Tory leadership letter comes under attack

What does it say about a candidate when a supporter spends 80 per cent of a letter talking about his opponent?

The Cape Breton Post recently published a letter by Al Moore (‘Tory leadership choice should be obvious,’ July 9) which attacks Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Tim Houston’s personal integrity while demeaning his volunteers and their reputations. No wonder voter turnout continues to drop when venom is the reward for engagement.

It’s offensive to me to see someone attack people who are willing to step up and get involved in the political process. That’s what the PC leadership race should be about. We need more people to get involved, but, instead, we see this nasty letter from Moore being shared by the co-chair of Cecil Clarke’s leadership campaign, herself a volunteer who should have more respect for those who give freely of their time.

Moore exaggerates a simple misunderstanding of the rules regarding memberships into a full-blown conspiracy. No harm was done, as has been verified by the party. The PC party has controls in place to protect the legitimacy of the leadership vote, which we are all thankful for.

He goes on to attribute the most evil motives to a campaign spokesperson who was only doing her job with professionalism. It is both false and malicious.

Further, stating that a life-long volunteer and elected member of the party executive lacks integrity is absolutely shameful. It is not the language of someone who truly cares about this or any volunteer organization.

The PC Party of Nova Scotia is lucky to have quality individuals running for its leadership. It’s an exciting time to engage more Nova Scotians in the political process. Instead, we see an attack not just being launched, but embraced by the leadership on a campaign. It is alarming. We can’t build up the PC Party with wild, scandalous accusations as our first step.

Candidates can and should question one another. Volunteers should work for their candidates while being mindful of the time and effort donated by those on other teams. They deserve better.

John White Glace Bay