Updated: Jun. 7, 11:55 p.m. with a story by the Washington Post
In a recent mailer sent to residents of the Eighth Congressional District, candidate for the GOP congressional nomination, Mark Ellmore, states that his opponent, Amit Singh, in an interview on Blacknell.net would “not vote for John McCain.”
However, according to Blacknell, no such statement was ever made.
On several occasions, including to Bearing Drift, Singh has pledged his support to Sen. McCain. Singh also attended the opening of the national McCain Headquarters in Arlington.
So, is the Ellmore campaign lying?
I contacted the campaign last evening to find out why they sent this and a spokesman responded by saying this piece was in response to a mailer sent by the Singh campaign. I requested to speak with Ellmore to find out more and why the claims about Singh’s views were characterized the way they were, but he was unavailable.
“All of our comparison mailers are strictly factual with proper source information,” said Singh last evening. “I take responsibility for the quotes I made but not the ones fabricated. I challenge them to find one false piece of information in our literature.”
In addition to the above claims on Singh’s position regarding McCain, the flyer also purportedly quotes a Washington Post caption of Singh appearing with Ron Paul stating:
“Amit Singh with his Libertarian mentor Ron Paul, who reportedly has plans to disrupt the Republican Convention in Minneapolis.”
According to Singh, no such statement or caption appears in the Post.
Mark Ellmore ran for the Republican nomination in 2006, losing to Tom Odonoghue, who was subsequently defeated by Rep. Jim Moran by 35% of the vote, 66-31. Amit Singh began his campaign for Congress in March. Moran is expected to easily win the Democratic nomination and is seeking his 10th term.
Update: The Ellmore campaign responded this afternoon with a press release that doesn’t address the accusations of false statements in their material, but in turn accuses Singh of using false statements in his latest mailer.
In a recent smear campaign mailer targeting Ellmore, the Singh campaign falsely portrayed Ellmore as someone opposed to a fence on the border. “Ellmore has been clear on this issue since day one: secure the borders first and build a fence today,” said Daniel Tillson. In the same article that Singh referenced in his mailer, Ellmore is quoted saying, “I do believe in securing the border with a fence,” directly contradicting Singh’s accusation.
Singh further accused Ellmore of receiving money from an AFL-CIO union. The contribution in question was a one time donation received in a separate campaign from the local Fire Fighters Union. “It is egregious to cast such a shadow on a group which risk their lives daily for our community”, state Ellmore spokesperson Mike Lane.
Update 2: The Washington Post writes today that the quote and photo on the flier attributed to them never appeared in the paper. The Ellmore campaign told Post reporter Theresa Vargas that the information for the quote comes from the LA Times and that it was an “honest” mistake. However, a simple search of the LA Times Web site reveals that there is no article that writes about Amit Singh.
Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. 
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This is really upsetting. What happened to the honest campaign that the Ellmore staff promised?
So, wait… anyone who does not blindly support McCain is not a Republican? Hmmm, maybe I should find a new party
Either way, it sure is telling when one can question the support of the GOP POTUS candidate… Remember when we would nominate candidates that people were happy about?
Now, now, I know I am about get blasted here (And on email) about such comments, but I refuse to just lay down and say nothing about this years’ field. I am tired of accepting and voting for people I do not want to simply out of the (now VERY common) Liberl Boogy Man argument:
“Sure, candidate X is not the best we can do, but what else are you going to do? Vote for the Bad Bad liberal… BE AFRAID!”
I am tired of being bullied into voting for a candidate that eith is sub-par or will only serve to continue a path I feel the party should stop heading down.
Ok, and being…
Here is another way of putting it: Wouldn’t it be nice, for a change, in the GOP to want to vote FOR someone and not just against the liberal boogie (wo)man?
“Remember when we would nominate candidates that people were happy about?”
Dole? Ford? George H.W. Bush?
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the Democrats’ entire campaign is based on George W. Bush.
Nobody’s bullying you, SW, except for the ALL the voters who decided to support McCain instead of your choice.
There is a fascist element in the Republican Party. These are the same shallow people who insist that if you have the temerity to question “W” on issues like warrantless spying on Americans, then you are obviously a terrorist.
“You are either with us or with the terrorist” Bushies like to chant.
