This Blogger Keeps Embarrassing The Conservative Party

Robert Jago is not messing around.

Robert Jago is a one-man opposition research machine out to defeat the Conservative party, but even he says he's had a much bigger influence than expected.

Robert Jago / Some Random Political Blog

Jago's name will be unfamiliar to most Canadians, but by now many are already familiar with his work.

On his website Some Random Political Blog, he has dug deep into the past lives of Conservative candidates and staffers, highlighting unwise, unsavoury, and sometimes bizarre things they have said or done.

Several have apologized or deleted their social media profiles, and the party dropped three of its candidates from the campaign altogether rather than defend them. They included a Quebec candidate who made disparaging remarks about First Nations people and women, and a guy who had posted videos of himself making crank calls, including one in which he pretended to have a mental disability.

Tim Dutaud / YouTube

The 39-year-old Montrealer, who works in the education field, was soft-spoken and measured when reached by phone late last week. He has previously voted Conservative and describes himself as "a libertarian who doesn't mind there's free health care," but he says he's grown disenchanted with the party.

He has also clearly become a thorn in the Conservatives' side. One candidate he profiled for fairly innocuous comments he'd made about rap lyrics was booted almost immediately after Jago blogged about him.

"The post went up and 34 minutes later I saw in my feed that he'd been fired," he said.

Jago's work contributed to an impression in the first half of the federal election campaign that the Conservatives were in disarray. Stephen Harper even brought in an Australian fixer to help refocus the campaign.

This isn't the first election in which Jago has used his research skills to embarrass politicians. Back in 2008, he focused on Liberal and Green candidates as a writer for the conservative Western Standard.

"I decided to replicate that with the Tories because of their performance in the last four or five years," he said. "It's been abysmal."

Ben Nelms / Reuters

He points to controversial legislation like the anti-terrorism bill C-51, the Fair Elections Act, and the government's approach to First Nations issues as signs of "how sick the party has become."

He says the moderate wing of the party has withered, and the departure of high-profile Tories like James Moore, John Baird, and Peter MacKay has left the prime minister with a weak team around him.

"Harper is running on experience," Jago said, but more experienced candidates "have been replaced by these clowns."

Jago describes many of the candidates he's profiled as "frat boys" and "bro-servatives," but his intent isn't to get them fired.

"I'm trying to show that these views are dominant throughout the party," he said.

ʇɹǝqoɹ Jago @rjjago

Crazy how many ppl think I'm randomly attacking all politicians for any missteps. No. I'm working to defeat the Conservatives.

05:47 AM - 19 Sep 2015

With the election campaign entering its second half, Jago says he has a lot more dirt on Conservatives.

In particular, he wants to highlight candidates who have spoken out against First Nations, the LGBT community, and women's rights. Jago is originally from the Nooksack Indian Tribe in Washington and his family, according to APTN, is registered with the Kwantlen First Nation in British Columbia.

He says the media has so far been too eager to jump on candidates like the guy who was filmed pissing in a coffee cup, but has ignored many of the more substantive issues he has unearthed.

"I'm breaking my back doing research on these anti-native people, going through court records and posting this stuff — that gets zero attention."

His hope is that by highlighting some of the candidates' more questionable statements he can "shift a few thousand votes" in the Toronto and surrounding areas — where all three federal parties need to win seats if they hope to form a majority government.

Some Random Political Blog is relaunching this week, with Jago now commanding 15 volunteers he personally vetted, including writers, researchers, and IT support.

youtube.com

One of his goals will be to smoke out elusive Tory candidates who have been reluctant to do interviews. As the Toronto Star reported recently, most candidates have been told to keep a low profile, and many have little or no information available about them.

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