Hollywood and Communism

Maybe celebrities should be forced to talk to people who know the real scourage of communism before they're allowed to carry around their Che Guevara merchandise.

Ben Tribbett, pro gambler

I guess Ben has learned something from his career as a professional gambler.

Karen Kennedy Schultz

It appears that there is no rest for the weary. Karen Kennedy Schultz started her attack on Jill Vogel yesterday. Mrs. Kennedy Schultz put out this doozy of a press release. A couple of things came to my attention right away.

Kennedy Schultz = Higher Taxes
Karen actually believes that she can win by pushing for higher taxes. She attacked Jill for being a small government conservative. She wrote, "On the one side is an advocate of discount government [Jill] – doing things cheaply or not at all."

Jill should probably write Kennedy Schultz a thank you note for that compliment. Mrs. Kennedy Schultz is being backed by Tim Kaine and Mark Warner. We best know both of these Democrat governors for their past and current penchant for higher taxes.

The Commonwealth just finally got rid of some of the RINOs responsible for Warner's tax increase in '03. Do we really want a Democrat leading the state senate who believes that government and taxes are the answers to all of our problems?

Kennedy Schultz = Russ Potts reincarnated
"I will follow the example set by Russ Potts."

Karen Kennedy Schultz has pledged to be just like Russ Potts, Mark Warner, and Tim Kaine. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine were both soundly rejected by the citizens of the 27th district when they ran for governor. Russ Potts only managed to survive his last primary because of the number of Democrats willing to cross over and vote for him in the Republican Primary. Russ retired this year because he knew that he was going to lose.

Karen, you've made all of the wrong friends. As you welcome Jill to the race, you are saying farwell to your hopes of winning.

Vogel Wins!

Congratulations to Jill Vogel on her stunning victory yesterday.

Republicans in the 27th have trusted her to be their new state senator, and this Fly will continue to work to make sure she wins this November.

While some might have expected this blog to disappear now, I have no intention of doing that. I fully intend to start weighing in on other issues confronting our Commonwealth and our nation.

Please stay tuned and maybe I can get this thing linked on Waldo's blog aggregator.

Tomorrow

Primary Day is upon us. We here at the Fly would like to wish Jill Holtzman Vogel well as she takes out the trash that is the Mark Tate campaign.

Jill is pro-life, pro-2nd amendment (lifetime member of the NRA, unlike her opponent), and believes that we need to control illegal immigration.

The Fly will be buzzing around chasing everyone he knows in the district to the polls, and I would encourage you to do the same.

From Today's Winchester Star (This speaks for itself)

Tate is sacrificing his honor and integrity on the altar of politics.

This is the hardest letter I have ever had to write.

I have been a law enforcement officer for 21 years, all of it with the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. For four years, I specialized in the investigation of financial crimes, like those contained in the indictments of Mark Tate. I have also been involved in politics, including six years as chairman of the 27th Senatorial District Republican Committee. I have known Mark Tate as a personal friend for about 15 years. I endorsed him in both 2003 and 2007. I have given money to his campaign.

To me, even worse is the offense for which he will not be indicted. I am talking about his behavior since the indictments were handed down, in general, and his treatment of Jill Holtzman Vogel, in particular.

I want to make this next point very clear: Jill Holtzman Vogel had absolutely nothing to do with either the investigation or the indictments. Mark would have you believe that the prosecutor in Loudoun County, who endorsed her, conducted this investigation. He did not. This investigation was done by the professional finance crimes investigators of the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. The lead investigator doesn't even live in this state. He has no political motive and absolutely no interest in who represents the 27th district.

When Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Plowman learned that there was reasonable suspicion of a crime, he turned this case over to an outside prosecutor - from outside the 27th district. Investigators with the sheriff's office did a thorough investigation. These cases are time-consuming, with forensic audits of banking records, witness interviews as well as suspect interviews. And you go where the evidence takes you. The evidence in this case was strong. The special prosecutor looked at it, applied the law and took 11 felony counts to the grand jury. It should be noted that these offenses include activities in both the '03 and '07 campaigns.

Mark has based his defense on the non-denial denial. He would love to refute these charges, you see, but his lawyer has advised him not to comment about the case. So, instead of bringing out his facts, he brings out his hatchet. A drowning man always tries to take down those closest to him, so Mark lashes out in a desperate - and despicable - attempt to save his political career. This case is tainted, he tells us. The prosecutor is unethical, doing this just for political purposes. So is the special prosecutor. I guess he thinks the investigators are in on it, too. It was VCAP and - omigod, look there, it's Ed Gillespie! And, of course, behind it all, there is Jill Holtzman Vogel, directing this whole thing from her perch on the grassy knoll.

