I saw former Delegate David Poisson’s website mentioned in this post by NLS as an example of one post-election Dem website that is acutally somewhat current. His message to his followers is pretty pathetic, and his half-hearted statement on negative campaigning is such BS. Come on, it was your own Minority Leader who proceeded to continue to spew that garbage even after your lame-O denunciation.
His statement should read more like: “Dear Friends and Citizens, I regret that my campaign entered and stayed in the gutter as I vainly tried to retain my seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates. My buddy Ward assured me this was the only way I had a chance of remaining a loyal member of his flock. Shame on you, Ward, but shame on me for going along with it. Sure, my career in politics is done after getting obliterated by Tag Greason by 15 percentage points. But, dammit, did I really have to lose my dignity and reputation as a nice guy as well? Oh well, c’est la vie, I’m off to do some fishing – with cyanide!”
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Nov 11th by Loudoun Insider
Although this guy deserves a little kick in the ass, are we beating a dead horse?
No.
Put yourself in Tag’s wife’s shoes. Or his kids.
Screw POISON and Ward Armstrong.
Michael, in the political arena, when your opponent is face down in the mud after the shite that he pulled…the appropriate action for such arseholes is to put your right boot on their neck.
Poisson deserves EVERY bit of this.
The best revenge is living well. The Greason’s are class people, and I have no doubt Tag is putting all his energy into quality time with his family and preparing to represent the good people of the 32nd District.
Poisson deserves all the criticism he receives, he brought it on himself. Armstrong is a scum bag, and I’d like to remind everyone that his PAC received $30,000 from our own Senator Warner during this election cycle. Please remind your friends and neighbors that like to praise Senator Warner as a straight shooter and above the board politician, that he is a scumbag too. The reality has not caught up with his reputation yet.
ok…ok…carry on — interesting note from LL and the Warner connection. Was Herring associated with this filth?
Does Herring even live in the area anymore? I keep hearing snippets about him completely abadoning his district. His website has not been updated since the end of August.
That Poison ad says For Loudoun – obviously NOT!
“Was Herring associated with this filth?”
Michael, I had the opportunity to speak briefly with Herring on Election Day.
I SPECIFICALLY discussed my dissappointment with Poisson regarding the under-handed placement of the negative information by Ward.I elicited a promise from him that he would never participate in anything as dtsfunctional as Ward has.
This post is entirely unnecessary. Negative campaign fliers that came from the Minority leadership came from…the minority leadership. That filth reeks of the DPV underlings who like to rub their hands together and drum up hearsay and rumors. Poisson has been at odds with the minority leadership for years, telling them to stay out of Loudoun because they didn’t understand the nature of politics in the county. They sent out fliers without his approval and look what happened. Big surprise…he lost. And my, what short memories some of you have. I don’t seem to recall this level of vehemence following the 2007 candidate’s telephone calls smearing Poisson. He certainly was a gracious host when he had Tag down to shadow him at the GA. You need to congratulate Tag and let this go.
LinDC, I remember the pushpolls in Chapmans’ campaign. Lynn Chapman made a public statement denouncing the practice and he barely lost. Poisson was silent as this filth cluttered my mailbox 6 times. Dave lost by almost 20 points. Dave should have publicly made a stand against this stuff…he had planty of time to do so, and stood silent, as he will for the rest of his political career.
BPM – good to hear Herring was not involved, now I’ll just vote against him for policy reasons.
Loudouninc, Stop the spinning. I can not believe you are defending Poisson and these mailers. I had 4 in my mailbox before his PC “denouncement”. As I have stated many times, Poisson could have gained votes and made this a closer race (although I think he still would have lost) if he had come out strong against the mailers early, apologized to the Greason family and told Ward Armstrong PUBLICLY to stay out of his race. What we witnessed was a complete lack of courage and decency on Poisson’s part.
I vaguely remember the Chapman calls and stmt, but comparing the 2 is weak.
Loudoun Lady has hit upon a point that needs more investigation.
On October 20, 2009, Senator Mark Warner made a $25,000 contribution to Democratic Minority Leader Ward Armstrong’s “A Strong Majority PAC”.
Check out: http://www.vpap.org/committees/profile/money_in_details/939?donor_id=5301
On October 21, 2009, Delegate Ward Armstrong’s PAC sent out that vile hit piece to the citizens of the 32nd District, including one specially addressed to Mary Beth Greason, Tag’s wife and the mother of the young Greason children.
Connect the dots: It is clear to me that Senator Warner agreed to “cover the costs” of this vile hit piece against Tag Greason and this voter will never forget his financing of sleaze.
LoudouninNC, has Poisson publicly congratulated Greason yet?
Brian, I believe Tag did receive and email from Poisson on election night. I know that Tag was extremely gracious on election night in his remarks thanking Poisson for his service. As I said, Tag is a class act.
Jim, If I were a detective, I would call that a “clue”. I believe estimates have the total cost of the 7 (possibly 8?) smutty mailers at just under 100,000$. Chicago style right here in Loudoun, and I ain’t talkin pizza.
LI’s take on this is correct. Poisson, knowing he faced political headwinds due to a president and democrat congress scaring the crap out of a huge segment of the electorate, provided the wink and a nod to his political allies cutting them loose to sink deep into the gutter on his behalf. These mailers were not your garden variety negative campaign ads, they were disgusting filth. They were designed to destroy Tag Greason as a candidate. Poisson’s statements denouncing the tactics and not the originators is evidence enough he was willing to roll the dice in a last ditch attempt to win.
Brian- To my knowledge Poisson did send Tag a note of congratulation a day or two after the election. However, no public overtures to date.
