Steve Kent alleges 'dirty tactics' in Mount Pearl; Randy Simms says it 'didn't happen'

The PC incumbent in Mount Pearl North says his campaign materials are being stolen and sabotaged by volunteers for the Liberals, but his opponent says the allegation is not true.

The charges come from Steve Kent, who told CBC's On the Go Wednesday that his workers caught the other team red-handed.

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"In a couple of cases we've actually caught volunteers from the Liberal camp removing my door knocker cards and removing my brochures from mailboxes and from people's door handles," he said.

"It happened in Powers Pond on Sunday. It happened just last night on Sycamore Place, down off Park Avenue, and it's just not right."

Kent said his own volunteers confronted the Liberals in Powers Pond.

"They didn't have anything to say, but they literally had my brochures hanging out of their coats pockets, literally caught red-handed."

Kent said he doesn't believe his opponent, Randy Simms, would support such tactics, which he said included having 60 of his signs knocked down last week, and others that disappeared Tuesday night.

• Steve Kent trails Randy Simms in race for Mount Pearl: poll

"It's a little disheartening when people resort to dirty tactics," said Kent.

"We've actually witnessed some volunteers from the Liberal camp engaged directly in activities that are unethical, and perhaps even illegal."

'No evidence or proof'

Simms was blunt as he responded to the allegations. 

"It didn't happen. I don't know how else to say it," he said in an interview. 

"I don't know that it even happened, whether somebody made it up.  You know literature does disappear....stuff blows away, stuff gets taken by kids, people in the family."

Simms defended his volunteers, calling them "men and women of ethics, they are good citizens.  I believe it didn't happen."

Simms told On the Go that anyone on his team who did such a thing would be immediately removed from the campaign, adding that the Kent team should have identified whoever they caught with Tory materials.

"Why would volunteers ever put themselves in that kind of position? There's no evidence or proof, just a statement."

As for the disappearance of campaign signs, Simms says he lost 16 to 20 of his own in a windstorm last week.

"This is about a change in our district. This is about getting Randy Simms elected, God willing — this is not about doing harm to others."

Other allegations

Kent also said the Liberal communications director was evicted from an advance poll on Monday after campaigning there, and said signs and a party vehicle were parked outside.

Simms said that's not what happened.

"John Murphy was driving a person who needed a ride to the polls … he did it in my car, and on my car there are two magnetic signs that say, 'vote Randy Simms,'" he said,

Murphy removed the signs, he said, once someone pointed them out and checked with the district returning officer who didn't see a problem.

"Using this, I'll almost call it provocative language — 'ejected from the polling booth' — nothing like that happened."

As for allegations that the Liberals put up signs outside the polling stations, Simms said that's true.

"We did put signs up, guilty as charged, not 60, we don't have that many left," he said, but the signs came down because workers weren't sure they were the required 100 metres from the polling station.

"They went up that night, they came down that night, We kind of all agreed, let's err on the side of caution. We never heard from anybody, the actions were our own"

Both candidates agree the accusations could hurt the democratic process.

"This kind of stuff puts a bad taste in everyone's mouth," said Kent.

Simms said the allegations alone are enough to discourage volunteers from getting involved with any party.

"I hope Steve will shut it down, quite frankly. None of this ever happened, and it's got to stop.".