Saturday, January 16, 2010
McPadden Wanderings
With reports in from Franklin County and Danville it seems McPadden is making some nice visits but no one is coming to see him. According to reports, he had fewer than ten show up at each visit. Can you run a campaign long when you get this kind of attention ? Nice guy running the campaign but no real money we bet and no future of drawing bigger support in his travels.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Questions for Mike McPadden- the union leader
Looking over your resume on your website, there are several things I know voters will want you to clear up before they consider you.
You say you got your wings in 1981 and later say you left in 1986 after six years of duty. Maybe I just don't count well but 1986 minus 1981 seems like five years to me.
You also say you volunteered to be the contract administrative point man for the union. I know you will probably say you has to join the union, but did you have to be a union functionary also ? I don't know of a single state nor union that requires that one be a leader in a union. Why would you do this ?
What exactly is Liberty Trading Partners Incorporated ? Do they have financial records open to the public ? Where ?Is this just a family plaything ? Who are the other partners ? Is this just a way to hide your economic interests from the voters ?
Please respond.
You say you got your wings in 1981 and later say you left in 1986 after six years of duty. Maybe I just don't count well but 1986 minus 1981 seems like five years to me.
You also say you volunteered to be the contract administrative point man for the union. I know you will probably say you has to join the union, but did you have to be a union functionary also ? I don't know of a single state nor union that requires that one be a leader in a union. Why would you do this ?
What exactly is Liberty Trading Partners Incorporated ? Do they have financial records open to the public ? Where ?Is this just a family plaything ? Who are the other partners ? Is this just a way to hide your economic interests from the voters ?
Please respond.
Hurt's fundraising
A very interesting report and surely Ken Boyd's will be equally good. All of the others who have little or no financial report have issued more off the mark attacks but what the heck, they have been that for months.
You can read Bill Hays attack garbage or some other more reasoned reviews.
http://roanokeconservativedaily.blogspot.com/2010/01/hurt-raises-close-to-300000.html
http://bearingdrift.com/2010/01/14/hurt-raises-several-hundred-thousand-dollars-last-quarter/
How "I want to buy this seat in Congress" Verga and " I know nothing" Bill Hay can attack this report is amazing. I guess when you have no positive ideas and no support from the grassroots, that's what you do.
You can read Bill Hays attack garbage or some other more reasoned reviews.
http://roanokeconservativedaily.blogspot.com/2010/01/hurt-raises-close-to-300000.html
http://bearingdrift.com/2010/01/14/hurt-raises-several-hundred-thousand-dollars-last-quarter/
How "I want to buy this seat in Congress" Verga and " I know nothing" Bill Hay can attack this report is amazing. I guess when you have no positive ideas and no support from the grassroots, that's what you do.
Mistake of the week Feda Morton- she keeps on winning the prize !
Feda Morton's campaign seems lost. She has just lost her third campaign manager because of financial problems. She appoints a very young and unexperienced (probably unpaid) Aaron Evans who lives in Martinsville only three hours away from her. Instead of someone who has some ideas about the fifth, she hires a DC consultant who has never been to most of the district. Why would you want to go that way unless you have a lot of money which Morton is clearly lacking. Her first two managers had contacts in the district but walked away when things were just a mess and it seems she is spiraling down week by week.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Who/what is Lawrence Verga ?
"
Over the past several weeks and months a number of things have become clear about Mr. Verga but do we really yet have any idea who he is ?
1. He has given himself a lot of money. He has raised little from anyone else especially in Virginia in his now three month campaign.
2. He has gotten rid of almost anyone on his campaign who knows anything about the fifth district and replaced them with high priced inside the beltway DC consultants and inexperienced rookies who are taking a lot of his money.
3. He is clearly the most negative campaigner out there and seems to have abandoned any positive campaign at all. People all over are shunning him because of it.
4. His surrogate, Bill Hay, is not helping the TEA party with his one sided false attacks. Hay recently even said Joe the plumber had Verga checked out by an FBI agent. Talk about an illegal abuse of our constitution. Bill needs to come out and either deny this ever happened or tell the whole truth about this. Using the federal government this way reeks of illegal activity. Did Joe check out the other candidates also ? Is Hay just bluffing as he often does or does this smell as bad as it seems ?
5. Verga seems to have learned his politics from Tom Perriello in that what he says is often in a haze of contradictions and half truths that barely stand up.
For an example, here is the email Verga recently sent to his fellow candidates to try and bully them out of the race.
