Crappy Reporting by the Washington Post: Mason District Supervisor’s Race Edition

In yet the latest installment of “crappy ‘reporting’ by the The Washington Post,” check out Veteran Fairfax supervisor sees second challenger in bid for 6th term by Tony Olivo. This one has a bunch of problems, pointed out to me by a long-time political observer of Fairfax County.  

The article notes that Mollie Loeffler announced her candidacy as an “Independent” for Mason District Supervisor against Penny Gross. In fact, she’s not an “Independent,” but someone with  strong and deep Republican roots. As of last month, for instance, Loeffler was still the Republican precinct captain in Mason District’s Parklawn precinct, according to the Mason District Republican Committee Facebook page (note: the page is down now, but you can still see the relevant part about Loeffler if you Google it).

Loeffler also was a signer of an April 2013 Tea Party Patriots letter to Congress that expressed “our opposition to House consideration or passage of any legislation, amendment, resolution or conference report that bears any resemblance to S.744, the Senate amnesty bill that passed the Senate on June 27, 2013” (signature around page 161 of this PDF file).

In other words, if Loeffler really HAS become an independent, it was a very, very recent epiphany. One could surmise she is only calling herself an independent because it is very tough to win in Mason District as a Republican (e.g., note that Terry McAuliffe won “every precinct in the Mason district…decisively” in 2013). But the evidence shows she is a card-carrying Republican who at least flirts with the Tea Party.

Now, I’ve got no problem whatsoever with a Republican or a Tea Partier running for office in Mason District. But first off, they should be honest about who they are. And second, the Washington Post should do a bit of…ya know, reporting…before writing a story which doesn’t mention a candidate’s actual political background, positions on the issues, etc. In this case, the Post article is highly misleading, as it identifies Loeffler only as “a former chair of the Mason District Council of Community Associations” who believes “it’s time for a new direction and new leadership.” Yet another example of shoddy reporting from the Post…even as they bash Rolling Stone for, yep, shoddy reporting. Physician, heal thyself!