Robinson Campaigned While on Active Duty in Virginia’s First Congressional District? What!
Over the last several months, I have heard many rumors and accusations that Scott Robinson was actively campaigning for the democratic nomination in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District while on active duty. Until this past Saturday, that is all that they were. At a candidate forum in Stafford, VA this past Saturday, Scott directly addressed these rumors. Scott is currently running against Krystal Ball for the democratic nomination in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District.
Before we get into what was said, let’s understand the rules that anyone on active duty military must abide by.
Department of Defense (DoD) Directive 1344.10, Section 4.2.2, clearly states the following:
A regular member, or a retired regular or Reserve Component member on active duty under a call or order to active duty for more than 270 days, may not be a nominee or candidate for the offices described in subparagraph 4.2.1., except when the Secretary concerned grants permission.
Subparagraph 4.2.1. lists any civil office in the U.S Government that is an elective office; requires an appointment by the President; or is a position on the executive schedule under sections 5312-5317 of title 5, U.S.C. (Reference (i)).
In summary, if you are on active duty, you cannot run for elective office; however, if the Secretary concerned grants you permission then you can run.
For those of you that are thinking, “What about the Hatch Act?” The Hatch Act doesn’t apply to military members.
At the candidate forum, Scott was asked a question on whether or not he ever attended a campaign event while he was in uniform.
Let’s take a look at Scott’s answer, completely uninterrupted and in its’ entirety:
You had to be in the room, as he was giving his answer, to see the look of shock on attendee’s faces. He flatly denied attending democratic events while in uniform, but it is what else he had to say that left folks speechless.
Scott essentially admitted that he had been campaigning openly for the seat for at least the last 3-years:
I’ve attended numerous events as a Colonel. That was part of my 3-year strategy. The campaign that I’m running right now isn’t just something we didn’t just throw together. I’ve been planning this for years. You’re right; I have been planning this campaign.
Scott went on to say:
When I was at the Pentagon, I took days leave…And then I would go out and speak to Rotarians, Lions [and] what other group I were invited.
[…]
And then after I spoke at a club, I would go meet with Democratic Operatives.
Since the candidate forum, I’ve heard from many retired service members who were aghast at these revelations. For many of them, it is unfathomable that someone on active military duty would be campaigning for a partisan office. It certainly appears that Scott violated DoD Directive 1344.10.
Scott also mentioned that he attended the 2009 JJ Dinner in Stafford. Due to these new revelations, I did a little research and found out that Scott Robinson actually bought 3 tickets to this event. He bought a ticket for himself, his wife and a person by the name of Lela Graham. Lela Graham is a well-known Political Consultant in democratic circles. The JJ Dinner took place on March 14, 2009, well before Scott retired from the military in July of 2009.
I don’t believe that anything would preclude him from attending such an event, but what is more interesting is his professional relationship with Lela Graham. For those of you that don’t know, immediately upon Scott retiring from the military he hired Lela Graham as his Campaign Manager (she actually recently switched positions in his campaign). This wasn’t the first event that she had attended with Scott. She had been working with Scott for a considerable amount of time, accompanying him to other events throughout the district.
So it now appears that he wasn’t just meeting with Democratic Operatives, but he, while on active duty, had already hired his Campaign Manager. She may not have “officially” joined the campaign before he retired, but she was certainly promised a position.
Listen, I think this is a very damaging revelation on his part, especially for current and retired service members; however, I also think his performance at Saturday’s forum was just as damaging.
I think that Scott has quite a bit of explaining to do…
Not a big deal… you can attend events while on active duty (even in uniform). Blurring the lines between whether he was “campaigning” for three years is just silly — but a good sign that Krystle Ball is floundering for lack of issues.
Shaun – You’ve just confirmed what I’ve known for a long time. The Republicans would prefer to run against Scott versus Krystal. The only one that is floundering is Rob Wittman. He is ranked as one of the least effective members of Congress.
The real issue here is that he was actively campaigning while on active duty. He leaves no question to that conclusion by his own admission. It also appears that he hired his campaign manager well before his retirement. As a retired Army Colonel and a democrat this is a major turnoff.
He was not actively campaigning while in uniform. He was travelling the district and giving speeches concerning military issues to interested groups and took leave to do so. He can also meet with anyone as long as he does not say he is a candidate. He can think about it all he wants in uniform as long as he doesn’t take specific steps that declares him a candidate.
He can hire anyone he desires – in or out of uniform. He can set up a website at any time he desires, I doubt it said he was a candidate for congress at any time before his retirement on the webpage.
Let us concentrate on the issues instead of this red herring.
By the way, I thought Krystal won the debate hands down on the issues.
check out when his website domain was registered and who registered it.
Huzzah for Political Operatives!
Ah, gee, Marc. Did you ever have the balls to wear the uniform? As a Navy Vet, I say grow some balls (brains) before trying to castrate Scott. Keith Sheets (CWO4 USN Ret)
Keith – Listen if what Scott said doesn’t bother you, you are entitled to your own opinion. The reality is that many folks both retired and on active duty have expressed major concern to me on what he said at the forum. This includes some supporters of Scott. It isn’t like I made things up. You can listen to what Scott said word for word. He was the one who made the statements and not me.
GREAT article Marc!
In my opinion, the Republicans don’t want to run against a Colonel with leadership experience for 25+ years with numerous endorsements within the Democratic community… The Republicans want to run against a 20 something candidate with no prior experience.
Sure Ms. Ball would do Washington some good, but just not for awhile.
Krystal has quite a bit of momentum amongst democrats in the First CD. Republicans want to run against Scott, since they equate him to the 2010 version of Creigh Deeds. Krystal has raised over 400K, has an extremely impressive ground game and a winning message. I’ll be exploring their different messages and the electability issue over the next week. I think there is quite a compelling argument to support Krystal over Scott. At the end of the day, Krystal or Scott would be a vast improvement over our current do nothing representative.
Oh I def. agree with you there about her having the momentum for the nomination and supporting her over Scott, I was just saying how the most hardcore republcians (not me) are looking at it.
But I’m looking forward to more posts.