Brian Moran and Creigh Deeds, who began this gubernatorial campaign attacking each other, appear to be doing the same thing more than a year later. Check it out:Deeds homed in on those facts ["Brian Moran...accepting donations from 'tainted' defense contractors"], which were the subject of a Washington Post article last week, at a political debate Sunday in Williamsburg among Deeds, Moran and Terry McAuliffe, who are all seeking the Democratic nomination for governor June 9.Deeds further explains that he wasn't referring to ALL defense contractors, which he calls "a great industry in our commonwealth," but specifically to "tainted" defense contractors, including ones that "have business before" the candidate's brother, which Deeds alleges is the case with Brian and Jim Moran.
"It's unconscionable and hypocritical," Moran campaign manager Andrew Roos said. "He's trying to score political points attacking Brian Moran for taking this money from Northern Virginia businesses, calling it tainted and, at virtually the same time, trying to raise money from those same sources."
Deeds said yesterday that he was referring primarily to donations the Moran brothers have accepted from the lobbying firm Paul Magliocchetti Associates. The firm represented a number of smaller defense contractors and steered millions of dollars in contributions to the Morans and other congressional leaders from PMA employees and its earmark-seeking clients.
So, is this just a case of politics as usual? Or, is there any merit to any of this? Is the issue, as Aznew explained Sunday, not about "the work these contractors do" but about "whether Brian's Moran's powerful brother in Congress had anything to do with the fact that an inexplicably high percentage of their contributions in the race so far have gone to him?" And is there anything "unconscionable" or "hypocritical" (let alone both) about Creigh Deeds raising these issues in a gubernatorial primary?
My answers: 1) to the extent there's any merit to Deeds' charges, it's definitely NOT about the mere fact of Brian Moran taking contributions from defense companies; 2) Creigh Deeds did NOT say "all" defense contractors, he clearly referred to "tainted" defense contractor contributions; 3) on that point, there are serious questions about the relationship between PMA group - currently under FBI investigation - and several powerful congressmen (e.g., Jack Murtha, Jim Moran) on the defense appropriations subcommittee; and 4) there's nothing "hypocritical" about what Deeds said, because he's not in Congress and doesn't have powerful relatives in Congress, so it's a completely different set of circumstances.
Politically, I've got to say I'm thrilled as a Terry McAuliffe supporter to see Creigh Deeds and Brian Moran go at each other. Prior to this flareup, my assumption had been that Deeds' strategy was to stay positive, hoping that Terry and Brian would tear each other apart/destroy each other, while he snuck in as the default choice by voters disgusted at both Brian and Terry. Now, however, Creigh has gone after Brian, and the Moran campaign has responded by going after Creigh. Meanwhile, Terry stays positive, says nothing negative about another Democrat - as he pledged at the beginning of this campaign - and smiles all the way to June 9. :)
