I totally agree- UPDATED

The Honorable Tim Kaine
Commonwealth of Virginia
Office of the Governor
Patrick Henry Building, 3rd Floor
1111 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Dear Governor Kaine:

In the time that I have known you, while we have not always agreed on every political issue, I have always found you to be a decent man of sound character.

Thus, I was extremely surprised and disappointed that the Democratic Party of Virginia, with you as titular head, has chosen to libelously accuse me of being a under investigation, being a war profiteer, and of being complicit in torturing Iraqi citizens.  My opponent, Rex Simmons, hopefully without your approval and support, has stated that I have helped to bring “us the horrors of Abu Ghraib” Iraqi prison torture.

Politics is a rough-and-tumble, full contact sport.  But, for most people, there is a line of decency that you simply do NOT cross.   Falsely accusing a sitting Member of the Virginia House of Delegates – or any Virginian for that matter – of criminal acts and of being complicit in atrocities against another human being crosses that line of decency.

As a good father, I ask you to consider how you would respond when a child or family member asks you why someone would falsely accuse you of complicity in human torture.   As a man of honor, I call on you to direct the Democratic Party of Virginia to issue a retraction and an apology to me and my family.

Tim Hugo          
Delegate
Virginia's 40th District
-------------------------------
Let's hope our Governor comes down hard on this.

UPDATE:  Here's the piece

Comments

[Anon]

I think this is a good letter. Politics is hit and be hit sport, but seriously, Hugo responsible for the Iraq torture scandal? That's like saying Rex is responsible for all of the US governments monetary mismanagement while we worked as a federal employee.

There must be a difference between connecting dots and flat out lying.

I hope that Gov. Kaine realizes this too and responds in some way.

[Gnarly]

Who is doing the DPVA mail this cycle? The attacks are over the top and hurting the very candidates they are intending to help. We had this problem at RPV in the '95 General Assembly elections. We had one or two out-of-control folks putting out the direct mail and alot of our candidates were screaming "no more help like this!"

The DPVA has a much worse problem on it's hands this year and this is really slowing down alot of momentum and creating resentment where there wasn't any before the mail hit.

Hey...I hope this continues. Otherwise this could have been a very bad year for the GOP.

Yes, the State Dem. Party crossed the line in the Hugo piece. Hugo is smart to send an open letter to the Governor.

[GinterParked]

Excuse me? Hugo is smart to send an open letter to the Governor? Give me a break. That's in the same vein as John Kerry's notably successful response to the swiftboat ads.

That being said, the tears falling here for the tenor of this ad are crockadilian. I've about given up on efforts to lift the level of political discourse, and it's pointless to waste time in the thirty days before an election bemoaning the lack of civility. Voters will like it or not -- and sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. Becuause they sometimes do, candidates continue to make the attempt. Get over it, and respond substantively, rather than whining to the Governor.

*That* being said, I didn't notice much of *substance* in Hugo's response, unlike the aforementioned Senator Kerry's.

[dems4dems]

Maybe we can better judge the situation if we saw the document Hugo is responding to. Maybe it is a legitimate complaint and maybe it is more like Michael Golden's "he insulted by wife" BS. Let's see the document before jumping to conclusions.

Spin away, GP. The DPVA shouldn't be called out for this kind of sleaze? Your hypocrisy is astounding.

[NoVAConservative]

DPVA is doing this everywhere. I've seen some of the Karen Schultz stuff coming out of them in the 27th, and word is that the Vogel campaign is getting calls and drop bys everyday from people who are so disgusted by it that they'll hold their nose and vote for Jill even though they aren't even R's.

I want to see the mail piece before I judge this one. If you print Hugo's letter, you should print the mail piece, then we can decide who's right.

I doubt Hugo is repsonsible for Abu Ghraib because he isn't smart enough to be repsonsible for anything of merit in this world. Hugo is just plain dumb.

Nonetheless, let's see the mail piece that his whining is about and everyone can judge whether his holding his breath until he is blue in the face act is meritorious.