Rumors are rampant in politics, made worse by the blogs. Mark feeds into this paranoia by telling people that others knew these indictments were coming and even knew when the grand jury was meeting. The fact is many people, including witnesses, knew there was an investigation and were allowed to say so. Mark knew it. And grand juries meet once a month in Loudoun County. The dates are set months in advance and are public knowledge.

One sad footnote is what this does for "the system." It's just one more black eye for politics and makes people think twice about getting involved - if they think about it at all, anymore.

Some will admire the moxie he has shown in fighting the charges. Some might call his conviction that he is innocent "Clintonesque." Instead, I think his conspiracy theories make him seem more like O. J. Simpson.

Part of me still feels sorry for Mark. No one likes to see a friend in such trouble. As a Christian, I want to forgive his trespasses. But my mercy is tempered by his behavior in the last two weeks. I had hoped early on that he would have the good grace to withdraw from this race and apologize to his faithful supporters, many of whom I know. Instead, Mark has chosen to compound his deceptions to the very people to whom he owes so much. He has chosen to smear his opponent with accusations which have absolutely no basis in truth. He has chosen to sully the reputations of many law enforcement professionals with unblemished records.

In short, he has chosen to sacrifice his honor and his integrity on the altar of his political career. And that is why I have chosen to speak out. I've had enough.

Background on Mr. Benedetto:

He is currently an investigator with the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office for 21 years. He has lived in Winchester for the last 20 years. He served as Chairman of the Winchester Republican Committee from 1994 to 2001 and as chairman of the 27th Senatorial District Republican Committee for nearly six years until December, 2006.

More polling

Some more leaked polling made its way to the Fly's desk. Here are the highlights:

Jill Holtzman Vogel is leading in every county. While that lead is probably bigger in some areas than others, she is leading Mark Tate in his home base of Loudoun County. Mark cannot win this race without taking Loudoun big, and with only five conspiracy days left until Primary Day, things are looking bleak for the Tate campaign.

One might want to jump to the conclusion that Tate's fall in Loudoun is due to his indictment. While I'm sure this is what has caused his base to desert him, the Fly is confident in the fact that Jill's consistent lead in this race is due to her devotion to conservative principles and talking about issues that Virginians care about. For example, the Fauqier Times-Democrat has a fantastic article about Jill's desire to crack down on illegal immigrants, which also happens to be the number one issue to 27th District residents.

More Tate Indictment Details Revealed

Today was a quiet one on the blogs at least in the number of posts about the 27th state senate race.

The Tate blog (formerly known as Not Larry Sabato) had no new details about the race.

Why the silence?

My guess is that even the most diehard Tate ally is starting to realize what's going on. The Leesburg Today even had a story containing no new conspiracy theories about why Mark Tate is indicted.

What does the article say? It takes a closer look at just one of the problems involving Tate's campaign finance reports. The reason that this particular problem is at issue pre-trial is because it involves contributions from Tate's lawyer, Ed MacMahon (not that Ed MacMahon), and the prosecution's need to call MacMahon as a witness thereby disqualifying him as Tate's counsel.

Mr. MacMahon either gave Tate upwards of $7,000 according to vpap.org, $6,000 according to the prosecution, or $1,500 if you believe MacMahon's brief opposing his dismissal. What's the truth? There's only one way to tell, and that will be in Mr. MacMahon's testimony at trial.

Getting back to my main point, the writing is on the wall, and maybe Tribbett, Tate, and all the rest of that gang have got the point. This game is over.

Democrats rallying to Tate?

While the Fly was buzzing around my office today, I received some information from a prominent local elected official that Democrats are organizing to push their voters to turn out on June 12 to support Mark Tate. They perceive his indictment as just the opportunity they need to turn the Virginia state senate blue.

We already know that House of Delegates minority leader Brian Moran and former Governor Mark Warner have both planned events for Karen Schultz recently. Maybe this is why Ben Tribbett has been so willing to sign up as Tate's assassin.

UPDATE: According to Raising Kaine, the Democratic Party of Virginia is swinging in to join Tate and liberal Democrat blogger Ben Tribbett in their false attack on the Republican Party.

Starring Ben Tribbet as "Tate Assassin"

With this post today, Ben Tribbett and Mark Tate have continued their trumped up assault on the American justice system, Jill Holtzman Vogel, and the Republican Party of Virginia.

Mark has apparently sent Ben a copy of a one-line letter from May 2004 addressed to Mark and written by Russ Potts. Potts claimed that Mark was as guilty of campaign violations as Mike Rothfeld. Interestingly, Mr. Rothfeld pled guilty today to civil charges of campaign finance violations. The key difference here is that Mark isn't accused of something as innocuous as not putting a disclaimer on his mail pieces. Mark has been indicted for perjury and election fraud. Russ Potts may be a broken clock, but even they're right twice a day.

