The latest dust up is a minor financial disclosure report. Delaware Tomorrow, a fine Republican leaning blog, blasted Ms. O’Donnell as not believing the rules apply to her. The real fact emerged that she had followed the rules and applied for an exemption whose approval happen to be announced the day after the post. Her lawyer had an heart attack and the campaign applied for an extension.
Instead of accepting the facts, they spun a conspiracy. It is a cover up.
The reporting requirements have not changed. 30 days have passed, May 15th has come, and gone. And yet… Christine O’Donnell has STILL not filed the required Personal Financial Disclosure Report. Nor has she, at any point, requested a waiver or an extension of the reporting requirement. Update: The Secretary of the Senate says an extension request was granted today, apparently at about 12:30 or so. In previous telephone calls to the Secretary of the Senate, including earlier today, that office had informed me that no requests for an extension had been received. It is unclear when this specific request was submitted, however, such requests are typically granted quickly, and as a matter of course.
Many have questioned what Ms. O’Donnell does for a living. Where, they wonder, does our “Swallow of Capistrano” go, and what does she do, when she is not running for the U.S. Senate? Her defenders claim that she has her own successful consulting business. Yet the few campaign finance reports she has bothered to file show her paying for what many perceive to be ordinary living expenses. Obviously, complying with the requirement to file the Personal Financial Disclosure Reports might have helped clear up some of these questions and allayed concerns about her campaign.
In other words, the facts can’t get in the way of my good friend’s conspiracy theory. Christine, after-all is the enemy of “true Republicans” like Mr. Mike Castle, therefore she has to be a slimy schemer. There is no reason to oppose such a wonderful independent mind like the Congressman so she can’t have honorable disagreements. Therefore she must be exposed. Any little anomaly must be seen in the light of her evil conspiracy against common sense and our hero. Even when the reason for the extention was clearly non controversial, this response was this. Mike Stafford is judge, juror, and and prosecutor because he knows more than the people who are actually in charge.
This year, she failed to file by 5/15. The rules say any candidate who is more than 30 days late and does not have an extension has to pay a $200 fine when they file. She got an extension approved through July early this afternoon, however, the 30-day period ran earlier in the week. I’m not sure how rigorous they are in enforcing the time requirement (my guess is, not very), however, depending on when the request for an extension was submitted, it seems to me that she should be fined again if her campaign submitted the request for an extension after the 30 day period post-May 15th ran. We’ll see.
Why does he insist on a near meaningless fine regardless of the facts? It is because the people have no idea this is a minor issue. They want a line of attack which avoids issues. When you talk issues, Mr. Castle is in trouble with primary voters. When you talk personality, Mr. Castle can win because the O’Donnell campaign has neglected to introduce Christine the person to us. Issues must be avoided at all costs in the view of the establishment.
In my view, issues are what matter. Americans are hurting. The economy is stagnant. We are at war on two fronts. The culture is under seige. The titanic struggle between the control economy and the individual controlled market place is on. There is no room for accomodation, only victory or defeat. We will either remain the America of our heritage or become Europeanized. We will either return to the vision of Washington, Dickenson, Adams, Hamilton, Madison, and Rush or we shall adopt the vision of the Fabian Society, Chavez, Mitterand, and the global left. We need champions of the American way not people who will compromise it at retail speed instead of the current wholesale speed and consider that progress.
There is a reason the Castle crowd will talk about anything but the fundamental challenges facing America. He has had 18 years to propose solutions. He has had 18 years of power. His solution has been to work against conservative attempts to roll back government intrusion. He has been on the front row of the battle and offered nothing. For his troubles, he wants a promotion.
Unfortunately, running a campaign saying its my turn won’t win hearts and minds so the answer is to demonize the interloper. Since you can’t beat up on the girl in our culture, the campaign has to use indirect means to raise doubts and leave the campaign to smile and shake hands. It appears Delaware Tomorrow has become one of those agents.
What strikes me as interesting with this latest post is that even an attorney having an heart attack is not enough to merit a cease fire on a line of attack. It appears the establishment has gone from disdain to hatred of Ms. O’Donnell. She must be more significant than they lead us to believe. If she really didn’t have a bus full of supporters, no one would care.
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