Eavesdropping, Part LXXVII
Jerry Kilgore had successfully beat the GOP eavesdropping case to death. He'd buried it. It was gone. Over. Kaput. Finished. Never to be ... Well, you get the idea.
But now, it's reared its ugly head again, and Kilgore has only one party to blame: the Republican Party.
Last week, the GOP filed a lawsuit against its former insurance company, claiming that the company should have picked up the tab for the $750,000 payment the party made to Democratic lawmakers whose conference call was secretly recorded by former GOP executive director Ed Matricardi.
When news of the insurance lawsuit emerged, the entire Richmond political establishment let out a collective: Huh?
Why, most of them ask, would the Republican Party want to bring that story up again, three months before Election Day. It's not, after all, like the scandal has had no bearing on the governor's race. Kilgore was deposed in the case, which included allegations that members of his attorney general's office were aware of the eavesdropping.
Kilgore has always claimed that his office reported Matricardi's doings as soon as they found out about them. But the Democrats spent tens of thousands of dollars pursuing a lawsuit that sought to prove otherwise, and Democrat Tim Kaine has at times used the questions about the eavesdropping case to question Kilgore's leadership.
Now, the GOP insurance lawsuit gives Kaine and the Democrats another free shot. In fact, the Democrats are already talking about whether they can reopen the lawsuit and the settlement talks because they say the state GOP did not inform the court they even had an insurance policy.
So how does the GOP respond? Executive Director Shawn Smith, who has had the unfortunate job of trying to clean up Matricardi's mess for the past two years, says the insurance lawsuit is just a business decision and has nothing to do with politics.
Uh-huh. Right.
Whether it does or not, it seems clear that Democrats will do everything they can to keep the story alive for the rest of the campaign. It's not clear how much that helps Kaine in the end, but it certainly can't help Kilgore.
By Michael Shear |
August 1, 2005; 12:17 PM ET
| Category:
Jerry Kilgore
, Republicans
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Posted by: Asses of Evil | August 1, 2005 12:56 PM
First of all, Kilgore didn't do it, the Party did. Maybe the party consulted him, maybe they didn't.
It doesn't seem smart in any case, but all the folks in the Mason-Dixon poll, with their laser-like focus on the issues that matter, like transportation and education, probably don't much care. And they shouldn't.
Posted by: Ass of Evil #3 | August 1, 2005 07:41 PM
RPV and its State Central Committee remain the most politically unsavvy bunch there is. It just defies comprehension how a "political party" could be so tone deaf when it comes to, well, politics!
Posted by: JamesRiverGOP | August 1, 2005 07:52 PM
The RadicalRightwingRepublicans, descendants of Rebel Confederates, will be soundly defeated in November.
Posted by: con_crusher | August 2, 2005 01:08 AM
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Perhaps the "Asses of Evil" would like to explain why Kilgore did this?