The theory that Potts is secretly backing Jill while calling her a "daddy's girl" in the press is ridculous. I wonder if Ben and Mark sit up at night in tinfoil hats trying to spot UFO's battling black helicopters too?

Ben also attacked the special prosecutor this weekend claiming that his motion to disqualify defense counsel was also a politically motivated move. He makes this accuation without any knowledge whatsoever for why Ed MacMahon may have a conflict with a client. I'm willing to bet there is a good legal argument for MacMahon's disqualification. Mr. MacMahon is a donor to Mr. Tate's campaign and has given Mark $7,000 since 2002 according to vpap.org. It is entirely possible that they have some kind of impermissable financial relationship. Whatever the actual basis for this motion, Ben Tribbet is no legal analyst and to accuse a special prosecutor of corruption is extremely serious.

Finally, even after the RPV state central committee took no action on Tate's indictment (but reserved the right to revisit the issue), Tate continued his assault on RPV and its employees.

The question here remains: WHY IS MARK TATE USING A LIBERAL DEMOCRAT BLOGGER TO BRING DOWN OUR STATE PARTY? Is political power that important to him?

Leaked polling?

The Fly has been busy today, but when this reached my antennae, I had to get it up.

Confidential sources (unlike Ben Tribbett, I don't name names) have let me know that Jill Holtzman Vogel has been leading BIG in polling for weeks. The numbers have broken down something like this:

February: Vogel +7
April: Vogel +14
Now: Vogel +22

Here's a good question for all of the conspiracy theorists out there who have been blaming Jill for Mark's self-inflicted legal problems. Why would Jill not protect her lead and ride out the last month instead of risking a backlash on a hail mary like pushing a legal indictment?

UPDATE: The Vogel campaign has released their internal polling, which closely matches the information that I had heard. They claim their lead as +5 points in February, +13 in April, and +23 in May.

Why is Mark Tate trying to destroy the Republican Party of Virginia?

Mark Tate's jihad against his enemy list has one more target that I did not mention yesterday. Mark and his campaign flunkies have curiously tried to drag the state Republican Party into Tate's spiralling blackhole.

Rick Gorka, Tate's campaign manager, at some point spoke with RPV's political director and claims he was offered assistance in finding other work if he left Tate's campaign. This claim was denied by the political director in the same Northern Virginia Daily article (link unavailable), but the damage was done. It's a well-known rule in politics that employees try to keep themselves out of the news in order to protect their jobs, and they all do their best to protect other Republicans except in the most extreme cases. Apparently, Mr. Gorka doesn't believe in political karma. He certainly had no loyalty to Katherine Harris when he dumped her after the primary, but why is willing to fall on his sword for Mark?

When rumors started floating that Tate was in legal trouble over his campaign finance reports, RPV chairman Ed Gillespie phoned recommending Tate drop out if indicited. Tate apparently was so outraged that Gillespie would recommend that Tate step aside for the good of the party that he contacted Ben Tribbett, a Democrat blogger and professional gambler and somehow gained Ben's support in a bid to exact revenge on the state party.

Since that aforementioned, eventful phone call on May 2nd, Tribbett has been on the warpath.

First, when Tate was actually indicted on May 22, Tribbett claimed that if any information had been leaked, it would be the bigger crime, and it seems to this humble fly that for someone who supposedly has no interest in a race to downplay a candidate's indictment for election fraud and perjury to be a big favor.

The very next day, Tribbet posted a comment from an anonymous blogger attacking the special prosecutor. Textbook Tate campaign here since they've been attacking the prosecution from the begining as you may have read in my post yesterday.

May 23, Tribbett posted a link to another story with just a link stating that Mrs. Vogel knew about the charges from his babysitter. (seeing a pattern yet?)

May 26, Tribbett wrote an extraordinarily long post trying to draw a connection between the awful Russ Potts and Jill Vogel. Unfortuantely for Ben and Mark Tate, Russ openened his vile mouth one more time and admitted that he can't stand Vogel and is considering supporting the Democrat. I mean, Ben is a smart political guy, and there is no way that he could have genuinely believed what he was writing. The only explanation is that he had an ulterior motive.

Yesterday, the Tate campaign and their newfound blogging ally took aim at their new scapegoat: RPV communications director Shaun Kenney. Apparently, Mr. Kenney had some level of contact with Mr. Tribbett about the pending indictment, and Tribbett has seized on this minimal contact to now claim that Kenney predicted the date of the indictment and therefore received some leak of information.

However, there is no proof of this supposed prediction, and the best that Ben has is an email between he and Kenney unrelated to any of Tribbett's allegations. Props to Virginia Virtucon for doing a much better job laying the case for an innocent Shaun Kenney.

