Libs On Zytaruk

From Kady's blog:

The Conservatives behaviour in this matter is predictably disgraceful, given their attachment to gutter politics.

The Liberals behaviour in this matter is, surprisingly, even more disgraceful, given that there is absolutely nothing for them to gain by settling, beyond some vague “let’s put this Dion-related thing behind us” horseshit.

Someone please explain what the Libs are up to here. The only thing I can think of is that, Harper's sleazy legal maneuvers aside, the inference from his words on the tape to the accusation that he had "authorized a bribe" (made on the Libs website and not in the protected confines of the HOC) was maybe a legal bridge too far, as Kinsella seemed to think last May, and the Libs had a few losses of their own that they were willing to cut, Zytaruk be damned.

There's A $5 Donation To Your Legal Fund Waiting, Tom Zytaruk

It's sitting right on my desk, if you decide to sue those pricks.

Hey, I'm not made of money...

Tory MP Dona Cadman, Cadman's Widow, Couldn't Be Reached For Comment

Speaking of people who owe Tom Zytaruk an apology, but probably will not offer one, Dona Cadman served as enabler at several crucial points in this whole story. She should be ashamed of herself.

Zytaruk Doesn't Trust Tories

Tom Zytaruk's lawyer Barry Gibson on the the latest twist in the Cadman scandal:

We've seen nothing to say the court is actually going to supervise the analysis or protect the tape. There's no guarantee they won't just turn it over to the Conservatives.

Follow the links for background. Although the terms of the hand-over as outlined by Canadian Press seem stringent enough.

Nice that the local media have become a bit more skeptical re the Tory "experts" that originally examined the tape and concluded that it was "doctored":

In June the Conservative Party of Canada revealed it retained two forensic audio specialists to analyze the tape.

And in an affidavit filed in court in June, one of the specialists concluded that a tape provided by Zytaruk to the Conservatives had been altered.

And their skepticism is well-founded. So far Harper and co. are batting one for three, expert wise. One for four, maybe, since the most likely story behind this story is that, as in the case of Bruce Koenig, the Tories hired an audio forensics expert to analyse the tape, he gave them an answer they didn't like, so they dropped him and shopped around until they found someone who would give them an answer they did like.

Zytaruk Speaks, Briefly, And Perhaps A Wee Mystery Is Solved

Former FBI special agent Bruce Koenig reported, of the Zytaruk tape, that there were:

...irregularities in the copy tape and portions where an earlier recording had been taped over...

Alan Gough, one of the other experts that Harper's Tories hired to review the tape, reported that it was:

...not a continuous recording of one conversation.

"The interruption of words, changes of background ambiance, and changes of frequency response indicate that this may be three separate recordings. Any further analysis of these anomalies should be performed on the original recording and not on a copy," Gough said...

I contacted Mr. Zytaruk himself yesterday about these comments, and this morning he emailed me as follows:

The Harper interview was taped over another interview I did with someone else earlier that week.

So perhaps that explains that. Zytaruk recycled some audio-tape. Of course, unless the "someone else" could be mistaken Harper on the tape, and unless they too mentioned something about "financial considerations", this goes no distance towards showing that the tape was "doctored".

In fact, if this is ALL the Tory experts were complaining about, then I'd say it has the opposite effect.

Did Zytaruk Tape Over An Old Tape?

Is that ALL this is about? Contemplate, if you please, Experts contradict each other in Cadman-Harper controversy, originally from CP:

Former FBI special agent Bruce Koenig - who lists expert evidence about former U.S. president Richard Nixon's Watergate tapes and analysis of gun shots in the assassination of John F. Kennedy among his accomplishments - said more evidence is needed to judge the veracity and integrity of the disputed tape recording.

[...]

Koenig, who also performed an authenticity analysis of the Linda Tripp telephone recordings in the investigation of former U.S. president Bill Clinton, reported irregularities in the copy tape and portions where an earlier recording had been taped over, but concluded Zytaruk's original recording, his tape recorder and an external microphone if Zytaruk used one "are required to conduct a conclusive authenticity examination in a forensic audio laboratory."

Except the header is misleading. Koenig does not really contradict the report prepared by Alan Gough, one of the two audio experts that the Tories actually cited in their original 'plaint (Koenig's material was left out).

The other specialist hired by the party, Alan Gough, was less certain in his conclusions. Gough, co-founder of a firm called Integra View, concluded that the tape "is not a continuous recording of one conversation."

The interruption of words, changes of background ambiance, and changes of frequency response indicate that this may be three separate recordings. Any further analysis of these anomalies should be performed on the original recording and not on a copy," Gough said...

Was the recording of Harper's interview done over top previously erased material that still might have left audible traces? If so, then it is extremely doubtful that this old material would appreciably alter the content of the interview.

h/t Steve.

So The Goal

...was the headline. Those were Paul Well's thoughts when Kady O'Malley's sleuthing turned up how little was actually contained within the Dona Cadman affidavit that inspired "Cadman's widow denies author's story", in which Dona Cadman disputes some painfully trivial aspect of Zytaruk's alleged claims re the Cadman tape.

So does that mean "mission accomplished", as Paul seems to think? Well I don't know. The Tory braintrust has managed to generate a few favorable headlines in gullible Canwest papers that nobody reads, plus Kady's various debunking posts, and then this piece in today's Star in which Zytaruk claims never to have written what Mrs. Cadman disputes in the first place.

And that is pretty much it in the way of coverage, two days in. The Tories have hardly managed to defuse the Cadman Affair as a possible election issue; if anything, they've put the story back into circulation.

Frankly, this sounds like a "war room" with too much cash and time on its hand.

Note: Read this update from Kady where several of the players discuss at great length their positioning on the stairs outside the Cadman home when the now infamous Zytaruk/Stephen Harper interview took place. Or go out and frolic in the sun. That's probably better for your health and state of mind.

BCer was onto this one too.

PS. changed the above a bit based on 1st comment. One day I'll learn how to use that correction feature thingy.