According to The Free-Lance Star, Fredericksburg Democrats want 1st Congressional District candidate Dr. Keith Hummel, who suspended his campaign two weeks ago, to withdraw:
Wednesday night, the Fredericksburg Democratic committee unanimously passed a resolution asking chairwoman Amy La Marca to “immediately write Dr. Keith Hummel demanding his immediate withdrawal as the nominee.”
The committee also unanimously passed a resolution calling for the resignation of [1st District Democratic chairwoman Suzette] Matthews due to her “failure to properly review” Hummel’s background as well as “her refusal to promptly react” when Hummel’s background surfaced.
Time is getting short for the 1st District to have a candidate in place. This is a tough district for Democrats so a quick resolution is important.
UPDATE: The text of the resolutions appear below the fold.
RESOLUTION #1 of July 16, 2008
That the chairperson of this committee is to immediately write Dr. Keith Hummel demanding his immediate withdrawal as the nominee from the First Congressional District for the United States House of Representatives; and that a copy of this Resolution be provided to every member of the First Congressional District Democratic Committee, every chairperson of every local Democratic committee in the First Congressional District, the Chairperson of the State Central Democratic Committee, and each delegate to the First District Congressional District Democratic Convention.
(Unanimously passed.)RESOLUTION #2 of July 16, 2008
That the Fredericksburg Democratic Committee chairperson is to write the chairperson of the First Congressional District Democratic Committee requesting her immediate resignation as Chairperson based upon:
1. Her failure to properly review the background of the current nominee of
this district for the United States House of Representatives; and,2. Her refusal to promptly react to the information provided to her
regarding the background of our current nominee; and,3. Her apparent continuing personal support of this district’s nominee for
the United States House of Representatives despite the information presented to her; and,That she be requested to immediately obtain the withdrawal of this district’s nominee with a copy of this resolution to be provided to each member of the First Congressional District Committee, each chairperson of each local Democratic committee in this district, the Chairperson of the Virginia State Democratic Central Committee, and each delegate who attended the First Congressional District convention. (Unanimously passed.)
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I completely agree with 630slugtodc. Gene, you continue to miss the point on the vetting process. If it is true that the 1st Congressional District spent a total of 3 hours vetting this candidate behind closed doors, it is a total embarrassment and again Suzette needs to immediately step down. I understand what is involved in a thorough vetting process, but what disturbes me the most is that a 15 minute effort would have exposed the sheer magnitude and number of bankruptcies. How could Hummel be trusted to spend our tax dollars when he could not even mananage his own money?
At this point, the 1st Congressional District Committee led by Suzette has lost any and all credibility. The longer she remains chairwoman the longer this circus continues.
Becoming more curious about this, I took a look at Raising Kaine and found this “dialogue” (http://raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=14840) which included Hummel’s campaign suspension press release.
Whatever happened, it appears that the 1st CD has some serious operational problems … but is that something new? Will the DPVA step in and help? They’ve been asked before. Regardless of the gerrymandering excuse, this year’s election is about populist issues and there could have been a chance to “make the case” for a Democrat. Sadly, we’ve missed that opportunity. There really should be a formal (doesn’t have to be public) long, hard look at what happened: timelines, procedures used, written guidance used, candidate selection committee staffing (I keep seeing the same names over and over), communication, DPVA oversight, etc. and a solution drafted so that embarrassing situations like this are less likely to happen in the future.
I’ve heard that generic stories that physicians tend not to be good at business. I know of more than one physician that has filed for bankruptsy. I also know of a contractor who was stiffed out of thousands of dollars for work on a plastic surgeon’s office in Williamsburg (the property was actully owned by his father and pretty much all of the plastic surgeon’s supposed assets were under the ownership of other people, reportedly to protect against malpractice suits!)
If this Dr. Keith Hummel has been involved in several bankruptsy proceedings, the probability that he will pull out of the race properly on his own is unlikely. I expect his mommy did his dirty work for him when he was younger, then his office staff and his wife (if he has one) have been doing it since then. I think the best thing to do is for someone to prepare the paperwork and carry it over to the guy to get him to sign it. If a notary is needed, he/she will need to go over as well. Making motions or sending letters to someone like this is probably as waste of time. IMHO, y’all just need to do it, move on, and hope that nobody you know or like gets rolled into an operating room the guy is in.
Flash,
I could understand someone having to file for one bankruptcy.
Everyone at some point has financial troubles.
But this guy had five.
