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The Conservative family in Ottawa West-Nepean is making a stark transition in this campaign.

The incumbent was John “Rusty” Baird, born and raised in Nepean, the hometown kid with politics in his blood, who ambitiously leaped from Queen’s Park to Parliament Hill, ending his political life earlier this year in Stephen Harper’s inner circle.

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The new candidate is Abdulkadir (or Abdul) Abdi, a Somali-born police officer, with no record in public office, but with Baird’s endorsement and the backing of Sen. Vern White, his old boss.

Politics is adversarial. It didn’t take long for Abdi to find out the opponent is sometimes on your team.

The Citizen has obtained an internal report written by Joseph Ben-Ami, the campaign manager for Scott Singer, a restaurant operator who lost the nomination to Abdi on April 13.

Quite the read. First, the conclusion: “During the lead up to the event of April 13 and at the meeting itself, a number of issues arose which, in my judgment, tainted the process and quite possibly affected the outcome of the meeting.”