In my day job, I work for Americans for Limited Government, and today I spent the day researching, writing, and promoting stories about the IRS’s targeting of conservative organizations. In fact I have been focused on this issue since Friday when the story broke [1]. Imagine my shock when a Republican statewide candidate compared my investigation to anonymous attacks to the politicization of the IRS by the Obama administration. Shocking? Well that is what Corey Stewart did when he attacked almost the entire VA conservative blogosphere with his email this evening [2].
Since Corey has resorted to the politics of personal destruction instead of responding to the serious allegations being leveled against him, I figured it was time to respond section by section to his latest email. Here is my response.
Dear William
As you may have seen, some in the media, By this I assume you mean myself [3], Breitbart’s [4] multiple [5]articles [6], and Virginia Virtucon [7]? doing the bidding for another candidate in the race for Lieutenant Governor, Corey, let’s get this straight. You have attacked almost every other candidate with your anonymous attacks and as a result, there is a coalition of unpaid Lingamfelter, Snyder, Jackson, and Stimpson supporters working together to expose where these attacks came from. You have united the field. are now attacking me because a conservative group sent out campaign mailers benefiting my campaign for Lieutenant Governor. One of these “news” outlets even insinuated that we may have violated the law. This is hogwash.
Corey, there are very strong allegations that you were behind [7] three separate sets [6] of anonymous attacks [3] that skirt the law and seem to undermine the purpose of VA campaign finance law [8]. Responding to it with a bit more than “hogwash” might be advisable.
Virginians for Limited Government, (VLG) a conservative 501(c)(4) organization which has supported multiple conservative causes in Virginia, recently sent out mailers highlighting my record of cutting spending and taxes. VLG has such a long record supporting conservative causes in VA, that no one in the state besides yourself knew who they were when the mailers were sent out, also they didn’t just highlight your record, but instead distorted the facts to attack multiple opponents at once [9]. These newspapers have insinuated that because I have supported conservative groups like VLG in the past means that I have therefore coordinated with them. That is not how the law operates, since “coordination” refers to coordinating expenditures, not fundraising. When a “Virginia” organization is created in the middle of a campaign season with a president [10] from your home town [11], one who is a good friend from your committee [10], and another who you recently hired to work for you [10], and when you admit to giving money to the group and won’t condemn the ads [12], denying coordination goes beyond the absurd. A 1-minute telephone call to the Virginia Board of Elections could have clarified this, but none of these newspapers even bothered. Do these attacks sound familiar? They should, since VLG is just the type of conservative organization that the IRS and the liberal media has been targeting.
Since you clearly haven’t been reading the blogs, Corey, Jim Riley did make a call to multiple state organizations and that is how he discovered the document. [7] Also, I’ve been involved in the IRS Targeting story more than Corey Stewart has been, and VLG would not be the kind of organization the IRS would target since it is an organization that is still getting its paperwork filed and has yet to file for a tax exempt status. Also comparing conservative bloggers who were rather supportive of you to the liberal media is both inaccurate and only makes them angrier.
In conjunction with one of my current opponents, these press attacks are now being disseminated by my former Democratic opponent, John Gray. Which by the way, how does a former Democratic candidate get a copy of the 2013 Republican Delegate list?
From another Lieutenant Governor campaign?
Good question Corey. Where did VLG get the mailing list from [6]? They could only get the list from a campaign, and what other campaign would give a list to a group to send out puff pieces on your behalf [4]?
Ever since winning the support of The Virginia Tea Party Federation and Middle Resolution, I have been under fire from groups who are trying to undermine my record of Conservative governance. They do not like the fact that I have implemented the nation’s toughest crackdown on illegal immigration. They do not want to give me credit for eliminating spending, cutting taxes, and shrinking the size of government in Prince William County. I have been attacked by the press in the past, but I did not back down then. And I will not back down now.
These attacks will not discourage me from storming into Richmond and winning the nomination at the convention on Saturday.
I know grassroots conservatives like you want a strong candidate who won’t back down. You want a leader presiding over the 20-20 Senate who will not stray from our shared conservative principles even in the face of adversity.
I have stood up to liberals, the media and even moderates in our party for conservative values.
I ask for your vote on Saturday so I can do the same in Richmond.
Corey Stewart
Republican Candidate for Lt. Governor
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In all honesty, Corey, you need to stop responding to criticism in such an irresponsible way. Your previous email where you told the state you weren’t a drunk [14] cried out for a humorous response. This response to criticism was so factually inaccurate it demanded a more serious response.