Has a favoured Victorian government advertising agency been at the centre of a homegrown Watergate?

A Crikey Deep Throat has informed us that two weeks ago, thieves broke into the office of the Shannon’s Way agency in Bourke Street, Melbourne, and stole “sensitive advertising material”.

With the Victorian state election only two months away, could this “sensitive” material have something to do with the Bracks government’s final run of campaigning?

The advertising firm, founded by Victorian Labor’s former fundraising chief Bill Shannon, has long been a favourite of Labor governments — in 2004, Steve Bracks came under fire over jobs-for-mates allegations after Shannon’s Way scored a $1 million advertising contract without having to go through a public tender process.

This morning, SW Managing Director Roger Clifton initially told Crikey that it’s an “issue we’d rather not discuss”, but he rang before deadline to confirm that there had indeed been a break-in — on Sunday 17 September. However, he said, only $96 in petty cash was stolen, “and nothing else”.