The Martinsville Daily posted two press releases today, one each from Virgil Goode and Tom Perriello’s campaigns. The Perriello release calls upon Virgil Goode to explain to voters whether or not he used public resources, in the form of a telephone line and staff time, to promote the 2003 “gay coming of age movie” Eden’s Curve. As the release states:
Today, the Daily Progress reported that: “a brochure from Toronto’s InsideOut gay and lesbian film festival in 2003 listed the taxpayer-funded fax machine in Goode’s congressional office as a contact number for the gay-themed art house film ‘Eden’s Curve.’”
If Goode or his staff did indeed offer that phone number for use in promoting any movie or other private enterprise, he should have to explain it to the voters and the Perriello camp is right for pointing that out.
Seemingly in response, the Goode campaign put out a statement villifying Tom Perriello for his associations with GASP three non-profit organizations who received donations from George Soros! Quick grab your pitch-forks and light your torches! As the release states:
It is an undisputed fact that Tom Perriello has created and received income from several non-profit organizations. Three of the organizations he co-founded- Avaaz Foundation, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, and Res Publica- are all listed on Perriello’s financial disclosure form filed in October 2007. These organizations received significant sums of money from Open Society Institute and Soros Foundation Network (OSI). Liberal New Yorker, George Soros, is the founder and current chairman of OSI.
Want to know when a Republican campaign is running out of gas? When George Soros is hauled out as the boogeyman. Virgil Goode is trying to run out the clock on this election and hold onto his seat, but this time his years of dishonesty and misconduct may have actually caught up with him.
Kind enough to take my call with further questions about her situation, Alicia explained that she and her husband are on the verge of losing their home to foreclosure and that is why she decided to take a public stand against Thelma Drake’s actions.
“When I heard that Thelma Drake was profiting from people losing the roof over their heads, that made me very upset. I know the feelings that we feel are the same that others feel: shock, disbelief, shame, embarrassment and anger. The fact that she is a real estate agent and she took advantage of other people’s misery and hardship, to me it is not acceptable for someone who holds a position as high as a Congresswoman.”
Alicia’s husband is a Navy Veteran who developed a brain tumor after serving in Iran during the Iranian Revolution. They believe the tumor was the result of chemical weapons that were deployed during that conflict. Their non-profit has helped more than 60,000 kids prepare for college since 1990, but the economic downturn made it difficult to stay in their home, especially when their mortgage more than doubled.
“Our mortgage ballooned and we just can’t keep up, now we are just living on the edge, we don’t know if we’re going to be homeless or whatever.”
Alicia said she was glad to have the opportunity to tell her story at the press conference and she hopes the local media will focus their attention on what she believes is a conflict of interest for Thelma Drake.
“Sometimes with these things it appears as if it’s the good ole boy system closing up ranks and looking out for one another. The reporters said they want to give Thelma Drake a chance to respond, which is fair, but the people deserve to know what she’s been doing.”
Alicia thanked me for seeking her out and explained that she had nothing against Rep. Drake personally, she was just stunned and disappointed by her conduct.
“We deserve leaders who are honest and who will lead and represent us. I have grandchildren, I don’t want them living in an era where our politicians are people who are not honorable and who are not living for our best interest. Instead of working to prevent this and help, she did nothing and went in the other direction and was an opportunist.”
Thelma Drake should be ashamed for making money on misfortune of her own constituents, and she should have to face them and explain herself. Thanks to Alicia for taking my cold call and I wish her and the thousands across Virginia who are in her position the best of luck.
When a Democratic Presidential campaign CFO sends a mass fundraising email asking for help because:
“…just this week, we’re facing new and unexpected spending against us in Montana and West Virginia.”
The Obama campaign has stretched John McCain and the RNC so wide and so thin that one week out they are making buys in Montana and West Virginia of all places.
They probably deserve the donation just for running such an impressive campaign.
You have to wonder why a number of outlets, including the Danvile Register & Bee, NBC 29 and the Martinsville Daily found the resignation newsworthy, but neglected to mention its important context.
A Google search of “Linwood Duncan” would have yielded the information these reporters needed to present the entire story, one wonders why they either didn’t do that or decided not to report what they saw.
