8th Senate District GOP primary may go nasty – and quick
Yesterday, the Jeff McWaters’ campaign for State Senate released a very interesting campaign email that seems like they might know something the rest of us don’t.
Chris LaCivita (who recently aided Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli and was the media advisor for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth) appealed to voters about potential negative campaigning from Rosemary Wilson.
“In her most recent campaign update, Rosemary attacked Jeff McWaters with patent falsehoods. While I won’t bore you with the poorly written fiction, I will tell you that she claims Jeff supported tax increases and that he supports government controlled health care,” writes LaCivita. “Rosemary Wilson is resorting to desperation and to printing and sending out outrageous falsehoods.”
LaCivita goes on to appeal for assistance from voters to report to the campaign any “attack mail”, “attack phone calls”, “attack radio”, and “attack emails.”
While I’d like to think this is merely a reaction to the Wilson update, I sense LaCivita is too smart to be reactive and that this mailer is preemptive.
Which led me to look for potential pitfalls for McWaters.
I discovered via Google two potential story-lines McWaters may have to respond to, if Wilson pursues them (I have no problem sharing them because if I can find it, Wilson already has and McWaters already knows it).
First, McWaters, as CEO of Amerigroup in 2007, was embroiled in a legal proceeding that resulted in liabilities of more than $300 million and a civil penalty of more than $190 million against the company and its affiliate.
At the time, U.S. District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber said the companies’ actions “constituted a several years long, institution-wide goal to fleece defendants’ pockets at the expense of the government, the Medicaid system and the avoided pregnant women” and others with expensive health conditions.
The lawsuit was filed against Amerigroup because the company was accused of not paying healthcare costs for individuals, including pregnant women and those with “expensive health conditions.”
Second, McWaters’ church, Trinity, which he helped found and where he is an elder, does not permit women to hold the position of elder.
As an elder, McWaters’ helped write the church’s official position:
“In searching Scriptures, we found that both men and women were integrally involved in various leadership positions in the church, including the teaching ministries. But it also seemed plain that the qualifications for Elders/Pastors presumed that those roles would be filled by the men of the church while the roles for Deacons and other leaders were not limited in that way.”
The potential argument is this is not an inherited interpretation from a long-standing church; it is a “modern” scriptural interpretation that relegates women in the 21st century, despite no precedent to do so.
I am not saying that either of these issues is devastating or damaging to McWaters, but Wilson may attempt to use them to her advantage.
There are less than two weeks remaining in a campaign that will be decided by name recognition and voter turnout. Will negative campaigning also become part of the equation – from either campaign?
Needless to say, McWaters hiring LaCivita in the waning weeks strikes me as a manager bringing in the most intimidating “closer” he has in the bottom of the ninth – you know, the guy who throws strikes, but isn’t afraid to put one in your ear from time to time. (Ed. update: according to the McWaters campaign, LaCivita has been consulting the campaign since before July.)
If this campaign does go negative, we will find out very soon. With next week being the Thanksgiving holiday, and the following week being the last few days before the election, we may find out as early as this weekend.
With the Democrats effectively abdicating this race, there is the potential for this primary to go nuclear…and in a hurry.
Category: Campaigns and Elections
Loading ...
A Swift Boat guy complaining about negative campaigning is like a dealer complaining about drug trafficking.
Wow I guess we’ve been beating ol Jeff up pretty bad that he had to go bring out the big guns. Personally Im surprised someone like Jeff can be an elder in a church when his company has had so much legal issues. I had heard LaCivita was already involved in Jeff’s campaign from the beginning.
Ultimately if the coward is scared of a negative campaign then perhaps he does have more to hide…
The issue of women not being an “elder” in the church IS supported in scripture and many mainline evangelical denominations hold the same position. I don’t agree with your assessment that this is a negative…many voters attend churches that affirm this interpretation of scripture. Also Scott Rigell is an elder at the same church are you going to blast him for it as well?
As for the Amerigroup stuff, that is pretty bad and I am sure the Wilson campaign will use it to their advantage…because the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
Jeff – I did not assess the church’s position as negative. I said that it potentially could be portrayed that way.
Sorry to have misinterpreted your intent – should have given you the benefit of the doubt. I don’t think it will be an issue as stated in my previous post and think it would backfire on whomever tried to make it an issue.
If it comes down to a knife fight, don’t bet against LaCivita. He’s damned good at what he does, even if what he does is pretty ugly.
Boyd Marcus, Chris Woodfin, and Aaron Gulbransen are no slouches either.
Boyd didn’t get known as the Prince of Darkness or Lord Vader for nothing.
So, if Rosemary was running against a Catholic, would she attack the Catholic Church for not ordaining women as priests?
My point is if that’s where Rosemary wants to go, that could backfire on her easily.
Boyd isn’t working for Rosemary. He’s working for Loyola.
Here is a novel thought…follow Bob McDonnell’s campaign and focus on the …. wait for it … issues! Stop pre-emptively going negative and tout your own successes and plans for the position if elected. It has just been proven to be the most effective way to win. Instead we will more than likely see negativity and mud-slinging. The last time I checked our Virginia GOP Creed (and we read it at most of our Republican City Committee Meetings) I did not see anything about this type of campaigning…
“The potential argument is this is not an inherited interpretation from a long-standing church; it is a “modern” scriptural interpretation that relegates women in the 21st century, despite no precedent to do so.”
