Jess Foster: “What I didn’t expect was the picture of my staffer’s license plate – clear as day – as evidence that she is an ‘outsider'”

Folks—

It’s my turn. I’ve been seeing attacks and negative ads from the GOP side for the past couple of weeks and up until now, I’ve been spared. But with less than two weeks before the election it looks like my opponent has resorted to dirty tactics. My opponent’s Campaign Manager has sent out an email to supporters complaining about how we are running our campaign and how we have been raising our money – to be expected.

What I didn’t expect was the picture of my staffer’s license plate – clear as day – as evidence that she is an “outsider.”

I decided to run. I decided to challenge him for his seat. I put myself in the public eye and expected public scrutiny. Yet instead of challenging my positions, my opponent is exposing the personal information of an employee of the campaign for his own benefit. This kind of creepy, stalkerish behavior is perfectly legal but it sure doesn’t feel right.

It’s fine to call me out on my donations. Of course I have received out-of-state funding, especially from women across the United States who have a vested interest in Virginia passing the Equal Rights Amendment! And money from outside of my District? Don’t all Virginians have a stake in having good people in their state house? Yes, I have raised much more than my opponent – because I have worked hard. My opponent has had 17 years to fix campaign finance laws in Virginia yet he’s complaining now because he’s losing at his own game with the rules he and his team set.

It appears that the strategy of the other side is to smear, attack, and lie. That’s fine, we expected that. But leave our staffers out of this. A better tactic might be to actually discuss the issues that are at hand here in the 88^th House District: over-crowded schools and roads, underpaid educators, horrendous traffic that has only gotten worse over the last decade, lower and middle class Virginians struggling to get by on stagnant wages and ever-increasing medical and daycare costs, and a political divide that is harming our relationships and our Commonwealth.

We will not play those games. We run a campaign based on FACTS that are backed up by my opponent’s public statements and/or voting record. His family, personal life, staffers, etc are off-limits, as they should be.

Today is the last official finance reporting deadline for this election cycle. Let’s show this guy that we’ve got more where that came from! Every penny I raise today goes directly to voter outreach. People need to know who their delegate is and why he doesn’t deserve another term.

Let’s #FosterChange.