The firm co-owned by a Londoner who, according to the court ordered release of documents, was linked to two websites that took aim at two city councillors running for re-election last fall, is defending the sites and threatening legal action against anyone that has "slandered" it.
A statement was released by Blackridge Strategy on Tuesday in response to last week's news that lawyer Susan Toth had worked on behalf of councillor Maureen Cassidy and former councillor Virginia Ridley to determine who had registered the domain names maureencassidy.ca and virginiaridley.ca. The websites contained criticisms of the two councillors, including a jab at Ridley for taking her young son to a weekend budget meeting. The documents showed the websites were registered by Amir Farahi, co-owner of Blackridge Strategy.
The statement does not deny the links discovered between Farahi and the websites, nor does it address Farahi's denial of any involvement in the websites in an interview with CTV's Darryl Newcombe in the fall. Instead, it criticises local media for its reporting on the websites.
"The media has willfully misrepresented the content of these websites as being slanderous and non-factual when the information presented on each website reflected verified, albeit harsh, facts," the statement said.
The statement from Blackridge Strategy insists that all of the information posted to the website was "factual, reflective of City Hall meeting minutes that are accessible to the public as well as verified, responsible reporting," although it does not address why the websites were taken down not long after going live during the election campaign.
It does, however, include the threat of legal action.
"Rest assured that we will be taking swift legal action to seek reputational damages against any and all individuals and organizations that have slandered out names and/or Blackridge Strategy," the statement said.
An emailed request for an interview with Amir Farahi has not yet been responded to.