Alleged interference into an audit of Mike Duffyâs expenses âshowed just how deep the rot wasâ in the Prime Ministerâs Office, says Conservative communications consultant David Sachs.
The long-time Tory worked for former cabinet ministers Lawrence Cannon and Peter Kent, and now sits on the board of the Conservative Riding Association in Pontiac, Que.
Sachs told CTVâs Power Play Thursday evening that his disenchantment with the Conservative government and Harper âhas been building over a number of years.â
But the current Senate scandal and the allegations that the PMO tried to interfere with an independent audit of Duffyâs expenses pushed him to put his feelings in writing.
âI think that when the RCMP emails became public, it showed just how deep the rot was,â Sachs said.
In an published in the Ottawa Citizen earlier this week, Sachs urged Conservatives to âcall on Harper to speak the truth at last.â
âIf he can pull the party back from this slide, he can yet rescue his leadership. If not, he must go,â he wrote.
Sachs told Power Play that âa lot of Conservativesâ are uncomfortable with the government and how the PMO has conducted its affairs, although they may not say so publicly.
âThe people in the PMO have basically been running the country for years telling MPs how to vote, telling campaigns what theyâre allowed to say and who theyâre allowed to speak to, which is generally nobody and nothing,â he said.
In Sachsâ view, the PMO is âcontrolling things in such a way that was so clearly wrong.â
In both his editorial and on Power Play, Sachs accused the Conservative Party under Harper of betraying what he called the traditional conservative âmindset that power tends to corrupt.â Sachs told Power Play that it was this mindset that was the âdriving force behind the Conservative movement during the Chretien years.â
âI donât see what conservative and liberal has to do with ethics,â he said. âAnd as I said in my article, I think the Conservatives should find it easier to reconcile themselves with the idea that the party has strayed from the proper path.â
Sachs said he âleft townâ for a couple of days after his editorial was published and has not heard any reaction from his riding association. But he remains a Conservative, and said he has nothing to hide.
âIâm not the one under RCMP investigation,â he told Power Play. âIâm not too worried about the way things look for me.â