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Labor powerbroker Joe Tripodi helped organise and "design" a brochure that smeared his party's sitting Newcastle MP only weeks before Jodi McKay narrowly lost her seat in the 2011 state election, his friend who printed the pamphlet has told the ICAC.
But Mr Tripodi didn't want the media to find out about his role in the treachery, telling his friend, Vince Fedele, to "keep me out of it" when the Wetherill Park-based printer was contacted by the press.
The brochures, titled 'Stop Jodi's Trucks', were allegedly funded by Nathan Tinkler and warned of 1000 trucks a day from a $600 million container terminal project that Ms McKay favoured over a coal terminal Mr Tinkler had proposed for the same former steelworks site at Mayfield.
Thousands of copies were distributed anonymously to homes in the Newcastle electorate, in breach of electoral rules.
Mr Fedele, of Mesh Media, said he had dealt with Ann Wills over the brochure, a consultant to Buildev who was described by Ms McKay as Mr Tripodi's "eyes and ears in Newcastle".
But "Joe was very much involved in the process", he said.
Mr Fedele recalled the brochure was a rush job to meet a deadline, but said that was not unusual for election-related orders.
"I remember asking Joe about the legalities of it and he said it had to be out by a certain date," Mr Fedele said.
Mr Tripodi had been in his office while the brochure was being designed because Mr Tripodi was working on the election with Guy Zangari, MP for Fairfield.
Mr Fedele said either Ms Wills or Mr Tripodi had instructed him to send an invoice for about $8000 to "Darren", Buildev director Darren Williams, but he did not know who Mr Williams was.
The inquiry has heard Ms McKay long suspected Buildev, Ms Wills and Mr Tripodi were behind the brochure.
The inquiry is due to hear evidence from former Newcastle Port Corporation chief executive Gary Webb this afternoon.
