Favola Campaign Lies and Lies and Lies….

Just when you thought the Favola campaign had hit a new low, they sink further. Check out this story on ArlNow, in which Favola campaign manager Adam Scott claims, “This started with a local blogger – one of Jaime’s biggest supporters – who has hurled baseless accusations against Barbara throughout the campaign.” Scott adds, “He admitted his account of his recent phone call with Barbara was only the best of his recollection.”

These are lies on so many levels, it’s hard to know where to start.

#1. This didn’t “start” with a “local blogger.” First of all, as I wrote in the ArlNow comments section, Favola and her allies – Dick Saslaw, etc. – have been making this same exact argument, that Jaime is unelectable because there are very few Latinos in the district (and no, I never said this was “racist” per se) for months now, to many many people. Ask around. Talk to any number of Arlington politicos about this. Frankly, the only thing surprising about Favola’s call to me was that she didn’t realize she was talking to a blogger (and that, in part, reflects on an utterly incompetent campaign); other than that, there was nothing new there, really, just the standard message Favola et al. have been putting out for months, that Jaime’s unelectable (even though an African-American man named Barack Obama won the 31st overwhelmingly in 2008, both in the primary and general election, despite the fact that the district is overwhelmingly white).

#2. The fact that I’m a Jaime supporter makes this whole story all the MORE striking. Why would Favola call me in the first place, let alone say the stuff she’s been telling her own supporters for months now, knowing that I was a pro-Jaime political blogger? Idiocy? Incompetence? Insanity? Arrogance? All of the above? Whichever one of these explanations, you think is accurate, Barbara Favola is clearly not competent to be a candidate for higher office, let alone to be the Democratic nominee for State Senate from the 31st (or any other) district. Frankly, at this point, I question whether she is even totally “with it” mentally, and whether she should continue on the Arlington County Board (not to mention her acceptance of money from the real estate and towing industries, including in the latter case, a major donation just 5 days before a crucial vote affecting that industry!). After she loses this primary, can some please challenge her for County Board?!?

#3. Yes, of course this was the “best of [my] recollection.” If you’d all like to chip in to buy me a Nixon-style recording system for the Blue Virginia phone system (heh), that would be great. In the meantime, I’ve got to do it the old-fashioned way, using my memory, notes, and in this case, writing things up in a Word document the minute the phone call ended.  As someone who’s covered hundreds of events over the past 6 years (including as part of the Webb campaign and other Democratic campaigns), and whose reporting has been relied upon by thousands of people as timely and accurate, I’ll just let you believe who you’d like to believe: me, or an apparently pathological liar like Barbara Favola (remember, this was the same person who claimed for months that she was a “Supervisor,” even though Arlington County doesn’t have “Supervisors.” She also contradicted herself in the course of a 45-minute interview, thankfully recorded (so she couldn’t deny it!), with me. In that interview, Favola referred to Dick Saslaw as “very progressive,” then denied having said that just a few minutes later. She also called Saslaw the “head of the caucus,” which is not the case; he’s actually Senate Majority Leader. She also dodged my question on whether she’d support anti-choice Sen. Phil Puckett for caucus chair. Etc., etc.

#4: This is absolutely NOT “hearsay and comments taken out of context.” In fact, the comments are in no way/shape/form “hearsay, and were presented by me totally IN context. Also, let me reiterate, Favola and her allies have been making these EXACT SAME ARGUMENTS for months now, to dozens if not hundreds of people.

Bottom line: Favola and her campaign are apparently pathological liars. They wouldn’t know the truth if it hit them in the face. They will say anything to get elected. Based on her disgraceful behavior in this campaign, including her lies, compromising of ethical standards to which she herself had agreed, indebtedness to the towing and real estate industries, etc., I strongly urge every Democrat in the 31st Senate district to reject Barbara Favola not just for the State Senate nomination, but for anything else she ever runs for in the future.