As you can see in this video, Josh Horwitz and Lori Haas of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence attempted yesterday to enter 31st State Senate District Republican candidate Caren Merrick’s office building in McLean (1313 Dolley Madison, Suite 302) to collect her NRA questionnaire, which Merrick has promised multiple times to provide (although it should be noted that Merrick keeps moving the goalposts, first just saying she’d release it, then saying she’d ONLY release it if Barbara Favola released her AFL-CIO survey, which Favola did; then STILL not releasing the completed survey!). As you can see, Horwitz and Haas were not allowed in to the locked building, and Merrick staffers, who had been on the way out of the building, hightailed it back towards the elevator when they spotted Horwitz and Haas, who they’re apparently terrified of at this point.
More background: Horwitz (Executive Director of CSGV) and Haas (mother of a Virginia Tech shooting survivor and Virginia coordinator for CSGV) have been attempting to get a copy of Merrick’s NRA questionnaire for days now (again, as Merrick herself has promised multiple times to do!). Yesterday, they first stopped by Merrick’s office — which Merrick shares with Republican Delegate Barbara Comstock, another right wingnut – at 3 pm. At that time, Horwitz and Haas were told that there were no professional staff there, just volunteers (also note: Horwitz had called and asked when a good time to come pick up the survey, but nobody called him back). However, according to Horwitz, there clearly were professional staff there, possibly including a woman named Christina (claims to be a “volunteer” – who knows?) who you can see in the above video scurrying back to the elevator when she sees Horwitz and Haas. Also, Horwitz called at 4:30 pm, but Merrick staffers didn’t answer the phone.
Now, on the “flip,” find out what happens when Horwitz and Haas return at 6:30 pm last night to try once again to pick up Merrick’s NRA questionnaire.
In this video, you can see that Horwitz and Haas finally managed to get into the building, as someone else who happened to be walking in kindly held the door open for them. Horwitz and Haas then took the elevator up to the 3rd floor, got off, and immediately heard the door of Merrick’s/Comstock’s office click click shut and lock.
The rest of the video shows Horwitz and Haas standing outside the door of Merrick’s/Comstock’s office suite, not being let in, and basically being given the cold shouler/runaround. Horwitz asks why they’re being treated like this, when all they’re trying to do is pick up a survey which the candidate herself has promised multiple times to give them! He gets no answer, just the door shut in his face. Lovely, huh? Caren Merrick’s just the type of person we want representing us down in Richmond, wouldn’t you say? Not!
P.S. Why is Merrick so desperate NOT to release her NRA survey? Click here to see the blank survey and understand why that might be the case.
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