[BRIEF NOTE] On the Conservative influence in Decline Your Vote

[rfmcdonald]

Decline Your Vote is a Canadian site offering, as described by Ottawa Citizen's Rob Bostelaar earlier today, to guide potential vote4rs disgusted by politics with ways--the idea, even--to decline voting for any party. This Reddit post shared around Facebook this afternoon highlighted the background of the man who set up the site.

After seeing so much buzz around this "initiative", I took a look at the website promoting it and soliciting donations. The contact page lists Paul Synnott of Windsor. Turns out he worked for Campaign Research before forming his own company Polisource. Their profile says, "a New Media Solutions company focusing on conservative Canadian Politics at the Municipal, Provincial and Federal levels.

Political campaigns in Canada are subject to strict spending limits. Polisource.ca will help you deliver your message through the Internet utilizing the latest tools in a efficient, cost-effective manner."

So, as I suspected, the whole idea was concocted in a Conservative war room. Because who benefits when idiots people don't vote?

Edit: Here is the website contact page: http://www.declineyourvote.ca/contact_us

Here is Synott's LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulgsynnott

And here is the Polisource profile: http://www.linkedin.com/company/1857650?trk=prof-exp-company-name

The Ottawa Citizen's David Reevely confirms this and goes into more detail about the man's Conservative record. Synott later appears--at least someone using his Facebook account--and confirms it.

Hmm.