Gilmore For Senate communication director Ana Gamonal was suspended for two weeks without pay after trying to sign up for Mark Warner’s email list under a false name:
Dick Leggitt, Gilmore’s senior strategist, said Gamonal sent an email to Warner’s campaign under a false name and asked to be put on the Democrat’s email list. Leggitt said Warner campaign officials confronted Gamonal after they learned her real identity.
Gamonal told Leggitt and other Gilmore advisers about the incident earlier today. Gilmore decided to suspend Gamonal without pay.
“Governor Gilmore is all about transparency,” Leggitt said. “We don’t deceive people. We don’t pretend we are something we are not so it is not the kind of thing we want anyone on our staff doing.”
What’s especially embarrassing is that she used her personal email account to try and join the list, using a false name in the signature:
From: Ana Gamonal de Navarro [mailto:********@cox.net]
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008 10:15 PM
To: Emily Kryder
Subject: please add me to your press listMs. Kryder,
I am a free lance writer for several of the local Spanish language papers here in Virginia. Could you please add me to your distribution list for press releases.
Thank you,
Alexis Navarro
Not smart.
Both the Gilmore and Warner campaigns have handled this very well, Gilmore only giving a suspension, Warner accepting her apology and looking “forward to seeing her back out on the campaign trail.” It certainly doesn’t help Gilmore, going into the final seven or so weeks of the campaign and having to deal with in-house issues like this.