Whoever makes such an argument will be sorry they did. This is in fact a long-standing position of many evangelical churches with great historical and modern precedent.
Well here’s what I find interesting. This “church” lets Jeff McWaters be an elder when his own company who actions “constituted a several years long, institution-wide goal to fleece defendants’ pockets at the expense of the government, the Medicaid system and the avoided pregnant women” and others with expensive health conditions.”
So you can be a elder and steal from people and the government. We all aren’t perfect but Im suspicious of any church who lets someone who is the CEO and leader of a company with that kind of record be in a position of leadership.
So now we can say Jeff is a Moral Coward and Shameless too boot!
Again I ask? How many abortions did Amerigroup pay for during his tenure. If they paid for even ONE then the blood of that innocent is on his hands.
Wake up folks do you want scum like this representing our party I don’t think so!
Reid, who’s going to be sorry? Rosemary, for being a woman? Or just in general a woman who wants to be in power?
Women for McWaters is the equivalent of the NAACP for David Duke.
How does Amerigroup’s “Fleecing of the taxpayer at the expense of the government” ring with the message of peace, love and hope? I’d hate to go to that Christmas party.
James,
You clearly misunderstood what I was saying. I was referring to what J.R. wrote about McWater’s church’s position on male elders possibly being brought into question. I said whoever wants to argue that:
“this is not an inherited interpretation from a long-standing church; it is a “modern” scriptural interpretation that relegates women in the 21st century, despite no precedent to do so.”
My point is that male eldership is a commonly held view in evangelical churches and has lots of historical and modern precedent. Whoever wants to make a fuss about it will probably not get far and be met with vocal opposition. I wasn’t saying anything about Rosemary…you did. This is has nothing to do with women in politics, it’s about a church’s view on women in church leadership. Totally different.
Yeah, women not being allowed to vote has a lot of historical precedent too.
So McWaters believes women in church leadership bad but a man can be even though he runs a company convicted of stealing from people and the government.
That my friends screams hypocrite!
Looks like LaCivita was right on, the Wilson campaign was handing out negative literature about McWaters this morning at the VB Republican breakfast. McWaters did not reciprocate.
Negative literature? It contained quotes that McWaters repeated to the crowd this morning. Does that mean McWaters was being negative toward himself?
Yes Brian, negative literature. It was a piece that was intended to be negative about McWaters. That qualifies as negative literature. Jeff was not passing out anything about Rosemary. Your candidate of choice made a poor decision today.
What candidate of choice?
If the piece was so negative, McWaters wasn’t very smart in repeating what it said in his remarks and confirming it.
I should point out that on the Trinity Website there are several women who serve as Deacons, which is a position of leadership and is more than what the Southern Baptist convention allows (the nations largest evangelical denomination).
By Brian’s own assertion, then Bob McDonnell is disqualified from being governor because of the Catholic church’s position on women in leadership and Mitt Romney is disqualified from being president because of the Mormon church’s similar position.
By the way, accompanying that “negative flier” was an op-ed piece McWaters himself wrote in 2007 that said Obama’s health plan did not go far enough.
The only people disputing McWater’s stance on health care are the McWaters campaign.
Saul, you mention only men that are in power. Not the fact that a woman is running against McWaters,a man who has stated his opposition to women being in power elsewhere.
I used to make a comment, slightly as a joke. How do you tick off a Liberal? Present them with facts and statistics… We all as Republicans have stuck together in the past and all know this “joke” to be a fact when opposing Liberals. Now, look at what’s going on. we are dividing this party here in VB and it is quite sad to see. I understand McWater’s supporters for being upset…..possibly because everything the Wilson campaign put out is true! There is no way anyone can dispute it because her campaign provided the op ed piece that backed up the “negetive piece”. The McWaters camp is sounding like Democrats lately. Just own up to it when it is true…which Jeff did today. So, this “negetive piece” was nothing more than providing the voters with information that they may not know, as well as what came right out of his mouth. If we don’t watch out, this party is going to split. We lost last year because the Republican lost it’s way. Mandated healthcare is NOT a Republican stance, no if, an’s, or but’s about it.
Saul, what assertion of mine are you talking about?
It’s interesting to read the back and forth banter on this upcoming firehouse, when it isn’t even on the voter’s radar. Considering that most believe the election was held last week and the malls are now packed with holiday shoppers on the weekends it will be a wonder if many will show up at the five (where is that?) locations. Passing out fliers at the Republican breakfast may have reached possibly 20 eligible 8th district voters. There is so much on people’s mind currently, it will be a wonder even if they remember to show up on a Saturday in December between the hours of 10 and 3.
All and all, Rosemary Wilson has shaken the hand of many a city employee and teacher over the years and has the greater name recognition of those most likely to show up, on December 5th. Unless Jeff can get those 17,000 jobs he created to the polls, he’s toast.
Does anyone know why it was decided to hold the party canvass on the same day as the RPV Advance?
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/11/health-care-divides-senate-hopefuls-gop-forum
Now the press is “boring us with poorly written fiction” apparently, wake up! McWaters is an oportunistic “Republican” and thinks he can buy this race, and a chauvinistic bum to boot. We’ve all been saying the same thing from day one. Now when will the true Republicans stand up?
I didn’t even mention how unversed on transportation he is. Good work Jeff, I pity this district if you win this thing.
[...] 8th Senate District GOP primary may go nasty — and quick (BearingDrift.com) [...]