This mantra has been misconstrued by some of the “old guard” Republicans into meaning that we now have a 100% loyalty standard; that in order to have Party membership, one must support not just local nominees, but all nominees with the Party label next to their name.
Only stupid people would take such a pledge seriously and the Party must stop asking for such blind, mindless support.
We could attract millions more activists to the GOP if the standard of membership was simply, general accord with the Republican Creed, and support for our Constitution. We should maintain the realistic position that occasionally, Party members will make a principled decision to support a candidate who is outside of the Republican brand. Having such a standard would help ensure broad appeal of the Party and would also help ensure that Party candidates would have to remain attentive to the citizens and could not merely take us for granted.
Mr. Ellmore should learn that if Amit Singh doesn’t support John McCain, Amit’s principled decision should be respected. I will support McCain, but the fact that Amit may not, does not in any way make Amit less attractive as a candidate for Congress. To me it shows that Amit Singh can think for himself and will be an effective voice for the citizens, and not merely a lackey for another Imperial President.
J., I find the fringe who want to decide who is a “real Republican” and who is a “Republican in name only” much more hateful and problematic.
Those folks would protest Ivory for only being 99 44/100% pure.
Check out Crystal Clear Conservative’s interview on April 3, 2008 stating from Mark Ellmore:
“I do not support building a wall on the border”.
Good look Bill!
You are 100% correct
Excellent point, Brian. Frank Wolf is facing a ridiculous challenge from the wingnuts who somehow think he is not quite pure enough for their tastes. The fringe is really losing it.
Instead of admitting they lied, Ellmore’s campaign continues to make up quotes. . .now they are on the record attributing it to the LA Times???? Wonder what the LA Times would think of that.
The LA Times did have a story about Ron Paul disrupting the Convention:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/05/ronpaulgop.html
For those who say the McCain allegations are a lie, lets see Amit pledge not to participate or support these efforts to disrupt the convention and condemn those who are doing it (he won’t), let’s see a full statement from Amit fully endorsing John McCain for President and acknowledging Ron Paul’s defeat in the primary (he won’t).
Despite some sourcing problems, what’s wrong with this mailer again? He’s anti military, wants to surrender in Iraq and stands with Ron Paul instead of his Party’s leader John McCain who defeated Ron Paul in FREE PRIMARIES by 80%+ most of the time.
darius – I challenge Ellmore to deny allegations that he wants our military uniforms to be changed to clown suits. What? You mean he’s never said that? Well, some folks out there think its a great idea and until he goes on record against it, well, he might as well have said it. He needs to stand against it and fully endorse our current military garb (he won’t).
Baseless accusations should not need to be denied because they’re baseless.
So Amit does not support efforts to disrupt the convention and condemns those who do? Amit will be voting for John McCain over writing in Ron Paul/voting for Bob Barr?
I don’t see why its baseless. His own mentor refuses to endorse McCain, many Ron Paul supporters are going to conventions with the express purpose of trying to win delegate spots to force more speaking time for Ron Paul. Amit comes from this wing of the party and Amit states this himself proudly.
Darius – Why in the world should someone acknowledge a complete LIE from the Ellmore camp? Ellmore should retract such statements but instead he continues to perpetuate the lie.
Name one place where you read Amit wanted to disrupt the district convention?
Ellmore MADE UP FALSE QUOTES FROM THE WASHINGTON POST, BLACKNELL, and countless blogs. HE IS AS DIRTY AS POLITICS GETS. SHAME ON HIM AND HIS STAFF FOR DISGRACING THE GOP AND THOSE WHO ENDORSED HIM.
If he can’t make an honest mailer on the issues, then clearly he’s not ready for the General Election or even deserving of the GOP nomination.
Darius, it isnt even this baseless lie from the post… he lied refering to blacknell.net also. The writer of that blog overtly said in a word, ellmores statements are false. He also lied about statements made from a speech of his… I was there that day. This is a complete ethical laps and only reinforces the elctorates view that repulicans are hypocrits when it comes to preaching values. Amit has been on the record over and over again saying hes voting for McCain. And now ellmore has just allienated a lot of the local press due to lying to all of them. I ashamed to be associated with a republican party that committs these kinds of acts. Now the post is going to be more then happy to tie the entire republican party to this behavior and embarress our entire ticket if ellmore wins the nomination.
