The former president of the Highwood UCP Constituency Association said she was a whistle-blower when she spoke of concerns about what she felt were irregularities in the constituency’s nomination race. “I was simply the whistleblower for the irregularities,“ said Laurie Rennich, who was removed from her position on Dec. 1 for breaching party confidence during the nomination process. “I couldn’t ignore it, this was wrong.” Rennich was elected as Highwood UCP constituency president for the new boundaries in June in Okotoks. She was selected Local Constituency Nomination Committee in late September for the Oct. 16 Highwood UCP nomination race. She was suspended by the party for disregarding instructions from party president Erika Barootes and party staff concerning the Highwood nomination event. As well the suspension was for acting on behalf of the Highwood LCNC without the knowledge of the other members. Rennich said she did not have an agenda, she wanted a fair competition among the four candidates, who were incumbent Wayne Anderson, Carrie Fischer, Dean Leask and RJ Sigurdson, who went on to win the Highwood constituency on Oct. 16 at an election in Okotoks. “I feel like I am yelling into a black hole to get the party to look at this,” she said. Rennich also lodged a complaint with the party about what she considered inappropriate sexual comments she received from a volunteer in the Highwood constituency. Erika Barootes said in a press release, the allegations were investigated and no breach of conduct was found. “While we will not disclose any further information that could be used to identify the complainants, we can confirm that neither of the allegations involved the sitting MLA or the nominated candidate in Highwood,” Barootes said.