Dear NOVA Conservative: JHV is down in the polls and she is deperate. That is why she hired Chris LaCivita, "Swift Boat Boy," recently.

[Bryan J. Scrafford]

As I point out in a post over on my site, I don't believe that Gov. Kaine or the Democratic Party should have to issue an apology. Rex Simmons's campaign, however, should issue an apology.

Furthermore, as a resident of the 40th, I believe it is a shame that Rex has taken on such a negative tone in this election. If he had simply run on his experience, he might have had a chance to win this election. Now he has pretty much lost all chance of winning and should immediately issue an apology.

"Furthermore, as a resident of the 40th, I believe it is a shame that Rex has taken on such a negative tone in this election. If he had simply run on his experience, he might have had a chance to win this election. Now he has pretty much lost all chance of winning and should immediately issue an apology."

Man, that is such crap. Does anyone read your blog?

[Bryan J. Scrafford]

So anonymous 9:32 not only condones people sending out misleading ads, but also doesn't believes in anonymously attack people for expressing opinions based upon facts.

[Bryan J. Scrafford]

sorry, should read

So anonymous 9:32 not only condones people sending out misleading ads, but also believes in anonymously attack people for expressing opinions based upon facts

[Doug]

Go Cleveland!

Oh wait, Republican outrage over an attack ad? Wake me when it's 2009.

[JuniorBug]

NovaC ....

Jill is behind in even her own polls. And is running low on money, that's what I'm haering. What happened to her guy from Tennessee. He's gone. Now it's LaCivita. HAHAHA.

[JuniorBug]

Oh, I forgot, you could always have some CA indict Karen. That worked during the primary for Jill.

[brook_trout]

Perhaps I'm missing something, but the DPV piece Ben has displayed knocks Hugo's EMPLOYER, not Hugo himself. The piece says NOTHING about Hugo being under investigation, NOTHING about Hugo being a war profiteer, and NOTHING about Hugo being complicit in torturing Iraqi citizens.

The bottom line for Hugo: If he chooses to bed down in the pigs in the mud, he can't expect to wake up clean.

Brook trout has a good point- Hugo's just trying to play the victim here.

And can anyone get a straight answer from Hugo- he tells people he started lobbying for Bob Livingston in 2005, but he filed a 2004 lobbying report with them. We know Hugo's lying one way or another, but which way is he lying?

Brook trout has a good point- Hugo's just trying to play the victim here.

And can anyone get a straight answer from Hugo- he tells people he started lobbying for Bob Livingston in 2005, but he filed a 2004 lobbying report with them. We know Hugo's lying one way or another, but which way is he lying?

[Clean it up in '07]

You don't have to debate this mail piece beyond the fact that it's stupid politics. If you don't make an attack credible or believable it's just counter-productive. That is certainly the case here.

Why spend good money to move backwards? DUMB.

"but the DPV piece Ben has displayed knocks Hugo's EMPLOYER, not Hugo himself."

That is most certainly NOT what it says. It says "Tim Hugo's lobbying firm". It does not say "The lobbying firm for which Tim Hugo works" or "The lobbying firm which employs Tim Hugo".

Anon 9:32 = the only person who will do any work Rex Simmons, his campaign manager Missy Luft. Now it looks like she's gone from attacking Simmons's opponents to attacking people who are just ordinary residents in the 40th.

Rex's campaign is such a joke!!!!

[Redskin Cheerleader]

Just to clarify, there were two mail pieces. One falsely accusing Tim Hugo's firm for being under investigation and war profiteering. The second, which is the one Ben has posted refers to the horrors of Abu Ghraib. Both mail pieces are 100% false.

[brook_trout]

I find the attack of Hugo in this piece COMPLETELY credible and believable, and therefore quite productive. There is no Virginia politician who is deeper in bed with special interests than Tim Hugo.

Rex Simmons has the integrity and accurate moral and ethical compass that Tim Hugo clearly lacks.

hahahaha.... looks like Missy Luft is now also using the screenname brook_trout. Either that, or it's Rex himself.