The Lettergate Saga Continues

Who says that a news cycle has to be 24 hours. The on-going issue surrounding the endorsement letter sent out by Conservative candidate Dr. Kellie Leitch, with the signature of Cal Patterson, the Mayor of Wasaga Beach and Warden of Simcoe County. Now Cal blew his stack this week when it was leaked that the letter had been sent to 500 party members with his signature on the letter.

Here's the letter:

I am writing to you today about the Conservative Nomination in Simcoe-Grey. I am proudly supporting Dr. Kellie Leitch.
As you will see from the enclosed document, Kellie has earned the support of over 100 national and local leaders. These conservative and community activists are supporting Kellie because she is such an outstanding candidate. She is an accomplished and respected professional. She believes in volunteerism and has been actively involved in many important causes. Her home is in Creemore - at the centre of the Simcoe-Grey riding - and she understands the issues affecting Simcoe-Grey.
I am asking that you join with those listed on the enclosed page to help elect Kellie Leitch as Simcoe-Grey's Member of Parliament. To ensure she wins the Conservative Party nomination, members of the Conservative Party must support her at the nomination meeting. If you are not a current member of the federal Conservative Party, please use the enclosed form to join today. If you are already a member, please use the enclosed form to sign-up a friend or family member that would like to support Kellie.
You may return the form using the enclosed envelope. Alternatively, a campaign volunteer would be glad to come pick up your form, which you can arrange by emailing info@kellieleitch.ca or by calling  <廔ʥ>            <廔ʥ> 705-444-9314         705-444-9314. You may also join online at www.kellieleitch.ca.
Thank you for your consideration. I hope that Kellie and the team can count on your support.
Yours truly,
(signature)
Cal Patterson
Warden of Simcoe County
Mayor of Wasaga Beach

A rumour has been floating around cyberspace that on December 17th, 2010, Cal Patterson sent an e-mail to Dr. Leitch saying that he's endorsing her nomination to be the Conservative candidate. Now I've not seen any proof of this e-mail, and if Dr. Leitch does have it, she should release it.

Now back to the signature stamp with Cal's signature on it. It's been reported that Cal's office sent his signature to the Leitch camp to be used on the endorsement letter above. What's scary about this is the fact that his signature stamp is just laying around the office to be used by anyone requesting it. As Mayor of Wasaga Beach he also is one signature that appears on all town cheques. What does this say about the security of his signature stamp?

I still think this is what happend.... Dr. Leitch asked Patterson for his endorsement, and Patterson agreed as she's the front runner and Cal likes to be in the winning teams camp. Now Cal is known as being a control freak, so I'm sure that when she asked for his endorsement he approved both the letter and the use of his signature stamp. As the letter went out to only party members Cal did not think anything would be wrong with his endorsement. However he was wrong as it just blew up in his face, and it showed how partisan Patterson truly is. So when things went south for Cal, he did what he's known to do and blame everyone else for his mistakes, and poor judgement. He most likely called Dr. Leitch and said to her, I'm in this pickle and I need you to take the blame for this. Dr. Leitch knowing that in Conservative circles, Patterson has a lot of pull, so she agreed to take the blame.

Whoever is right or wrong on this issue, I think it's made both Dr. Leitch and Cal Patterson look very bad, and I don't think either one will recover from this 100%.

Until next time!