Over the past several weeks and months a number of things have become clear about Mr. Verga but do we really yet have any idea who he is ?
1. He has given himself a lot of money. He has raised little from anyone else especially in Virginia in his now three month campaign.
2. He has gotten rid of almost anyone on his campaign who knows anything about the fifth district and replaced them with high priced inside the beltway DC consultants and inexperienced rookies who are taking a lot of his money.
3. He is clearly the most negative campaigner out there and seems to have abandoned any positive campaign at all. People all over are shunning him because of it.
4. His surrogate, Bill Hay, is not helping the TEA party with his one sided false attacks. Hay recently even said Joe the plumber had Verga checked out by an FBI agent. Talk about an illegal abuse of our constitution. Bill needs to come out and either deny this ever happened or tell the whole truth about this. Using the federal government this way reeks of illegal activity. Did Joe check out the other candidates also ? Is Hay just bluffing as he often does or does this smell as bad as it seems ?
5. Verga seems to have learned his politics from Tom Perriello in that what he says is often in a haze of contradictions and half truths that barely stand up.
For an example, here is the email Verga recently sent to his fellow candidates to try and bully them out of the race.
"From Laurence.
Yesterday my campaign filed our end of the year finance report, which included over $217,000 cash on hand. "
(Truth-he does have 217,000 but he donated 97% of his total raised to this point. No grassroots and no one else either in three months of raising money)
"We have only begun of our fundraising efforts, as we didn't raise money during last year's election and focused November and December on raising awareness about my campaign, which included appearances on the Laura Ingraham Show and op-eds in RedState and Human Events.
This weekend Joe the Plumber is endorsing my campaign and appearing with me at three events across the 5th District."
(Truth- Laura and Joe did appear. Verga paid for both so the so called endorsement were bought and paid for. What is that worth ? Who will he trot out next ? How much will he pay for the next one ? His DC firm put him on RedState and Human events that have a total audience in the 5th of about a hundred people. His tours through the district by himself and the most recent with Joe have been abject failures with fewer than twenty people total in Danville and Lynchburg. No one wants to see this totally negative man.) He has almost zero real support.
"I believe that I am the conservative candidate most likely to defeat the NRCC backed tax-raiser, State Senator Robert Hurt. I believe this for three reasons: "
Grassroots Support-I have the most significant grassroots support in the race, receiving the endorsement of Bill Hay, the chairman of the Jefferson Area Tea Party, the largest in the state. Off the record I have also been given the support of other tea party leaders, potential third party candidates, and influential community leaders "
(True- he has Bill Hay. But Bill has never been elected as the JATP head by the TEA party. The TEA party itself, including the JATP, has never endorsed Verga. The other TEA party people in the district certainly shunned him and Joe on his recent trip as did all of the unit chairs who he personally called) (It would be nice if just one community leader had ever shown up at a single one of his events. Think Tom Perriello here.) If grassroots support is no one showing up when you visit and you have sent out direct mail and called and you get fewer than 20, then yes you have no grassroots support
"Organization-I have the strongest organization in the race, with Alex Cortes as my campaign manager and Matt Mackowiak as my General Consultant. Cortes founded a $1.5 million 527 organization in 2008 and worked last year on Gov-Elect Bob McDonnell's campaign. Mackowiak works with candidates across the country, is a regular analyst for Fox News and MSNBC and formerly was the Press Secretary for Senators Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Conrad Burns. We are building a first rate consultant team to carry us through to victory in the June primary and again in the November general election. "
Cortes, what was the Pac ? No one else can find it. Who did he raise the money from and what happened to the 527 ? Worked on Bob's campaign ? He was an intern and then a gofer. Nice guy. No leader of anything. Think Perriello. Mackowiak- a DC insider- press man, no grassroots experience and just what we need in the 5th. Think Perriello
"Fundraising-Out of all the conservatives in the race, I have the strongest ability to raise the money necessary to be competitive with Hurt. Not only can I invest a significant amount of my own resources into the race, but my organization's ability to garner national press and endorsements will be invaluable to raising substantial funds from outside donors. We have an aggressive schedule of fundraising events in January currently in place and we will continue from there. "
Fundraising ? His history shows his future. He just can't get any money from anyone of substance or the grassroots. Does he call his Joe adventure part of his aggressive January schedule ? He clearly lost money on it . Outside donors ? Look for him or attack dog Hay to go after other who get money outside the district . Perriello Junior Verga has spent about 70,000 already mostly to consultants. Do we want a congressman who has no support in the district from small business and individuals ? Do we want a consultant driven person ?
