Deeds camp sending mixed messages

Remember a couple of weeks ago when a female Deeds staffer called the McDonnell campaign, attempting to pose as a reporter to get news releases?

It sent Deeds campaign manger Joe Abbey into orbit and he reprimanded the worker.

Well, now something similar has happened.

Apparently someone at Deeds camp has gone off the reservation again and is saying one thing to the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association and another to the Fraternal Order of Police about collective bargaining.

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds found himself in hot water with two organizations representing state public safety employees Tuesday after he gave the groups differing answers about whether he supports collective bargaining for law enforcement personnel.

Deeds told the Fraternal Order of Police of Virginia in writing that he supports a bill pending before Congress that includes a so-called “meet and confer” provision that would allow public safety employees to send a representative to negotiate wages with local police and sheriff’s departments.
….
But the Deeds campaign now says the questionnaire was filled out incorrectly by a staff member. The senator told members of the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association Monday that he does not support collective bargaining, association executive director John Jones said.

Twice in two weeks is a trend.

If this was indeed an error by the staffer, as the Deeds campaign insists, then that certainly calls into question the candidate’s ability to manage his staff. If he can’t keep it aligned during a campaign, how can he expect to do so as governor? Are we really going to be able to trust what would be coming out of that administration? Are we going to have confidence that the governor or his chief of staff have seen or read the material being discussed?

Or is he genuinely being duplicitous? Two clearly divergent policy statements certainly appears as if Deeds was intentionally sending two different messages to two different organizations. One would think questionnaires to major policy advocates like the FOP and VSA certainly had to be approved before being submitted, if not by Deeds, certainly by senior staff, such as Abbey.

Either way, can Virginians trust what Creigh Deeds is telling them anymore?

And perhaps most important of all, why is he always passing the buck onto his staff?

Update: Video from RPV

Contribute for Conservatism!

About the author

JR Hoeft

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. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.