Two explanations for this series of events come to mind. First, Tribbett has often been accused of being susceptible to bribery to support candidates, especially in situations where he has no preferred candidate. The only other explanation could be that Tribbett entered this marriage of convenience to guarauntee that Tate wins the primary in order to secure a Democrat victory in the fall. Giving Ben the benefit of the doubt and believing that the second explanation is the real one. The question becomes: Why is Mark Tate using Democrats to destroy the Virginia Republican Party? If we lose this seat, we will lose control of redistricting in 2010, and the ballgame is all over for Frank Wolf, Tom Davis, and our majority in the General Assembly.

UPDATE: Looks like Mark is at it again with his Democrat cheerleader declaring Tate "awesome."

UPDATE #2: HT to Jason Kenney for the link and some in-depth reporting on the Tate-Tribbett connection.

Tate declares War on the American legal system

What do you think most sane candidates would do if they were indicted for election fraud?

If you answered, think about what is in the best interest of his or her defense. Your name isn't Mark Tate.

No, Mark's campaign first attacked the prosecution as politically motivated.

Let's keep in mind that Matt Britton, the special prosecutor, was appointed by a judge to determine whether to bring the charges.

Then Mark blamed his opponent Jill Holtzman Vogel.

"In an interview on Monday, Tate acknowledged that he had spoken to investigators and suggested that Vogel instigated it."

Tate's minion Kay Gunter falsely attacked the brave citizen who brought the charges to the attention of the state board of elections and Commonwealth's attorney.

Finally and most importantly, Mark is attacking the American justice system. He seems to believe that he is above the law, and anyone who has the audacity to investigate whether he is breaking the law should be the real criminal.

Jill Holtzman Vogel summed up Tate's actions fairly well in the Fauquier Times-Democrat on Tuesday:

"Mark Tate will have a fair trial, and he deserves his day in court," a May 24 written statement from Holtzman Vogel said. "Mark's attacks on me are actually on the ethics and reputation of a special prosecutor, two judges and a grand jury, all of whom have no connection to politics or to my campaign."

More Tate legal problems

Mark Tate, candidate for the 27th state senatorial district, has already been indicted for two felony counts of election fraud and another nine for perjury, but this is likely not the end of his legal dilemma. The evidence of Mark's transgression is on his website, his bumper stickers, and campaign materials. The Fly has reproduced the banner from his website below but with the offending material redacted.

According to the Virginia code (the law), using the Virginia state seal without the governor's permission is illegal. However, Mark hasn't been worried about breaking the law up until now so I don't think he's really going to worry about this crime either. A violation of this statute can result in a fine of not more than $100, or by imprisonment for not more than 30 days or both. I hope Mark looks better in stripes than he does in his banner picture!

The Tate campaign is reckless, and if they stumble across the finish line on June 12, the residents of the 27th district can count on one thing, andthat will be a victory by Karen Schultz.

Update: It appears that all of Tate's legal problems have not come to light. I went back and read the Washington Post article from last week and found the following quote:

"Although some of the allegations have not been made public, Plowman wrote in a court document that money that appeared on one campaign spending report seemingly disappeared by the next and that Tate was writing bad checks, among other transgressions."

Although this insect is no lawyer, I believe bouncing checks is a crime if the perpetrator fails to rectify the situation. It will be interesting to see where this case goes from here.

Welcome Aboard!

This is a blog that has been created by a concerned citizen who lives in the 27th Virginia state senate district.

The awful Russ Potts clung to this seat for too long. In his time, he tried to destroy just about every piece of commonsense, conservative legislation that came across his desk. He helped bring down the Republican nominee for governor in 2005. Russ Potts abandoned every Republican friend he ever made, and we are all better off with his passing.

It was beginning to look like things were going to change for the better. Two solidly conservative candidates were running to replace Mr. Potts, but one campaign began to sputter. Mark Tate, former Middleburg vice mayor, filed a series of profoundly confusing campaign finance reports that seemed to be hiding something. First, Tate was fined, but the subsequent reports became even more bizarre.

This conservative voter decided that the stronger candidate had to win. In this case, Jill Holtzman Vogel had stepped aside to allow Mark Tate to receive the nomination in 2003 in the name of conservative unity to defeat Potts, but Mark failed in 2003 and had allowed himself to grow lazy and fat politically over the inverning years. Jill has been running a professional campaign and deserves to win this nomination.

The Fly had taken some time off from his buzzing around the comment sections of various websites, but with Tate's recent indictment and subsequent leave of sanity. The time for action had arrived. Mark's campaign has been blaming everything that moves for his indictment from Jill Holtzman Vogel to the prosecutor to the special prosecutor to even Ed Gillespie chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.

The Fly will exposing the truth over the coming weeks. We don't have much time left because the primary is on June 12th so let's get started with a little dose of the truth.