 Harper denied such knowledge and stated that he had been "building issues into the Reform Party's platform to actively discourage extremists and 'nut cases'" at the time of Overfield's membership.One claim for Overfield's involvement in the Reform Party was an attempt to discredit the party for Preston Manning's involvement in placing the Ontario wing of the Social Credit Party under the personal trusteeship of the national leader to counter Paul Fromm's activities.However, it is also on the record that Overfield's confided in Paul Fromm that his plan was "to unify all the right wing people into one cohesive organization.