We’ve done several posts on 8th CD Democratic candidate Bruce Shuttleworth (running against incumbent Rep. Jim Moran) already, and each time it’s been something weird and even wacky. For instance, here’s Mr. Shuttleworth shuttling over to ask Falls Church Republicans to vote for him in the Democratic primary June 12. In contrast to his outreach to Republicans, Shuttleworth has rarely been seen at a Democratic event. Then there was this bizarre robocall from Fidel Castro and Louis Farrakhan fan Benjamin Chavis, Jr., who was removed by the NAACP board amidst “a flurry of accusations of financial and sexual improprieties, which almost buried the NAACP’s civil rights record.”
So what now, you ask? Well, last night Shuttleworth put out a robocall, claiming he’d be doing a conference call today with DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on women’s issues. One Arlington Democrat who received this call, Cragg Hines, told me it went like this:
About 6:15 pm last night (just as I was getting ready to go to ACDC monthly meeting), I got a robo-call from a British-accented woman identifying herself as from the Shuttleworth campaign. I believe there was a generic fair-wage-for-women sentence before a pitch to join Shuttleworth on a conference call today (Wednesday, at 1 pm, I believe) with DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz on women’s pay. Recording said if you wanted to participate in the call, press 1 to be put on a list (or perhaps to be called back for the conference call).
So, I checked with DNC Chair Wasserman Shultz’s communications advisor, Jonathan Beeton, to find out if there was any truth to Bruce Shuttleworth’s claim. In short, there was none whatsoever – zip, zero, nada. To the contrary, as Beeton explained, this call was simply “one of several monthly constituency caucus calls the Chair is making this week, with several thousand total participants.” Beeton added, “While these are important calls, no one should be portraying them as an endorsement of any participant.”
So, just to be 100% clear, that’s all Bruce Shuttleworth might have been – a participant in a conference call with 2,000 other people – not doing a joint conference call with the DNC Chair, or having any kind of privileged position on the call, or being endorsed by the DNC Chair, etc, etc. I’d also point out that, given that this call was for women, and only for those invited, it would be a bit odd if Bruce Shuttleworth was a participant, but I suppose it’s possible he jumped on anyway. That’s bad enough, but to put out a robocall to 8th CD Democrats implying support from the chair of the DNC takes it to another level – and not a good one in any way – altogether. #FAIL
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