Grassroots Support-I have the most significant grassroots support in the race, receiving the endorsement of Bill Hay, the chairman of the Jefferson Area Tea Party, the largest in the state. Off the record I have also been given the support of other tea party leaders, potential third party candidates, and influential community leaders "
(True- he has Bill Hay. But Bill has never been elected as the JATP head by the TEA party. The TEA party itself, including the JATP, has never endorsed Verga. The other TEA party people in the district certainly shunned him and Joe on his recent trip as did all of the unit chairs who he personally called) (It would be nice if just one community leader had ever shown up at a single one of his events. Think Tom Perriello here.) If grassroots support is no one showing up when you visit and you have sent out direct mail and called and you get fewer than 20, then yes you have no grassroots support
"Organization-I have the strongest organization in the race, with Alex Cortes as my campaign manager and Matt Mackowiak as my General Consultant. Cortes founded a $1.5 million 527 organization in 2008 and worked last year on Gov-Elect Bob McDonnell's campaign. Mackowiak works with candidates across the country, is a regular analyst for Fox News and MSNBC and formerly was the Press Secretary for Senators Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Conrad Burns. We are building a first rate consultant team to carry us through to victory in the June primary and again in the November general election. "
Cortes, what was the Pac ? No one else can find it. Who did he raise the money from and what happened to the 527 ? Worked on Bob's campaign ? He was an intern and then a gofer. Nice guy. No leader of anything. Think Perriello. Mackowiak- a DC insider- press man, no grassroots experience and just what we need in the 5th. Think Perriello
"Fundraising-Out of all the conservatives in the race, I have the strongest ability to raise the money necessary to be competitive with Hurt. Not only can I invest a significant amount of my own resources into the race, but my organization's ability to garner national press and endorsements will be invaluable to raising substantial funds from outside donors. We have an aggressive schedule of fundraising events in January currently in place and we will continue from there. "
Fundraising ? His history shows his future. He just can't get any money from anyone of substance or the grassroots. Does he call his Joe adventure part of his aggressive January schedule ? He clearly lost money on it . Outside donors ? Look for him or attack dog Hay to go after other who get money outside the district . Perriello Junior Verga has spent about 70,000 already mostly to consultants. Do we want a congressman who has no support in the district from small business and individuals ? Do we want a consultant driven person ?
All of this, along with his early financial filing, was an attempt to bully others out of the campaign.
Exactly who is Verga ? Why did he move to Charlottesville ? What really is Verga Trust/Consulting ? Where are their records ? What will Verga do if a kidney becomes available tomorrow or in July ? How long will he be out of the campaign ? Will we have to do a NY 23 and have the district committee nominate because of this man's naked desire for power ?
Verga has lost his way in this campaign and there is little sign that he has any base other than negativist Bill Hay whose blog is so bad that nothing there has any credibility anymore. Bill, your Perriello stuff is good, but when you put your Verga hat on, you just are not believable.
Verga has probably the most DC based campaign of anyone and it has no traction anywhere but his own pocketbook. Today he, through his attack dog Bill Hay, put out the opinion of another DC consulting firm that Ken Boyd's survey was no good. The truth that it shows is that Verga has spent a lot and gotten nowhere. We don't need a bunch of hired guns from DC telling us what to think.
Clearly Lawrence, your bullying email has not worked. No one else agrees with your judgement.
Verga needs to sit back, listen to himself and not consultants. He needs to think about his family first, get his transplant, and get out of this race. It's all your money. Joe didn't draw. The money sucking DC consultants will drain you dry and move on to another campaign. Go out with class and a nice pocketbook. You did loan the money so you could get it back.
Verga has probably the most DC based campaign of anyone and it has no traction anywhere but his own pocketbook. Today he, through his attack dog Bill Hay, put out the opinion of another DC consulting firm that Ken Boyd's survey was no good. The truth that it shows is that Verga has spent a lot and gotten nowhere. We don't need a bunch of hired guns from DC telling us what to think.
Clearly Lawrence, your bullying email has not worked. No one else agrees with your judgement.
Verga needs to sit back, listen to himself and not consultants. He needs to think about his family first, get his transplant, and get out of this race. It's all your money. Joe didn't draw. The money sucking DC consultants will drain you dry and move on to another campaign. Go out with class and a nice pocketbook. You did loan the money so you could get it back.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Southside Central - He is a good writer !
