Past Donations Ultimately Irrelevant in 2nd District Race

Heading into the official start of the 2010 election cycle, the 2nd District race remains as muddied as ever, despite the recent withdrawal of Chuck Smith, first reported here at Bearing Drift. Indeed, six candidates remain (five officially) and in our ever-present need to nit-pick and fact find over minutiae brings us to this post.

The single largest criticism of Scott Rigell has been his donation to Barack Obama’s primary battle against Hillary Clinton last year. Additionally, there have been comments made on this site about another donation to Louise Lucas back in 2001. On paper, this could be a troubling pattern. However, looking beyond and getting the actual circumstance shows otherwise. Of course, this is also looking beyond Scott Rigell’s $170,000+ donations to state candidates ($0 to Democrats) as well as the $130,000+ in federal donations to Republican candidates. Regardless, I asked the Rigell camp to respond. Their statement (full text can be found below in its entirety):

There were personal checks over that period totaling $1,500 that went to Democrats, including the $500 check in question, which was written in June 2001 to a person Scott understood to be a longtime, loyal Freedom Ford customer.

Over the years, Scott has given close to $20,000 to his personal friend Randy Forbes as he ran for public office, including his campaigns for state Senate, Lt. Governor, and United States Congress. The longstanding friendship that Scott and Congressman Forbes and their families enjoy is one based on their shared commitment to conservative principles in government and in the home. Scott greatly admires the work Congressman Forbes does representing Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District. In fact, just earlier this month, Scott and Teri were honored to have Congressman Forbes as a guest in their home for a Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation meeting.

I pressed for details specifically regarding the donation, simple story is Lucas solicited the funds as a loyal Freedom Ford customer and ‘leader in the African-American community.’ After writing the check, Rigell immediately turned around and donated double to Randy Forbes campaign. A complete non-story.

Additionally, Bert Mizusawa also has a similar situation. While not as much as Rigell’s substantial Republican donations, Mizusawa has donated over $14,000 combined at the state and federal level. However, he too has a Democratic donation, to Jack Reed’s Senatorial campaign in Rhode Island back in 99. I’ve contacted the Mizusawa camp and am waiting on their response.

But at the end of the day, big picture time. Do Scott Rigell’s two donations, which equal less than a half a percent of his combined recent donations, show him to be a lesser conservative than Loyola, Golden, Taylor or Maulbeck? In this writer’s opinion, no. You may disagree. But I have repeatedly said, if the only thing we can find on Scott Rigell or now, Bert Mizusawa, is a campaign donation from the past, then that I can live with. Now, if it comes out that Rigell or anyone for that matter donates to liberal think tanks, or helps fund Planned Parenthood, then it’s a viable issue. But two campaign checks that equal less half a percent of donations total? The more digging that’s done, the more irrelevant they become, much to the chagrin of many dark horse supporters. Let’s start off 2010 with some substantial issues and move away from the nit-picking.

Full Rigell Statement:

“At Scott Rigell’s request, a summary of his full political contribution history was recently prepared. This report identified more than $400,000 in political contributions given by Scott, his wife, Teri, and their businesses over the past 15 years. Over 99% of their contributions went directly to Republican candidates, including such leading conservatives as George Allen, Michael Farris, Ollie North, Jim Gilmore, Jerry Kilgore, Mark Earley and Randy Forbes, and the Republican party. There were personal checks over that period totaling $1,500 that went to Democrats, including the $500 check in question, which was written in June 2001 to a person Scott understood to be a longtime, loyal Freedom Ford customer.

Over the years, Scott has given close to $20,000 to his personal friend Randy Forbes as he ran for public office, including his campaigns for state Senate, Lt. Governor, and United States Congress. The longstanding friendship that Scott and Congressman Forbes and their families enjoy is one based on their shared commitment to conservative principles in government and in the home. Scott greatly admires the work Congressman Forbes does representing Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District. In fact, just earlier this month, Scott and Teri were honored to have Congressman Forbes as a guest in their home for a Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation meeting.

Scott remains proud of his giving record, both in volunteer time and money. His family’s giving has helped conservative, Republican leaders get elected and ably serve Virginia and America. In 1991, Scott served as Bob McDonnell’s first Finance Chairman in his initial run for the Virginia House of Delegates and walked door-to-door for our future governor. Two years later, Scott stood by George Allen as a delegate to the state Republican Convention and supported him in his historic win of the governor’s mansion. In 1994, he was a maxed out financial contributor to Ollie North in helping support the Republican Revolution of the same year. In 2008, Scott was a maxed out financial contributor to both Mitt Romney and John McCain in their presidential campaigns.

Scott’s message of job creation, controlling the growth of government, and energy independence has resonated with voters in Hampton Roads and on the Eastern Shore during these difficult economic times. Furthermore, Scott’s verifiable track record of consistent and generous support of conservative candidates is only one of many reasons why his campaign continues to build incredible momentum in Virginia’s Second Congressional District.”

Сейчас уже никто не берёт классический кредит, приходя в отделение банка. Это уже в далёком прошлом. Одним из главных достижений прогресса является возможность получать кредиты онлайн, что очень удобно и практично, а также выгодно кредиторам, так как теперь они могут ссудить деньги даже тем, у кого рядом нет филиала их организации, но есть интернет. http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi.html - это один из сайтов, где заёмщики могут заполнить заявку на получение кредита или микрозайма онлайн. Посетите его и оцените удобство взаимодействия с банками и мфо через сеть.