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The U.S. president had mounted a spirited campaign to cover his tracks in the Watergate scandal, insisting none of the nasty stuff he was being accused of was true. Then an obscure aide named Alexander Butterfield revealed that there was a recording device in Nixon’s office.

Um, a recording device? (Tugs at collar). Really? (Mops brow).

Liberal heavies did offer Olivier a job, but only after they didn’t.

The provincial byelection in Sudbury is hardly Washington in 1974, but the reaction must have been similar in the Premier’s office when candidate Andrew Olivier revealed he had recordings of phone calls in which Liberal party heavies pledged to reward him with a juicy appointment if he quietly abandoned his quest for the Liberal nomination.

Mr. Olivier is a long-time Liberal who ran for the party in last June’s election. He almost won. He wanted to try again when a byelection was called for February, but the Liberals preferred to back a former NDP MP who had agreed to jump to the party. Thus they needed to dump Mr. Olivier. Except he wouldn’t go quietly.

When Mr. Olivier first claimed he’d been offered an inducement to step aside, Ms. Wynne denied any such offer had ever taken place. The Liberal party would never do such a thing! Try to bribe a fellow Liberal into stepping aside by bandying about public positions? Other parties might stoop to such things, but not Liberals. “There were no specific offers of anything” to Mr. Olivier, Ms. Wynne declaimed.

Unfortunately for Ms. Wynne, Mr. Olivier, a quadriplegic, has a habit of recording phone calls, finding it easier than taking notes. And on Thursday he released them. There was Ms. Wynne’s deputy chief of staff, Patricia Sorbara, making clear that the party would make it worth his while if he’d give up his quest.