There was a lot of guessing that those push poll calls last election came from Poisson’s campaign to drum up sympathy. After the crap this year I believe it did come from the sleazy democraps.
I had to chuckle at your mention of fishing with cyanide since in French the name Poisson can mean fish or poison, depending on pronunciation. Both seem appropriate for Mr. Poisson.
LL,
I don’t mean to defend the mailers, since I’m with everyone else in thinking they were out of line. My point was speaking more to the idea that the DPV operates of its own accord and doesn’t seem to understand the unique nature of Loudoun. This has been shown over and over, from candidate selection, to message content, to targeting strategy.
As for the comparison, the “push poll” that called Poisson a closet homosexual and suggested he harbored illegal aliens was met with this (http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=86088&paper=67&cat=197) response from Chapman. The two seem pretty equivalent to me.
I have met Tag several times and think he is a standup guy. I wish him the best in Richmond, along with hoping Poisson lands on his feet. I simply can’t maintain the vitriol based on “winks and nods” that some can.
“BPM – good to hear Herring was not involved, now I’ll just vote against him for policy reasons.”
EXACTLY. As it should always be. I don’t agree with the man on policy, either…but we’ve always been civil. I commend him for that and honestly believe that’s the way campaigns should always be run. Leave the dirt in the gutter, and discuss policy.
Loudouninc, You made my point, read Poisson’s sorry “denouncement”:
http://www.delegatepoisson.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82&Itemid=66
The comparison to Chapman’s comments are pretty stark. Loudoun may be unique, but common decency is still expected. On the DPV and even the LCDC, so what? That doesn’t excuse anything because Poisson should have been a man of courage and done what is right, not put out some half baked denouncement as a cover. He was the candidate and it was his campaign! It’s shameful.
Plus, compare $100K of disgusting mailers to a push poll that only “some” residents received? I wouldn’t put it past that slimeball Poisson to generate a fake hit job on his own campaign as mentioned above, he has never had anything of substance to run on. I hope Poisson moves to Chicago, he belongs with his people. Shoot – he’ll probably get an administration appointment – Junior Slimeball to the Chief Slimeball – Rahm “tiny dancer” Emmanuel.
LL,
We’ll have to agree to disagree. The denouncements by both seem to me to be almost identical. Both claim third party responsibility, a commitment to the issues, and a pledge to avoid such tactics. Whether you believe it was a “fake hit job” is your conspiracy to spin. It’s false, but we can believe what we want. As much as you and Gstone like to reference Chicago and Durbin, Poisson will most likely end up in what he knows best: education and autism awareness. You can continue the personal attacks, but I am going to stand with BPM here and “leave the dirt in the gutter”.
Loudouninc, The stmts aren’t identical, but to each their own. And no, it would not surprise me if Poisson was rolling around in the gutter prior to this election cycle.
I wonder if the parents of children with Autism that Poisson will be “advocating” for will be happy with a man that tried to ruin another family. Poisson had no consideration for Tag Greason’s children finding smut in their mailbox, or his wife, so selling him as some type of advocate for children of any spectrum is a bit much. Consequences of one’s actions are hell.
Is autism all that Loudoun Dems have to run on anymore??? It seems like autism was the number one plank in the Miller campaign.
As I wrote to Poisson in an email after the mailings, and after having received his lame response back, I reminded him of the political ploy of “plausible deniability”. He did not answer. Know why? He didn’t have one.
I hope he finds something useful to occupy his time in the future, one that doesn’t involve trashing good, decent people. Good riddance.
It will be interesting to watch the spin on Poisson as champion of autism issues, when he missed the vote to discharge from committee on Marshall’s bill, that Rust was endlessly beaten up with.
I posted on a few pro-Miller sites asking why Poisson was getting a pass on missing the only vote that took place in relation to that bill, and the silence was deafening.
Good question Barbara.
That dog ain’t gonna hunt. Check the calendar. He wasn’t present that day for any of the votes. He was also a cosponsor of the bill. Anyhow, I don’t need to be the guy’s personal defender. I just thought it should be put to bed already.
I know he wasn’t. Caputo missed an entire day of the transportation session. Funny how not attending is okay in some cases. Unexplained absenteeism was my point, not the autism (other than that votes on a motion to discharge Marshall’s autism bill were so amazingly important in the Miller campaign, as if cosponsor Rust could have single-handedly passed it. What about cosponsor Poisson?)
p.s. or the other 26 cosponsors besides those two? lol
LinNC, the 2 situations (the calls against Poisson in 2007 vs. the mailers against Greason in 2009) are *not* equivalent and for a very simple reason. The identity of the group making the phone calls in 2007 was never determined. Read that article you linked and take note that Chapman did not know who was making the calls.
.
The mailers this year were coming from a source both well-known to and easily accessible by Dave Poisson. It’s not enough to make some vague statement of disapproval when you know who’s doing it. Poisson should have publicly called Armstrong out on it and told him – publicly – to lay off. He didn’t and that speaks volumes on where Poisson stood on the matter. *That* is why the difference in the 2007 election was a few percentage points and this year’s was 16%. The voters understand the difference between the 2 situations and they think difference was significant.
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Poisson’s not been treated unfairly in this situation. He deserves the scorn he’s receiving. As for me, personally, I’m done with him and his loss in the election. I’m looking forward to Delegate Greason taking his seat in the GA and getting some action done on legislation that’s been held up for too long.
Well said Ric.
Agreed, LL. Ric is the most thoughtful Loudoun blogger!
Wolverine is pretty darned good too, imho.
What Ric said !