I contacted several area news outlets to ask why they had neglected to present the entire story to the public. The only response I heard was from the Martinsville Dailey’s Bill Wyatt, who did not provide a reason or explanation why his short story on the resignation did not include the details about Eden’s Curve.
UPDATED: Lowell @RK posts rumors of a cover-up in the 5th District. Did Virgil Goode offer his Congressional office’s phone number as the contact number for Eden’s Curve? Are Danville Reporters being told to sit on this story until after the election? These questions deserve answers.
Five days from election day, Virginia is talk of the nation. Not only are we a legitimate battleground state for the first time since 1964, this year Virginia voters have the opportunity to decide the whole thing.
As this map I made demonstrates, even with one of the reddest electoral maps possible (especially in light of the polling in states like Colorado, Ohio, New Mexico and Nevada), if Virginia comes through for Obama there is virtually no path to the White House for John McCain.
The attention being given to Virginia as a battleground state is well-earned, today’s RCP average gives Obama a 6.5% lead, and yesterday’s CNN/Time poll puts him up by 9%. So the question to be answered is will Virginia be the state that puts Barack Obam over the top on Tuesday? And how will his support here affect the state’s other races?
Predicting the outcome of any race this year will be difficult considering the expected higher than normal turnout and the fact that both Barack Obama and John McCain appeal to voters of each political party. Virginia has proven over the several years that it can and will go blue for candidates that appeal to the middle and promise results, but the fact that right-wingers like Bob McDonnell and Bill Bolling can still win here means that we are far from a “true-blue” state.
I predict that this race will close, but in the end Obama will win Virginia 52%-48%, and that higher than expected voter turnout will flip either the 5th or the 2nd Congressional races into the Democratic column.
Watching this impressive performance by some school kids in Atlanta, I was struck by how fortunate we are to have the opportunity to make the choices we are about to make next week. On Tuesday Americans are going to peacefully transform their entire government “however they like,” which is a luxury that many citizens of the world can only imagine.
The vitriol and emotion that consume our political culture every year about this time can distract us from just how fortunate we are to be Americans.
The Hill today reports further proof that Rep. Thelma Drake is completely out of touch with the concerns of her constituents in the 2nd District.
Not only did she vote against Jim Webb’s 21st Century G.I. Bill which provides tuition benefits to men and women in the U.S. military, many of whom live in her district, it turns out she has also been reaping personal financial benefit from Virginia’s falling housing market.
Rep. Drake has made $437,000 from three properties she bought at low prices due to foreclosure and then sold or rented at a profit.
While thousands of Virginians have either lost or are struggling to keep their homes in a down economy, their Representative in Congress has profited significantly from their plight.
Virginia had more than 5,700 homes in foreclosure as of July, which placed it as the state with the 10th-highest foreclosure rate in the country.
With that many foreclosed homes out there, just waiting for someone to swoop down and profit on them, at least we know Thelma will have something to occupy her time when the voters of the 2nd District decide enough is enough and send her home one week from tonight.
The Chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party goes just a little off message with this statement in response to the foiled plot by Tennessee Neo-Nazi’s to kill 108 people and then die trying to kill Barack Obama. Chairwoman Robin Smith said:
“Hate is not a political party, policy statement, agenda or ideology – it is a pure evil that no place in civil society. Whether it is neo-Nazi skinheads plotting a racist shooting spree targeting Sen. Obama, or West Hollywood liberals hanging Gov. Sarah Palin in effigy and calling it ‘art,’ or unknown anarchists tossing bricks through the windows of a county Republican headquarters in Murfreesboro, Americans of all political views should be outraged.”
So in case you missed it, “a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree,” a planned act of domestic terrorism, is worth roughly the same outrage as hanging a Sarah Palin doll from a tree or a broken window.
Posted by jmuduke 
Posted by jmuduke 
Posted by jmuduke 
When a Democratic Presidential campaign CFO sends a mass fundraising email asking for help because:
Several Virginia media outlets covered the story of Linwood Duncan’s resignation as Rep. Virgil Goode’s press secretary yesterday. Most anyone who follows Virignia political media or blogs will remember Duncan’s name in association with 
The Hill today reports further proof