A batch of court documents landed in my email box Friday afternoon that looked like hot stuff: a criminal proceeding against Republican Dave LaRock, who is challenging incumbent Republican Joe May in the 33rd House district primary. What kind of criminal proceeding? Here are the documents:
With no other context, these might seem quite damning. Except LaRock isn’t exactly running from it. Quite the contrary. He has addressed the issue on the front page of his campaign website:
Early last year, a large sign advertising a West Virginia “adult” store was posted on Rt. 9 just a few feet from the road near my home.
This offensive sign was posted illegally.
For weeks, parents complained to Loudoun County that their children were exposed to this disgusting sign that included a lewd photo of a woman.
After weeks of authorities doing nothing to make the owner remove the illegal sign, I removed it and threw it away. That is what happened, no arrests, no trespassing, no court orders. Joe has made that up to manipulate voters. And rather than trying to hide the story, we gave the whole story to a blogger and it was published almost three months ago.
Indeed it was. What’s more, LaRock turns the matter around entirely and tosses it back at May, who has used the arrest record in a mail piece:
The truth is that I have never been arrested in my entire life.
Why does he campaign this way?
May is using vicious, negative personal attacks, and will continue to do so, trying to distract voters from the facts of his voting record.
As to what appear to be conflicting claims about the arrest, Greg Letiecq has a solution:
So was LaRock trying to hide something? No. Was he arrested? The paperwork seems to indicate that but in the quite likely case that LaRock was not taken into custody his statement that he was never arrested from his perspective could be absolutely honest, albeit technically inaccurate according to a check mark on a form.
My suggestion for the remaining weeks of this race is LaRock send out a mail piece with him tearing up porno advertisements with “Go ahead and arrest me for this!” emblazoned across the top while Joe May can send out a mail piece of him posing with a West Virginia business owner talking about how he’s the only candidate in the race that respect the rule of law and private property rights.
For technical marks, they both get failing grades here. As for the rest, it’s your call.
Mercifully, the primary is June 11th.
