As there is every election – at least in Norfolk, this week has brought several instances of less than truthful campaign activity on the part of anonymous cowards those who enjoy smearing others. Yesterday, an email circulated with an attachment attacking Daun Hester, one of the candidates for mayor.
The flier attached has a disclaimer – “Paid for by the Friends of Paul Fraim for Mayor” – but it’s a bogus one. First, note the omission of the “authorized by” part of the disclaimer. Second, the name of Fraim’s committee is wrong.
And with that, the perpetrator crossed the line from 1st Amendment protected speech to election fraud.
As always, the devil is in the details.
That this is nothing new in Norfolk politics doesn’t mean it should be ignored. In fact, if anything, all resources should be employed to find the perpetrator and prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law. In the past, when such things have occurred, there has been little attempt to locate and prosecute the offending individuals. All this does is make them bolder.
This crap has to stop. Mud has a way of sticking – not only to the intended victim but also to the beneficiary.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I don’t know any of the parties involved, but I agree Vivian.
In today’s internet age, it’s pretty easy to get to the bottom of stuff like this. Somebody needs to start digging.
“In the past, when such things have occurred, there has been little attempt to locate and prosecute the offending individuals. All this does is make them bolder.”
Kinda works that way when ANY laws are not enforced.
I hope the perps are named, even if they aren’t prosecuted. Though prosecuting is good.
Being named, one would hope, would limit them from doing again.
If names are coming out, they should be prosecuted. Otherwise, it is just slander. If you have the evidence, take it to court. If you don’t, shut up.
The names are coming out. Oh – and it wouldn’t be slander, but libel.
According to this morning’s Pilot, Michael Muhammad “forwarded a negative e-mail about Hester to several people…”. Is that negative e-mail the same one we are discussing? Can’t tell from the article.
Yes, it’s the same one. The original story on the email is here and the WVEC report on it is here.
For his credit, Fraim quickly disavowed the flyer publicly and apologized to Hester, even though he had nothing to do with the flyer. A very classy move.
Kinda like Va. Beach Will Sessoms diavowing the the photoshop of him & Pres. Obama on his flyer – also put out by a “rogue” supporter?
Sometimes all the winks and plausible deniability, followed by insincere apology after the damage is done, amount to coordinated effort and campaign strategy. Kinda hard to prove who knew or didn’t know. Especially, if the candidates pre-emptively put their heads in the sand.
I’m no fan of Daun Hester, but I’m beginning to think she’d be a better choice than returning Fraim.
Actually, nothing like the Will Sessoms/Barack Obama flyer. That flyer showed pictures of both men and the message was that they represented a change election. There was no mention of Meyera Oberndorf, and nothing at all negative about her. The problem with that flyer was the lack of a “paid by” disclaimer. The e-mail in this election was a negative attack on Daun Hester. The common thread between the two is the disavowal of any knowledge by the candidates about these efforts by their supporters, which frankly I believe. The heat of political races have tempted supporters to go overboard for as long as there have been elections; politics evokes strong passions, and occasionally some cross the line. Unless there is reasonable proof that the canditates themselves are involved, they deserve the benefit of the doubt.
There was another difference: the Sessoms/Obama flier wasn’t just any “supporter.” The person who was held responsible was Dave Iwans, although, admittedly, the fliers weren’t his idea. (I hear that Iwans is working on Fraim’s campaign, BTW.)
The folks behind this nasty Hester flier are the same folks who have been engaging in this behavior in Norfolk for some time. I think this time, the names will come out.
Lenny it was much like the Sessoms flyer.
You point to the obvious connection, one I tried and failed to illustrate I guess. You mention that both resulted in the candidate being forced to acknowledge the scandal and deny knowing about it or ordering it.
2)Sessoms and Fraim are quite chummy. HRTA, Light rail, etc. these guys are almost twins. I don’t give a rat’s behind about Sessoms being an alleged Republican. maybe you care about the “D” and the “R”, I see the patterns and judge their actions.
3)Both the flyer and the email were under handed. Yes, the email was underhanded because it was a direct attack on Hester. Seesoms’s flyer was underhanded yes, due to the lack of the disclaimer, but that was NOT the only thing. It was also deception and fed the voter with a fraudulent view of the candidate’s connection to Obama. Just ask our former mayor that you reference. I’m sure Oberndorf will state it was deceptive and underhanded.
4)As Vivian just pointed out, Sessoms and Fraim have some of the same people helping them. R’s and D’s living in harmony with the same consultants. Paradise or smells funny. You decide.
I look for patterns of behavior. Let me share a Fraim quote from the Pilot article Vivian linked to in her reply:
“I completely repudiate the flier and this sort of negative campaigning,” Fraim said. “No one in a leadership capacity in my campaign had anything to do with it.” – Mayor Fraim
A “Flier” Mayor Fraim? I thought unlike the Sessoms flier, this was an email attacking candidate Hester.
I’m sure Al Capone denied having knowledge of what his hired hands did. Didn’t it take a tax evasion charge just to get him since they couldn’t prove the other crimes? You know, after the damage is done, the playground bully often apologizes for knocking frail victim to the ground.
At some point, you can’t just go with a winning strategy with a past record of success run by people with a bad history of ethical performance. At some point the candidate has to take responsibility for his campaign.