If you didn’t know, Virginia is electing their next Governor and Lt. Governor in a few weeks, as one of the few odd-year-election states.
Ralph Northam, current Lt. Governor and the democrat nominee for Governor, recently printed up and mailed out thousands of campaign flyers that make no mention of Northam’s ticket mate for Lt. Governor, Justin Fairfax. These mailers were specifically targeted to union members in Northern Virginia.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports:
The fliers appear similar to others that include all three Democrats on the statewide ballot Nov. 7: Northam; Fairfax, the party’s nominee for lieutenant governor; and Attorney General Mark R. Herring. The fliers are handed out by canvassers knocking on doors.
In the Fairfax-free flier, created for the Democratic friendly Laborers’ International Union of North America, all references to Fairfax — including his picture — are gone. Those fliers have been used in Northern Virginia.
The union requested a flier that did not include Fairfax, said Brian Petruska, general counsel with the LIUNA Mid-Atlantic Region Organizing Coalition, because Fairfax did not complete their questionnaire and “wasn’t supporting us on the issues,” he said.
Among those issues: Two controversial natural gas pipelines, the EQT Midstream Partners’ Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Dominion Energy-led Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which are proposed to cross Virginia. Fairfax is among the environmentalist Democratic base in Virginia that’s opposed to the pipelines. Northam does not oppose the pipelines. The union also has endorsed Herring, according to Herring spokesman Adam Zuckerman.
In Virginia, Lt. Governor is a separately elected position from Governor, so it’s possible that members of different parties can serve together in the different positions.
Fairfax has been accepting money from Bloomberg, and in return, is touting the Bloomberg gun ban rhetoric, and apparently thinks that semi-automatic rifles can fire 180 rounds per second, as well as wanting to force legal gun owners to purchase some sort of liability insurance.
The Republican Governor’s Association released a statement on the Fairfax scandal, in part saying “Not only does this debacle raise serious questions about the Democrat ticket’s unity three weeks before Election Day, but it further proves just how beholden Northam is to big labor. Northam has already refused to say that he will protect Virginia’s Right-To-Work laws after taking massive contributions from unions. And if big labor can force Northam to distance himself from his own Democrat running mate, what else could they make him do if elected?”
John Whitbeck, Chairman of the Republican party of Virginia tweeted out a photo of the mailers side-by-side with a caption, “Is this true @fairfaxforlg? @vademocrats seem to have dropped you from their lit with 3 wks to go. Paid for and authorized by @RalphNortham”
Is this true @fairfaxforlg? @vademocrats seem to have dropped you from their lit with 3 wks to go. Paid for and authorized by @RalphNortham pic.twitter.com/AlaDcHmHQS
— John Whitbeck (@JohnWhitbeck) October 17, 2017
Featured photo via John Whitbeck Twitter