Flash, come on…you’re just continuing the innuedos and prejudices (against a class of people, in this case doctors) without facts.
First, is it a known FACT that Dr. Hummel never mentioned his bankruptcies to 1st District officials? Is it a known fact that the 1st District staff asked the doctor before his nomination about any financial or other problems? Is it a known fact that, if he was asked, that he lied? Is it a known fact that the delegates to the nominating convention were made aware of the bankruptcies?
The Fredericksburg Democratic Committee’s Resolutions were a rightful expression of how and what they, as a committee, felt. They understand perfectly well that their resolutions have no administrative value but are merely a formal expression of what they believe and desire. It’s part of the process.
Lastly, is there a reliable source for establishing 5 bankruptcies versus the 3 that was reported in the newspapers?
To me, it boils down to this: Until the facts and truth are established (and they probably will never be made public for us), categorizing (“physicians tend not to be good at business” ) groups of people is prejudicial; and putting character motivations on another (“the probability that he will pull out of the race properly on his own is unlikely” ) is illogical and disrepectful.
I will agree with you, though, that if the 1st District Committee does not want him as their candidate (how that is formalized, I don’t know), then presenting him with the proper paperwork to withdraw might be wise.
BTW, are any of the commenters on this diary a member of the 1st District Committee and privy to the truth/facts?
I don’t know where those smilies in my above post came from….sorry.
Still being curious, I found this regarding 5 versus 3 bankruptcies: WTOP radio reported — “Hummell filed debt reorganization petitions 1997 and 2003 and a Chapter 7 petition for liquidation in 1992 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.” That sounds like 3 to me!!!
And Dan Smolen on Fred2Blue had this to say on July 3rd on the topic:
“When, Dr. Keith Hummel approached the powers that be that he wanted to run for Congress, he admitted to all the key-influencers and decision-makers that he had once gone through personal bankruptcy reorganization.
It seemed innocuous enough. And, who among us hasn’t known someone that had gone through the hardest, and most-embarrassing, of financial situations? Very few, I’d guess.
Many accepted that notion that perhaps there was only one bankruptcy filing. One person I know, and respect very much, was in a public setting where Dr. Hummel spoke. She said (he) ”lied to all of us. In public session, he stated there was one bankruptcy. One not, THREE!”
After the nomination, the questions about Dr. Hummel started bubbling up. And, sure enough, an easy-to-run public records search spit out not just one bankruptcy filing in the Eastern District, but three. And the list of past creditors was long, very long. Pages long.
Was Dr. Hummel forthright in discussing his financial history? Not being part of the formal process, I cannot say. Unlike my friend, I was not in the room. That said, my friend is an honest broker. I have no reason to disbelieve her account.
I do know this much. The machinery to vet and nominate a First District Congressional candidate broke and needs to be fixed. Questions that should have been asked by the nominating committee, due diligence that should have been done by them, were not. Information provided may not have been given truthfully, or vetted completely.
The Hummel campaign suspended operations. And I speak for many that believe Dr. Hummel should now do the right thing and formally withdraw from the race. Doing so would clear the way for a replacement candidate to come forward.
Then, we need to take a really good look at how all this happened and do everything possible to assure ourselves and the public, that this will never happen again.”
I think Dan hit the nail on the head with his comment that we need to assure the PUBLIC that this will never happen again…..
Sleepless, quoting from The Free Lance–Star Vivian quoted:
Sleepless, I’m not a member or affiliated with the First Congressional Democratic Committee but I was present for the open session portion of their meeting in March.
The meeting went something like this:
Meeting started with some minor stuff (agenda, calendar, etc.)
Motion to go into closed session.
After two and a half to three hours, the closed session ended and the committee stated they had go into the closed session to discuss “private financial details” about someone.
After the chairwoman said this, Hummel got up to speak and stated someone around the following: “I had some financial problems in the pass and had to declare a single bankruptcy. I’ve been opened about it all along and if someone wants to ask me about it, that’s fine.”
This is probably the same event that Dan is talking about in his post, where the woman he quotes said that Hummel “lied to all of us”.
Sleepless – I fixed your post and took out the smilies. And you see there were indeed 5 bankruptcies.
The thing at this point, though, is why hasn’t Hummel withdrawn? What’s the holdup?
Thanks Timothy for the information. That helps.
And thanks Vivian for the clarification and for fixing my post. Maybe your post today (July 23rd) on the matter can collect enough valid information so Hummel can be convinced to withdraw and still accept donations for clearing his debt.