FREDERICKSBURG – The Ed Gillespie for Senate Campaign today released a new TV ad that will begin running statewide tomorrow. The ad features news reports over the last week of Senator Warner’s involvement in, as the Richmond Times-Dispatch described it, “dangling the possibility of assistance in finding employment in the federal judiciary or private sector,” for a State Senator’s daughter as part of a greater attempt to expand Obamacare in Virginia.
The 30 second ad is available here:
“Changed” (30 seconds)
NBC12: Breaking news concerning U.S. Senator Mark Warner
WAVY: Senator Mark Warner is mixed up in a possible breach of ethics
WRLH: Warner spoke about possible jobs
NBC12: Discussed a federal judgeship for Puckett’s daughter
NBC4: Warner is accused of trying to bribe a former state senator
Ed Gillespie: Washington has changed Mark Warner. I would never play politics with a lifetime appointment to the federal bench. We need to change Washington. We can’t afford six more years of the last six years. I’m Ed Gillespie, and I approve this message because my policies will turn things around.
Background:
The Washington Post first reported a week ago that Senator Warner discussed multiple jobs for State Senator Phil Puckett’s daughter at the same time that there was a coordinated effort including Warner, the Governor’s office and Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw to persuade the Senator to not retire until after they were able to expand Obamacare in Virginia.
Warner discussed job for Puckett’s daughter Washington Post (Oct. 10, 2014)
“My client, Joseph Puckett, received a phone call from Senator Warner, in which there was discussion of a CGI [ job] or a federal judgeship for the sister,” James said Friday.
Warner spokesman Kevin Hall said that the U.S. senator “brainstormed” with Joseph Puckett about potential private-sector jobs for Ketron. Hall also acknowledged that Warner discussed a judgeship, but he added: “He did not offer any job nor would he nor could he, frankly.”
Neither James nor Hall offered details about the conversation between Warner and Joseph Puckett.
“Sen. Mark Warner part of ongoing investigation” NBC12 (Oct. 10, 2014)
Mike Valerio: In a growing investigation at the capitol, I just confirmed that Warner spoke about possible jobs for a state senator’s daughter. This was all part of an effort to keep state senator Phil Puckett from resigning and handing control of the state senate to Republicans. Washington Post reporter Laura Vozzella first reported that Senator Warner discussed a federal judgeship as well as a corporate job. Now in return, Puckett would have to help Democrats and not resign. Warner’s camp has not responded for comment.
Gillespie calls Warner accusations “deeply troubling” WTVR (Oct. 11, 2014)
“Mark Warner called my client, in an apparent attempt to convince Senator Puckett to remain in the General Assembly, and asked if my client’s sister would be interested in a corporate job or as a federal judge. The offers were declined,” James told CBS 6 political reporter Joe St. George.
Representatives from the Warner campaign did not immediately get back to CBS 6 for comment but aides did tell the Washington Post that Warner never explicitly offered Puckett’s daughter any job.
“If the charge can be substantiated in any way it would be a rocky patch,” CBS 6 political analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth said.
“This charge is nothing short of explosive,” Holsworth added.
WRLH Newscast (Oct. 13, 2014)
We’re tracking the latest right now on U.S. Senator Mark Warner in a growing investigation at the capitol. We can confirm that Warner spoke about possible jobs for a Senator’s daughter. This is part of an effort to keep state senator Phil Puckett from resigning and handing over control of the general assembly to Republicans. We have confirmed that Warner discussed a federal judgeship for Puckett’s daughter as well as a corporate job. Now in return, Puckett would have to help Democrats and not resign.
Richmond Times Dispatch Editorial (Oct. 14, 2014)
A few days ago The Washington Post reported that McAuliffe’s chief of staff, Paul Reagan, left a voice mail for Puckett in which he suggested that if Puckett stayed in office, Puckett’s daughter might be appointed to lead a state agency. Reagan said the administration would be willing to “basically do anything” to secure Puckett’s cooperation. He has since apologized.
Now comes word (again from The Post) that Virginia Sen. Mark Warner also got involved. Warner called Puckett’s son, Joseph, and over the course of an hour discussed several job possibilities for Puckett’s daughter — including even a federal judgeship, a post for which she would seem underqualified. A spokesman for Warner says the senator simply “brainstormed” with Joseph Puckett.
Really? Is that what they’re calling it these days?
Here’s an interesting question: Did Warner suddenly decide, out of the blue and all by himself, to pick up the phone and call Joseph Puckett, without informing anybody else that he was going to do so? Or did he inform the governor’s people about the call — which would make them complicit in it? Or, for that matter, did someone in McAuliffe’s office reach out and ask Warner to intercede?
