So, here’s a very interesting follow-on to an already ugly affair involving Scott Taylor.
Last time around in 2016, the Democratic Party’s candidate for VA-02 was Shaun Brown. She was a poor candidate and lost badly. No organization, no money, incoherent campaign platform, but in 2018 she ran for the nomination again. Only this time around, (1) she was under indictment for fraud (note: the trial ended in a hung jury with 11/12 voting to convict; one juror refused to consider the evidence and apparently kept voting to acquit; there will be a retrial), (2) she committed campaign finance fraud by filing a report in which she said she loaned her campaign $700K which she didn’t actually have and never deposited, and (3) there were other and much better candidates in Karen Mallard and Elaine Luria.
Now, the DCCC put their finger on the scales and backed Luria. I did not agree with this. You may know that in the 207 VA House District race, Cheryl Turpin, a progressive teacher in the city, unseated Racist Rocky Holcomb in a house district that is the most populous in the VA-02 congressional district. I liked Mallard’s positions better, and Luria actually voted for Taylor in the last election, saying that Brown was truly an awful candidate.
Nevertheless, Luria is a good candidate, progressive positions on education, health care, etc. She ran a good campaign, is well financed, strong organization, she has a good shot.
So, the dirty tricks — Scott Taylor’s office staff went around and collected signatures to get Brown on the ballot as an independent. The signatures are now being verified, and here’s the even dirtier tricks: it is apparent that many of the signatures they supposedly got were forged.
Scott Taylor staff commits fraud. My favorite one is this:
A prominent, but deceased, booster of Old Dominion University was among the names Rep. Scott Taylor’s campaign staff gathered in a bid to put independent candidate Shaun Brown on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Among the names Taylor’s staff turned in was R. Stuart Cake, according to Cake’s widow.
“That anybody would use the name of someone who’s passed on, it’s very disappointing and it’s hurtful,” Elizabeth Cake said Monday on the “HearSay with Cathy Lewis” program on WHRV-FM.
Elizabeth Cake had worked for Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., before retiring. She said the signature of the Richard Cake on the petition was nothing like her husband’s. She noted that he routinely signed himself as R. Stuart Cake, and the address reported on the form was theirs.
It’s pretty apparent that they were assigned a neighborhood, looked up home owner / residential info on the internet, and forged signatures.
While I disagree with Taylor on the issues, I never would have expected this from a former navy seal. As a navy veteran myself, Taylor has disgraced himself and his service with these dirty tricks, and it’s disgusting to see him try to rationalize it (he noted “The fact that some names on a petition don’t check out is fairly common”).
Republicans will stop at nothing to steal this election. Let’s make sure we’re all registered, get family, friends, neighbors, etc. registered and GOTV to remove these fraudsters.
Tuesday, Aug 7, 2018 · 6:29:04 PM +00:00
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absdoggy
UPDATE 8-7: Well, things get more interesting. Surprisingly, a Republican has done the right thing — local DA Chris Stolle has appointed a special prosecutor to look into the issue of fraudulent signatures “obtained” by Taylor’s team members. Today on local talk radio and in the local newspaper (including online comments) more and more people are coming forward saying that their name was forged to the petition. It is becoming more and more clear that these staffers just pulled names and addresses out of their ass and forged signatures on the petition. This could be a big help come November.