Patricia Sorbara, who was campaign director for the Ontario Liberals when they won a surprise majority government in 2014 under Premier Kathleen Wynne, is writing a memoir.
Sorbara, who received much of the credit for Wynne's 2014 victory, saw her fortunes turn in late winter that same year, when she became embroiled in the Sudbury byelection scandal.
Rejected as a candidate by the party in favour of Glenn Thibeault, Andrew Olivier accused Sorbara and Sudbury fundraiser Gerry Lougheed Jr. of offering him an appointment if he stepped aside in favour of Thibeault.
After a lengthy investigation, bribery charges were brought against the pair in 2017, and both were acquitted Oct. 24 that year after a trial in Sudbury. But the damage had been done and she was dropped from the Liberal's 2018 re-election campaign that saw the party decimated and the Progressive Conservatives under Doug Ford take power.
Sorbara's book, entitled, “Let 'Em Howl: Lessons from a Life in Backroom Politics,” is being released by Harbour Publishing.
“Patricia Sorbara has been a political operative for more than 40 years – a mainstay in the background of both federal and provincial politics in Ontario, dedicating her career to the Liberal Party,” says the description (http://harbourpublishing.com/title/LetEmHowl ) on Harbour's website. “Sorbara became known as the woman to have on side, the one who knows the ground game and never backs down from a challenge. In December of 2014, all of that changed.”
“She was blindsided,” the description says, of Sorbara's reaction to Olivier's accusations. “While on trial in Sudbury in the fall of 2017, Sorbara found herself leaning on the unique education of decades in politics, one that came with being a lifelong female political staffer, which saw her through the first emotional moments of the trial to the eventual verdict nearly seven weeks later.
“But it didn’t end there. In 'Let ’Em Howl: Lessons from a Life in Backroom Politics,' Sorbara shares her best lessons from the back room – the ones that sustained her in the darkest hours – illustrated by stories featuring key political figures in Canadian politics. The result is required reading for anyone interested in Canadian politics or government.”
The book is scheduled to be released in October.
