Foster and Cuccinelli campaigns make quick statements denouncing robo-calls attacking Brownlee (Updated)
(See update at bottom with statement from Brownlee campaign.)
People are reporting getting robo-calls attacking John Brownlee. Roanoke Valley Republicans post:
Just got an anti-Brownlee robocall on my cell phone. If you’re a convention delegate, I bet you have or will get the same. It’s a terrible call with a kid yelling “why did John Brownlee put Grandpa in jail?” It then directs you to that garbage anti-Brownlee site that popped up recently. I won’t give it any attention by linking to it.
The problem is THE CALL IS ILLEGAL. It directly attacks a candidate and does not contain any disclaimer or identifier. What it does include is the website run by Brian Gentry.
The post makes it clear that the author does not think the Cuccinelli campaign is involved as some have immediately suggested. Indeed, both the Cuccinelli campaign and the Foster campaign have sent out strongly-worded denunciations of the calls with Foster even calling for anyone with knowledge of who might have done this to contact the AG’s office with that info. But while there’s no one saying Cuccinelli is responsible there are folks suggesting that his supporters might be.
At last night’s LCRC meeting I expressed a concern it turns out several of my fellow Republicans share. While I will be happy to support whomever comes out of this convention as the nominee – my hopes are on Brownlee, of course – I am less confident that Cuccinelli’s supporters will do the same. Their high enthusiasm for Cuccinelli seems to foster an attitude of “it’s my guy or forget it” and I’m wondering if they’ll join in with us after the nominee is chosen.
Guess we’ll see in a few days.
Update: I received this statement from the Brownlee campaign in my e-mail last evening.
STATEMENT FROM TEAM BROWNLEE ON ILLEGAL ROBO CALLS
The perpetrators of this automated call violated state law by not including a “disclaimer” to announce who paid for and authorized the call.
The call was voiced by a crying child, and included a link to a website that not only attacks John, but attacks John’s wife and his father – a decorated Vietnam veteran.
The child these individuals used to make the phone calls sounded to be under 5 years old. What kind of person uses a toddler to conduct a political smear?
To involve a small child in such a dirty political trick is appalling. To make such scurrilous charges is unethical. To conduct these calls without including a disclaimer is
unlawful.
We have received reports of these calls from incensed convention delegates all over the Commonwealth. From these reports, it is almost certain that this call was delivered to the list of 2009 convention delegates (a list that has only been made available to the Republican Party of Virginia and our statewide campaigns). If this is the case, it means that either a campaign is conducting this desperate effort, or a campaign has given the delegate list to a third party to conduct the effort on its behalf. It means the individual or individuals responsible for this attack have almost certainly been in some form of contact with one of the other statewide campaigns.
Our state election laws help protect the integrity of our political process. Enforcement of these laws helps ensure our elections are conducted in an open, transparent manner.
Accordingly, we will ask the appropriate Virginia law enforcement agencies to begin a thorough investigation of this incident.
If we Republicans are to be successful in Virginia statewide elections again, we must stand up against those in our midst who would pollute our politics with cynical, illegal acts. We must declare that the days of political dirty tricks in Virginia are over.