Darius, I like this game so allow me to chime in:
So Ellmore does not support Free Pizza Fridays? Will Ellmore swear that taxpayers shouldn’t pay for a federally mandated Free Pizza Friday?
I don’t see how this is baseless. Everyone love free pizza, yet it shouldn’t be the Federal government’s place to take our hard earned money to provide it across America. Until Ellmore speaks out against such a horrible plan I don’t know how anyone can support him.
You see, Darius, Amit has already said these claims are baseless. So now you want him to swear that they’re baseless?
The quote in the piece stated that Amit was with Ron Paul, who plans to disrupt the convention. Not that Amit himself was going to disrupt the convention.
I never said Amit personally wants to disrupt the convention, I said he comes from a branch of the party that wants to disrupt the convention. If Amit has a different view than the vast majority this branch, lets hear it.
Amit calls himself a Ron Paul Republican. Well, the vast majority of Ron Paul Republicans do not support McCain and have been working to get more speaking time for Ron Paul at the convention.
If there is an interview, video or audio of Amit stating his intent to vote for McCain or Amit condemning the actions of Ron Paul supporters disrupting the convention, feel free to post it
Jason
If he has said they are baseless, could you post a link? All I’ve seen is that they are disputing the source or quote, not the content.
Why doesn’t the Singh campaign just say this:
“Contrary to the Ellmore piece, Amit has repeatedly stated his support for John McCain and intends to cast his vote for him this fall”? or “The allegations made in the Ellmore piece are false, Amit Singh does not support Ron Paul in disrupting the convention”?
Why are they not addressing the content?
So what else does Amit need to take a public stand on? The need to lower the toxicity of pee pucks? Perhaps he needs to take a stand once and for all on steroids in baseball.
That flyer is full of lies, Darius. Not just mis-attribution of sources but out right lies. How is demanding Amit explain himself and clear himself of lies necessary?
The Ellmore campaign needs to explain why they are passing these off as fact!
This isn’t a way to run a campaign and it sure isn’t a way to win one.
When the content is patently false it doesn’t even deserve to be addressed.
Alright Mikey, I see where you’re coming from. But sometimes silence speaks louder than words. Supposing I accuse you of stealing a car. Let’s say you hear about it. If you don’t say anything, or if you don’t refute anything, I’m going to be even more suspicious than I was to start with. BTW, as an intern for Mark, I hereby deny that he wants military uniforms to be changed into clown suits
amit openly said he was supporting McCain in the most recent addition of the American Conservative Magazine
http://amit08.com/documents/20080602_AmConMag7-11.pdf
Is it bad if Amit doesn’t vote for McCain? I’ve been a Republican my entire life and I’m not voting for the gun grabbing, baby killing, free speech trampling, give illegals amnesty John McCain.
Do you Republicans, like Ellmore, have absolutely no principle at all? Am I seriously expected to vote for a big-government socialist just because he happens to have an “R” by his name?
The days of big-government Republicanism are coming to an end….
“BABY KILLING???”
Mr. Gentry, you are WAY over the line here.
For the record, I wouldn’t vote for him either if it weren’t for the fact that there are going to be at least two supreme court openings within the next four years. This isn’t about making statements by voting or not voting. It’s about the entire future or our nation resting in this next election.
(All this is rhetorical, since I can’t vote anyway)
I received a mailer from Singh that is funny because they misrepresent a quote from the Washington Post.
“Singh represents traditional Republican values”
and the source is the Washington Post
When you pull up the article it turns out that it is Singh talking about himself to the reporter- NOT the opinion of the Washington Post as he has led the public to believe. That Singh is so sneaky
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/04/AR2008040403428.html
Nice try Dan. Grasping at straws at this point? You folks at Ellmore’s camp need to get better at your lies. All you are doing at this point is perpetuating them.
Baby killing is over the line? I think not.
John McCain voted not once, but I believe three times to give over 65 million dollars of tax-payer money to Planned Parenthood. Just in the 2006-2007 period, Planned Parenthood performed over 289,000 abortions.
Perhaps you don’t consider someone who votes to give tax-payer money to Planned Parenthood a baby killer, but I do.
I’m here to call a spade a spade — even if that spade does happen to have an “R” by his name.
For the record, I support Free Pizza Fridays. Typical liberal redistributionist, I know.