The latest Verga adventure.
http://www.southsidecentral.com/wordpress/2010/01/02/weve-got-overtime-on-the-15-minutes-of-fame-clock/#more-6104
http://www.southsidecentral.com/wordpress/2010/01/02/weve-got-overtime-on-the-15-minutes-of-fame-clock/#more-6104
Has McPadden lost it ?
Below is the latest email sent out from Mike McPadden, whose campaign has entered the ridiculous stage.
North Garden, VA 01/04/10 Republican Congressional Candidate - and recently endorsed Liberty Candidate 2010 - Mike McPadden is calling on his fellow conservative candidates to join him in endorsing and supporting a "US House of Representatives VA-5 Conservative Convention" to nominate one conservative to run against Robert Hurt in the June 8th Republican Fifth District Primary.
Inside the Fifth District the idea of a Conservative Convention is gaining traction. Outside the Fifth District national grass roots organizers have offered to fund the Conservative Fifth District Convention in March or April.
According to Mike McPadden, what has precipitated this call is that in December, Tea Party Patriots, Grass Root Republicans, and other conservatives spoke loud and clear to have a nominating convention instead of a very costly primary. Unfortunately their hopes were dashed when the leadership of the Fifth District voted by secret ballot for a primary.
McPadden says, "We must do everything we can to ensure out in the open that our next Congressman is a strict Constitutionalist who upholds the conservative values of lower taxes and limited government."
Convinced that uniting in a Conservative Convention will bring about a positive outcome, McPadden states, "The grass roots of the Republican Party will have their voices heard and their votes counted. Second, deliberately narrowing the Fifth District field to two candidates will increase the odds that a conservative will win the nomination. And third, it could turn the tide of moderate leanings from within the Republican Party and restore the 'Big Tent' party of Reagan to its conservative moorings."
Let's examine this closely.
First the silence is deafening from every other candidate about taking him up on his challenge. Seems he forgot to check with them before floating this disaster of an idea. Bad planning.
Second, He wants to bring in people from outside the district to fund such an idea. Thought he didn't like people like that getting involved.
Third, he brings in Ronald Reagan's "big tent" at the same time he is trying to close the door. Doesn't he remember Reagan's saying that those who agree with you 80% of the time are not your enemies ? Evidently not. Some grown up needs to sit him down and talk to him before he embarasses himslf even more.
1.
North Garden, VA 01/04/10 Republican Congressional Candidate - and recently endorsed Liberty Candidate 2010 - Mike McPadden is calling on his fellow conservative candidates to join him in endorsing and supporting a "US House of Representatives VA-5 Conservative Convention" to nominate one conservative to run against Robert Hurt in the June 8th Republican Fifth District Primary.
Inside the Fifth District the idea of a Conservative Convention is gaining traction. Outside the Fifth District national grass roots organizers have offered to fund the Conservative Fifth District Convention in March or April.
According to Mike McPadden, what has precipitated this call is that in December, Tea Party Patriots, Grass Root Republicans, and other conservatives spoke loud and clear to have a nominating convention instead of a very costly primary. Unfortunately their hopes were dashed when the leadership of the Fifth District voted by secret ballot for a primary.
McPadden says, "We must do everything we can to ensure out in the open that our next Congressman is a strict Constitutionalist who upholds the conservative values of lower taxes and limited government."
Convinced that uniting in a Conservative Convention will bring about a positive outcome, McPadden states, "The grass roots of the Republican Party will have their voices heard and their votes counted. Second, deliberately narrowing the Fifth District field to two candidates will increase the odds that a conservative will win the nomination. And third, it could turn the tide of moderate leanings from within the Republican Party and restore the 'Big Tent' party of Reagan to its conservative moorings."
Let's examine this closely.
First the silence is deafening from every other candidate about taking him up on his challenge. Seems he forgot to check with them before floating this disaster of an idea. Bad planning.
Second, He wants to bring in people from outside the district to fund such an idea. Thought he didn't like people like that getting involved.
Third, he brings in Ronald Reagan's "big tent" at the same time he is trying to close the door. Doesn't he remember Reagan's saying that those who agree with you 80% of the time are not your enemies ? Evidently not. Some grown up needs to sit him down and talk to him before he embarasses himslf even more.