The first possibility would seem like an odd thing to do for a senator who has long been thoroughly plugged into the Virginia Democratic machine. And it certainly would be something voters ought to know more about before they vote for (or against) Warner three weeks from now. The third possibility, meanwhile, would suggest that Reagan’s phone call was not an isolated act by an “overzealous” staffer, as he has described it, but part of a coordinated campaign by the governor’s office to buy off a state senator with public employment for his daughter.
Warner and the governor’s office need to come clean about this — pronto.
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Oct. 14, 2014)
Warner’s efforts in the case first became known after Paul Reagan, the chief of staff to Gov. Terry McAuliffe, had come under fire for a voicemail message he left in June on Phillip Puckett’s cellphone, attempting to persuade the senator to keep his seat by offering to help find his daughter a state job.
Reagan apologized Oct. 3 for what he said was “poor judgment.”
McAuliffe, who said he had no prior knowledge of Reagan’s actions, later said he was disappointed over the episode.
Warner told reporters after the debate Monday that he had reached out to Puckett’s family at the behest of state Senate Democratic Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax, and Reagan, the governor’s chief of staff, because of Warner’s longtime friendship with the Puckett family.
WTVR Report (Oct. 14, 2014)
The elephant in the room however was the issue of what exactly did Mark Warner tell the son of state senator Phil Puckett? Accusations came up over the weekend that Warner may have discussed a federal judgeship in exchange for Puckett staying in the Senate. It’s what I asked him about following the debate.
Joe St. George: Do you regret making the phone call?
Mark Warner: I’ve been friends with the Pucketts for 20 years
Joe: Was it wrong?
Warner: I’ve been friends with the Pucketts for 20 years…
ABC13 News Report on Danville Forum (Oct. 14, 2014)
ABC 13 News reached out to Warner throughout the night to comment on a number of topics, including his declining poll numbers. He did not comment.
Associated Press (Oct. 14, 2014)
The FBI is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding Democratic state Sen. Phil Puckett’s resignation in June. Warner has acknowledged that he “brainstormed” with Puckett’s son about possible job opportunities for Puckett’s daughter, including a federal judgeship, in an attempt to dissuade Puckett from resigning but without making any explicit job offers. Puckett’s resignation gave Republicans control of the state Senate.
Presidents appoint federal judges, often based on recommendations from U.S. senators.
“Warner refuses to explain the extent of FBI investigation” Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post (Oct. 15, 2014)
The controversy raises two sets of questions.
The first batch concern what Warner did and why he did it:
Did Warner coordinate his efforts with Democrats?
Had he “closed the deal” could he have given Puckett’s daughter an advantage over others seeking a judgeship? Was she even qualified for the post?
Why does he not acknowledge that this at least had the appearance of impropriety?
The more disturbing questions concern the extent of the investigation. Warner’s campaign refused to answer questions from Right Turn about the extent of the investigation. It is impossible as things stand for voters to evaluate whether Warner may be accused of wrongdoing. Has he been subpoenaed to provide documents, phone records for example? His campaign won’t say. Was he represented by counsel during the FBI questioning? Did he provide information orally or in writing under oath? No answer. Quite simply, the voters have no idea whether their senator is in any real legal jeopardy.
“Weaving a tangled web” Daily Press Editorial (Oct. 15, 2014)
Earlier this month, the public learned about a voicemail that Paul Reagan, chief of staff for Gov. Terry McAuliffe, left for Sen. Puckett. In it, Mr. Reagan said the administration “would basically do anything” to keep him in the state Senate.
No formal job offer was made, though Mr. Reagan raised the idea that Martha Puckett Ketron, Sen. Puckett’s daughter, could be tapped to run a state agency. Mr. Reagan ended the message by asking it be kept confidential.
Then, last week, a spokesman confirmed to the Post that Sen. Mark Warner also made contact in the days leading up to Sen. Puckett’s resignation.
According to Joseph Puckett, the senator’s son, Sen. Warner called to discuss a possible federal court appointment or potential corporate position for Ms. Ketron. The court appointment seems particularly onerous since, as the Post reported, she lacks the legal experience that would make her an obvious selection for a lifetime federal appointment.
Again, no formal job offer was made — a point that Sen. Warner’s spokesman Kevin Hall made eagerly — but Sen. Warner did “brainstorm” about the situation with Joseph Puckett.
During a Monday night debate with his Republican challenger Ed Gillespie, Sen. Warner defended his actions by detailing his 20-year relationship with the Puckett family. He later told the Washington Post that he made the call at the behest of the “Democratic Senate leadership and the governor’s office.”
