WINNIPEG – A former executive director with the Manitoba Liberal Party pleaded guilty Thursday to falsifying signatures on nomination papers during the 2011 provincial election campaign.
Dennis Trochim, his voice at times cracking with emotion, told provincial court he was under intense stress when he faked signatures of support for Liberal candidates in the constituencies of Dauphin and Swan River.
“I was physically exhausted … working 18-hour days,” Trochim said.
“I just started signing things without even realizing why I did it.”
Trochim pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly providing false or misleading information under the provincial Elections Act. Seven other charges were stayed.
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As one of a small number of workers for the Liberal party, which has just one legislature seat, Trochim was the official agent for 12 candidates in 2011.
Hours before he forged the signatures, he received a phone call from his father, asking him to come visit. Trochim told the court he said no because he was too busy with the election.
“(Dad) said he had terminal cancer,” Trochim, 45, recalled.
“Dad said: ‘That (Liberal Leader) Jon Gerrard is more important than me.'”
Evan Roitenberg, the prosecutor acting on behalf of the provincial elections commissioner, said he sympathized with Trochim’s personal troubles. But Roitenberg pointed out Trochim denied any wrongdoing when first confronted by the commissioner’s office and tried to lay the blame on someone else.
“In one instance, Mr. Trochim tried to provide the name of another person who he thought (investigators) should look at,” Roitenberg told the court.
Eventually, Trochim came clean and admitted his mistakes.
Roitenberg asked provincial court Judge Tim Killeen to impose a $5,000 fine. Trochim’s lawyer, Sarah Inness, asked for a $2,000 penalty. Trochim has no criminal record, she said, and was swamped by his workload.
“Mr. Trochim had taken on far more than an individual could reasonably cope with.”
Trochim has lost his job, Inness added. The Liberals initially said they stood behind him, but recently fired him, she said.
The judge indicated he might deliver his decision Thursday afternoon.
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