John Rustad is standing by his decision to send a letter to caucus surrounding allegations of "blackmail" by OneBC MLAs and staff, making it clear he believes the claims were not exaggerated.The BC Conservative leader said his team had decided not to bring evidence to police "for the protection of the staff.""I certainly don't regret writing the letter," Rustad said during a press conference in Surrey on Wednesday following the first day of his lengthy leadership review. "I do think about whether I should have used the word blackmail. That was how staff described it to me, so it's unfortunate that that has become very politicized."When asked whether he felt the staff had exaggerated, his answer was a vehement "no.".Rustad went on to explain that following conversations with lawyers, it was suggested that information should be provided to the relevant authorities, however, "it was decided for the protection of the staff that they did not want to engage further with the police.".The opposition leader went on to address OneBC, telling the crew that they're "welcome to share" whatever information they have."."I would just ask one thing," he added, "which is if they are going to be attacking our staff to be professional and not put our staff in danger."Rustad alleged that they had "actually shared information, like personal information about staff, including cell numbers and locations where they live.""Have some class," he said. "Have some respect."Wyatt Claypool, who serves as communications advisor for OneBC's Leaders Office, told the Western Standard that Rustad's claim was false."We didn't share anyone's phone numbers," he said. "That was the Rebel News team just accidentally forgetting to blank out a phone number. It has already been rectified long ago."Fellow advisors Tim Thielmann and Paul Ratchford echoed his sentiments, denying that OneBC had ever shared BC Conservative staff's private information publicly..In a letter to caucus first obtained by the Western Standard and authenticated by the leader himself, Rustad accused Dallas Brodie, Tara Armstrong and their staff of "attempting to blackmail individuals into taking jobs or contracts with them while simultaneously attempting to force them to do or say certain things in order to prevent blackmail materials from being leaked.".EXCLUSIVE: Rustad accuses OneBC of 'blackmailing' BC Conservative MLAs, staff in attempt to 'divide' party."We are now aware," he added, "that when they were part of our caucus, the [OneBC] MLAs secretly recorded party and caucus employees (as well as potentially their colleagues and others) on phone calls," and took pictures of private text messages.Claypool called the accusations levelled against OneBC by Rustad "insane," and argued that the BC Conservatives top brass were "trying to distract from" the allegations that they "rigged" the annual general meeting.
