and everyone else. In more than 2,000 comments, no less.

Buh-bye.

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It can now be revealed where he’s going.  They’re damn lucky to have him.  He may be 80, but he still works his ass off.

Very sad, again, that Heenan Blaikie is gone.  They won’t be the last law firm to slip beneath the waves, however.

 

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Meet Eli and Nick, both 13.  They’re outside Mayor Crackhead’s office today, along with others, to basically just say he no longer has the moral authority to govern.  Say the boys: “We’ve always been taught not to do drugs.”

They’re smart young men.  Conservatives, you always used to believe in family values – and law and order.  Given that, how can you defend a lying, drug-abusing creep like Rob Ford anymore?

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Mistah Blackberry? He dead.

The Blackberry killer finally arrived in the mail yesterday.  I have used it, and I can tell you this: what little is left of Blackberry will not survive the Typo.  The thing that kept the Blackberry alive was the iconic keyboard.  Typo now lets you use that keyboard on an iPhone.

When you try it out, you’ll understand why Blackberry was frantically seeking an injunction against its sale.

RIP, RIM.

The Blackberry Killer.

 

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Hoo boy.

The leaks from the Reformatory sanctum sanctorum have now stomped all over whatever the Reformatories were hoping to achieve with pre-budget messaging. Man, what an unholy mess. I can think of a certain Prime Minister and Finance Minister who are likely really pissed off.

These guys have done deliberate leaks before. This wasn’t that. This is a screw-up of historic proportions.

 

 

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Whenever my kids hear Iggy come on – and I wake to ‘Search and Destroy’ every morning, by the by – I ask them who it is.

“It’s the messiah, Dad,” they say.

“It is! Praise the risen Pop!”

Here he is, in full Ig mode. What a shot! Preach it.

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Seriously? Big deal.

When Dalton McGuinty was around, we did this kind of stuff at every single PC convention. If they were organized enough, they’d do it at ours.

Here’s a couple videos we did at a 2007 John Tory PC convention, after smuggling ourselves in through a service entrance. John Tory went apeshit – a couple of our guys could hear him yelling at staff – but they had the good sense not to get us kicked out. (We would have made it national news if they’d tried.)

Sorry, folks, but it’s what war rooms do; no news here. How the Star sees this as any way newsworthy – after having gratefully received stuff from various war rooms in the past – is beyond me.

Vids here and below, which is my personal favourite. I thought adding the soundtrack would give it a certain je ne sais quoi. Gerald Butts, as I recall, was there and thought it was funny, too.

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The guys who are the focus of all this attention – or the guys whose top-secret memos are leaking all over the place?

And if the leaks are deliberate, are they really helping the Cons? I don’t think so.

Best part of Susan’s story: a bonus reference to Yours Truly! (Dimitri was highly, highly complmentary towards the Boss, by the way. I would’ve thrown bread rolls at him if he hadn’t been!)

 

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