You may have noticed a new group called “Common Sense Virginia” running an anti-McAuliffe TV ad. The ad fallaciously claiming that McAuliffe would cost the average Virginian $1,700 a year somehow or other. Their “source” is a Washington Times article, but that merely quotes the Cuccinelli campaign’s made-up “numbers.” The ad buy is nearly $500,000, so get ready to see a lot of this crap.
So what on earth is “Common Sense Virginia?” Well, the treasurer of the PAC is Virginia Beach “fine jeweler” David Nygaard, who appears at the end of the ad, giving the disclaimer. Who is this Nygaard character?
1. He appears on Cuccinelli’s campaign site as an endorser, complaining about McAuliffe (supposedly) hurting the “already overregulated and overtaxed” economic climate, and also carping about McAuliffe’s support for Obamacare and even gasp! – a public option. Typical right wingnut stuff, in other words.
2. He wrote a letter to the editor last month, printed in multiple Virginia newspapers, defending Bob McDonnell against supposedly unfair treatment in the Star Scientific scandal; praising McDonnell for returning all of the gifts and loans from Jonnie Williams; and commending McDonnell’s economic record, as well as McDonnell’s support for the transportation plan (which we’d point out Cuccinelli OPPOSED and McAuliffe SUPPORTED).
3. He notes on his website that he is a member of C12, a “fellowship of Christian CEOs” that has been critical of the contraception mandate, and which partners with Family Life, a Christian non-profit that sells “ex-gay” testimonial CDs.
4. He promotes a Christian health insurance cost sharing group (Christian Care Medi-Share), which “requires applicants to have ‘a verifiable Christian testimony indicating a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ,'” and also “to attend worship services regularly and be involved in church ministries.” In addition, the group requires “no smoking, no illegal drugs, no alcohol abuse, no extramarital sex,” and “won’t cover someone who gets the AIDS virus from a homosexual partner or catches hepatitis through drug abuse.”
5. He used a loophole to avoid paying a sign maker in full for services received by writing, “Negotiation of this check constitutes payment in full …” on the check that “allowed Nygaard to pay about $1,440 less for the sign than the $8,400 they originally agreed upon.”
Great guy, huh? (nope!) Are any of us surprised that he’s supporting Ken Cuccinelli for Governor? (nope!)
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