We have unresolved questions about the circumstances which precipitated Sen. Puckett’s resignation.
“So long, Mr. Above It All: Warner is a political operative after all” Virginian Pilot Columnist Kerry Dougherty (Oct. 15, 2014)
Just like that, it’s gone.
Sen. Mark Warner’s carefully crafted persona, that is. The bipartisan brand he relentlessly burnished from his earliest days in the Governor’s Mansion has now all but evaporated. So has his image as an ineffective, but guileless, U.S. senator whose specialty was reaching across the aisle.
Now that The Washington Post has revealed the extent to which Warner meddled in petty politics on behalf of desperate Virginia Democrats last spring, the senator’s I’m-above-politics aura has vanished.
…To dissuade Puckett, Warner reportedly discussed possible jobs for his daughter and may have dangled a federal judgeship.
All to keep Puckett in the Senate and to help shove through Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s agenda.
Of course, around the same time Warner was dialing Puckett’s number to convince him to stay put, Republicans were reportedly tantalizing the state senator with job offers of their own to hasten his departure.
Raw, ugly politics.
This level of grubby political interference isn’t what’s expected of U.S. senators, especially not of Warner.
Voters want the politicians they send to Washington to leave slimy statehouse score-keeping behind and devote themselves to broad issues of national importance: security, energy and immigration.
We now know Warner didn’t do that.
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Oct. 15, 2014)
The circumstances of Puckett’s resignation are part of a federal investigation. A grand jury in Abingdon has subpoenaed witnesses from both parties as well as legislative staffers and staff and documents from the tobacco commission.
But if investigators are indeed focusing on the Puckett resignation, they have also received ample information on efforts Democrats made to persuade Puckett to stay in the Senate during the pressure-packed days that preceded his June 9 resignation.
Before his angry call to Puckett, McAuliffe had contacted him to try to talk him out of his decision to leave the Senate. The governor’s was one of a number of calls placed by top Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, seeking to sway the soft-spoken conservative Democrat to stay put and in the party fold.
Warner called Puckett’s son, Joseph, dangling the possibility of assistance in finding employment in the federal judiciary or private sector.
Warner on Monday strenuously denied offering a job to Ketron, but rather said he was “brainstorming” possible opportunities for her.
McAuliffe’s chief of staff, Paul Reagan, also left a voice message on Puckett’s phone that said the administration would basically “do anything” to keep Puckett on board, including lending assistance in finding a state job for his daughter.
Reagan later apologized for the call, saying he was “overzealous.” Reagan also said the governor was unaware of the substance of his overture to Puckett.
The governor later issued a statement saying that Reagan made a mistake, and said his chief of staff’s approach was “not how we do business in the commonwealth.”
Fox News’ Shannon Bream on Special Report with Bret Baier (Oct. 15, 2014)
Senator Mark Warner is being forced to answer for his alleged involvement in potentially corrupt political wheeling and dealing here in the Commonwealth.
National Journal – Ron Fournier (Oct. 15, 2014)
Warner replied that he simply called Puckett’s son to “brainstorm” potential jobs for the senator’s daughter. If he’s telling the truth about his motive—and that’s a big “if”—the conversation was still outrageously inappropriate. Virginians will decide whether it’s disqualifying.
Lynchburg News & Advance (Oct. 16, 2014)
When asked Wednesday if he regretted anything about the call, Warner reiterated his past statements and stressed he did not offer to get Ketron a job.
“I called a family friend of 20 years,” he said of Puckett. “But again the key point here is I didn’t offer anyone a job. I wouldn’t offer anyone a job.”
Warner said he spoke to Sen. Puckett one day later and realized the senator had made up his mind to resign. “I’ve been their friend, and I know it’s been a tough time for their family,” he said. “I respected that decision.”
Warner declined to answer any more questions about the issue.
Wall Street Journal, Kim Strassel (Oct. 17, 2014)
Mr. Warner seems to have been acting for the McAuliffe administration. Mr. McAuliffe’s chief of staff had left his own message on Mr. Puckett’s phone: “If there’s something that we can do [for your daughter], I mean, you know, we have a couple of big agencies here that we still need agency heads,” ran the message. “So we would be very eager to accommodate her, if, if that would be helpful in keeping you in the Senate. We, we would basically do anything.”
The Puckett scandal is starting to dominate the Senate race, earning top billing at a Gillespie-Warner debate on Monday. Mr. Warner is sticking to a careful script, repeating that he called to “brainstorm” ideas and that he was “not in a position” to offer a job.
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