Charges Against Chapman dropped

Wow, everyone remembers GOP Primary candidate Steve Chapman who challenged Harry Parrish in June.  The felony indictment against him for voter fraud has been dropped! 

Parrish may have saved his seat- but Chapman should send him a thank you card.  This result will make Chapman a much larger figure, and guarantee his election to public office, perhaps to Parrish's seat in 2007.

Colors on Typepad are not working this morning, sorry about that.  Both Chapman and Parrish should be red.

Comments

[WLB]

I don't necessarily think that this guarantees Chapman to anything. Lets not forget the whole Pimp my Ride thing.....Cman still can learn a lot from Parrish, who has devoted over 50 years of service to Manassas.

[AWCheney]

I just posted this comment on Bacon's Rebellion and, rather than rewording it (as furious as I am at the moment), I decided to copy it below:

I was Harry Parrish's campaign manager during the primary and I can say, unequivocally, that the campaign had absolutely nothing to do with the charges against Chapman other than reporting them when they came to our attention! The information itself came from Ed Wilbourne, Michael's father (the "landlord"). I had, in fact, offered to resign from the campaign and report them myself but I was asked not to do so. The fact is, I had personal knowlege of other improprieties which I would have been happy to pass on to the investigators. For instance, I was asked to sign a BLANK petition for Chapman at a Republican County Committee meeting. It had no address, no jurisdiction, no information on it whatsoever, and it was questionable whether the person circulating it was even from the County, much less the District.

Chapman and his dishonorable tactics and lies have managed to demean the entire political process, as well as the Republican Party, in Prince William County, and I can keep silent no longer. For the first time I, as a lifelong Republican and Conservative in the Commonwealth of Virginia, have felt ashamed to be a Republican or a Conservative!

Chapman is guilty! The only thing that I can figure is that some sort of a deal was made to put this to rest...perhaps a guilty plea on the misdemeanor. Regardless, this is not justice and Steve Chapman is a disgrace to the Republican Party, Prince William County, and honest political activists everywhere!

[Scott]

When Parrish decides to step down Chapman (if he's still living in his pimp-my-ride condo) becomes 7th 8th or even lower on the totem pole of potential successors.

This will have no effect on his future status.

Scott- you are very correct. Not to mention he still has a misdem. pending in court in March. Nice try, NLS.

[Rtwng Extrmst]

Chapman would be far down on the list even if he is a pure as the wind driven snow. Once Harry decides to step down, people will feel free to step up and take a chance at the nomination. It's nearly impossible to get someone to run against an incumbant within the party. Parrish obviously screwed up on the tax issue, but that was not enough for well qualified candidates in his district to take a chance at incurring the ire of the status quo.