1. Despite attempts by Corey Stewart and other Republicans to somehow blame the Democrats for their own mess, there's absolutely no truth to that. According to [Prince William County Democratic Committee Chair Harry] Wiggins, "I didn't do a damn thing...This is a Republican issue, I have stayed out of this whole thing [and told other Prince William County Democrats] to stay out of it...and to the best of my knowledge, they have stayed out of it."2. The Inside NOVA report about Corey Stewart issuing a "tirade of expletives" against Harry Wiggins "on the sidewalk outside the Old Manassas Courthouse after the electoral board's emergency meeting March 11" most definitely accurate, and came as a huge surprise to Wiggins, who says he has had a cordial relationship with Stewart and also, again, had absolutely nothing to do with the Republicans' self-created mess. In other words, Corey Stewart's allegation that Wiggins "has perverted the electoral process of Prince William County" is simply a wild, baseless, crazy conspiracy theory, without any merit whatsoever.
3. In fact, what really happened, to the best of Wiggins' knowledge, is that there were no conspiracies at all - by anyone, certainly not by the Prince William County Democrats, but also probably not by Mac Haddow, Pete Candland or other Prince William County Republicans - but simply a screwup by Prince William County GOP Chair Bill Card, who honestly forgot to file on time the required paperwork to hold a primary.
Well, now Corey Stewart's Republican colleague, Martin Nohe, has effectively refuted Corey Stewart's wild-eyed, profanity-laden, spittle-flecked conspiracy theories. According to Nohe, what actually happened was exactly what Wiggins stated. Here's Nohe with a MUCH simpler, saner explanation as to why Republicans will be hold a "firehouse primary," not a regular primary, in a couple weeks: "we had an unusual situation happened, there was an administrative error, our local party chair missed a filing deadline, honest human error."That's it: honest human error. The result of which, unfortunately for Corey Stewart, is that PW County Republicans were forced to ditch their plans for a primary (which would generally tend to favor incumbents like Stewart and Nohe) and opt for a much-lower-turnout "firehouse primary." That's what set off Corey Stewart in the first place a few weeks ago, when he was busy flailing around trying to blame Democrats for his own party's screwup. Of course, as usual, Stewart was wrong; as both Wiggins and Nohe have now explained, it was an error on the part of the Republican Party, nothing more, certainly not some nefarious plot by Democrats or whatever else Corey Stewart's fevered imagination came up with...
The purpose of Blue Virginia is to cover Virginia politics from a progressive and Democratic perspective. This is a group blog, founded by me (Lowell Feld), but now including several other progressive writers. I can't speak for the other "front pagers," but I consider myself a progressive in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, JFK, RFK and actually a bunch of progressive Republicans (e.g., Jacob Javits, Lowell Weicker). As such, I believe in expanding opportunities to all, utilizing government as a tool to promote the general welfare and the common good, protecting the environment for ourselves and for future generations, and expanding the rights promised in our Constitution and Bill of Rights to all Americans.
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