1.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Biggest mistake of the week-times three
I really don't know which is the stupidest move of the week because we have so much to look at. I actually have some really good stuff about two other candidates, but Mike McPadden just outdid anyone else so far this campaign.
First of all, Mike clearly lost the only high profile supporter he had in Ed Robb. Ed gave him credibility in places he would never have gotten on his own. Clearly with the widely distributed email that Ed had sent out, that is no longer the case. It seems the rest of his campaign staff except for the very nice Joshua Solovskoy has disappeared also. If I were Joshua, I would call Ed and find out what happened before I went much further with Mike.
Secondly, Mike sent out an attack email, going after unit chairmen. Does he realize that he just offended twenty one very influential grass roots leaders ? One can understand him wanting to get everyone but himself and Robert Hurt off the ballot but why would you insult those who could help you possibly win a conservative convention ?
Third, Mike has this really off the wall idea of changing the american monetary system back to only silver and gold coins. Mike, please explain how with the current price of silver and gold and the fact that the prices are not stable at all, you would have pennies, nickels, dimes, etc. Silver closed at almost $17 an ounce on the 30th and gold at almost $1100 an ounce. Gold is up almost twenty five percent this year and silver an even bigger fifty percent. If you made coins with enough silver to make them have the value of the silver within equal to the face amount and the price of silver continued up, the only thing that would happen would be a great meltdown of the coins and we would have no coins at all. Then what would you do Mike ? Can you imagine him debating Tom with this idea.
Let's see, you want to run but first your biggest supporter has said he is no longer supporting you, you have dissed the grassroots leaders you will need later and you come up with a crazy idea. You do have one more day this week to make people wonder even more why they should support you. It isn't even close about your making the stupid moves of the week.
First of all, Mike clearly lost the only high profile supporter he had in Ed Robb. Ed gave him credibility in places he would never have gotten on his own. Clearly with the widely distributed email that Ed had sent out, that is no longer the case. It seems the rest of his campaign staff except for the very nice Joshua Solovskoy has disappeared also. If I were Joshua, I would call Ed and find out what happened before I went much further with Mike.
Secondly, Mike sent out an attack email, going after unit chairmen. Does he realize that he just offended twenty one very influential grass roots leaders ? One can understand him wanting to get everyone but himself and Robert Hurt off the ballot but why would you insult those who could help you possibly win a conservative convention ?
Third, Mike has this really off the wall idea of changing the american monetary system back to only silver and gold coins. Mike, please explain how with the current price of silver and gold and the fact that the prices are not stable at all, you would have pennies, nickels, dimes, etc. Silver closed at almost $17 an ounce on the 30th and gold at almost $1100 an ounce. Gold is up almost twenty five percent this year and silver an even bigger fifty percent. If you made coins with enough silver to make them have the value of the silver within equal to the face amount and the price of silver continued up, the only thing that would happen would be a great meltdown of the coins and we would have no coins at all. Then what would you do Mike ? Can you imagine him debating Tom with this idea.
Let's see, you want to run but first your biggest supporter has said he is no longer supporting you, you have dissed the grassroots leaders you will need later and you come up with a crazy idea. You do have one more day this week to make people wonder even more why they should support you. It isn't even close about your making the stupid moves of the week.
Purpose
I hope all understand the purpose of this blog. First there is a blog up in Albemarle that claims to be a Fifth District blog that may as well be incorporated into Mr. Verga's attack and lie machine. The author there has seldom been outside his own area and some balance was/is needed.
Secondly, sadly, some of the seven candidates just will not be able to defeat Tom Perriello. We cannot go forward in changing this country and our district with a second or third tier candidate. This is not about who can win the nomination but who has the ability to win in November. If a candidate for the nomination is a divider of people and the party, they will never be able to win. We can look to the example of the Hokie nation and its great support of our teams that it does make a difference to be together. United we win, divided we fall. Look for the uniters.
Secondly, sadly, some of the seven candidates just will not be able to defeat Tom Perriello. We cannot go forward in changing this country and our district with a second or third tier candidate. This is not about who can win the nomination but who has the ability to win in November. If a candidate for the nomination is a divider of people and the party, they will never be able to win. We can look to the example of the Hokie nation and its great support of our teams that it does make a difference to be together. United we win, divided we fall. Look for the uniters.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy New Year
We hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful new year's eve and day. We have several items of great interest but in the spirit of the new year, we will hold them until tomorrow. Watch some football, remember how good my Hokies were last night and get ready for them to beat UVa in basketball this year.
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