Over the last week, the Republican Party of Virginia has sent out to voters, on behalf of Republican 59th District Candidate Matt Fariss, at least five mailers touting Fariss as “A True Virginian, A True Conservative and A True Small Businessman.” These statements may well be “true,” but they have chosen to leave out other pertinent “truths” about Mr. Fariss. Simply said, he has a history of breaking the law.
Cases in point are the many citations and convictions he has on his record for hunting and game law violations to include conspiring to sell a wild animal (Nov 2000) to shooting from his vehicle (Jan. 2001). Some may say that many hunters receive citations, but they mean no harm. It is, of course, the result of overzealous game wardens issuing citations when there is no need.
Mr. Fariss has also been convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, given a 10 day suspended jail sentence, and was required to forfeit three small pistols to the court for destruction (Jan. 2002). It seems that some years passed without other citations by the game warden, but, alas, in May, 2010, he was cited for unlawful possession of a wild turkey, convicted and fined $171. This brings one question to mind, whether Mr. Fariss changed his behavior during those years where there were no citations or, perhaps, he simply just didn’t get caught.
Some might proclaim the exuberance of youth could be blamed for a 1994 DUI conviction or his guilt for a safety belt violation for a child in his vehicle in 2006. Ahh, by 2006, he is 38 years old, his youthful exuberance should have turned into responsible adulthood by now, right? Obviously a child was in his custody while he was driving a vehicle and he let that child ride without proper seat belt restraint. Then his “True Small Businessman” experience led to a civil lawsuit filed in May of 2009 in which he and his partners were held responsible for the injury of an employee because of their disregard for employee safety. The employee was awarded a $500,000 judgment in June, 2011. In a campaign piece it states, “As Delegate, he {Fariss} will work to remove burdensome government regulations that harm Virginia’s economy.” Wonder if one of those regulations might be the one he and his partners failed to carry out which resulted in the injury to his employee?
Everyone has issues occasionally. Here, however, Mr. Fariss has shown a pattern of disregard for our laws. He is now allowing the RPV to portray him as this saintly family man who seeks to “preserve our rights and values, who will stand up for traditional marriage and the right to life.” Consistently breaking the laws of the Commonwealth seems a more appropriate mantra for Mr. Fariss.
Today a Fariss campaign piece surfaced which includes no attribution of who approved the piece or who paid for the piece. This is a small infraction on the part of Mr. Farris. However, it reinforces the pattern he has shown his entire adult life-that he cares nothing about the laws, rules and/or regulations that are required to maintain our civil society.
Has the Republican Party of Virginia become so extreme that it feels the need to support a man who has such obvious disdain for the laws of our Commonwealth. Have they become so partisan that they willingly overlook all the items on the Fariss’ rap sheet in an attempt to elect any Republican? But no, they wanted him, Matt Fariss, not just any Republican. It was reported in the conservative Lynchburg Ledger, on August 5th, 2011 that “Republican power brokers went looking for another candidate. [There had been two others: Evans Thomas V and Ron Ferrin.] They approached Matt Farris, who reportedly turned them down numerous times.” The author continues, “One has to wonder what kind of backroom deal has been struck and with who…..{Farris}lacks the political skills and experience needed in the General Assembly….”
Hats off to the Republicans! They have proven the sad state of affairs within their party by supporting Matt Fariss and painting him as someone he certainly is not.
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