This means one of the following:
- Ben Tribbett was a full time volunteer
- Chap somehow covered up Ben's disbursement
- Chap broke a campaign finance law
I spent a few days thinking about it and couldn't come up with an answer. Finally I went back and looked one more time. On the October 29 filing period, under the Itemization of Expenditures, there are 14 expenditures listed as "salary". Out of those 14 expenditures, 13 have individual names by them. One does not. The one that does not is listed as Duke Advisors LLC.
I refuse to believe Ben Tribbett would work full time for free. So either Ben Tribbett started a consulting company and got paid through Duke Advisors LLC, or Chap broke the law.
If the answer is that Ben got paid through Duke Advisors LLC, there may be a number of reasons for this. Pick how many ever you think apply:
- Chap was embarrassed to have Ben on the payroll
- Chap thought of Ben as a political liability
- Chap thought NLS was influential enough to have an affect on the outcome of his election, so he paid to have Ben write good things about him
- Chap didn't think NLS was influential, he just didn't want bad things written about him in the blogosphere
If Ben is in fact Duke Advisors LLC, I guess all the campaigns now know how to get good press from Not Larry Sabato. Just pay him off.
And Ben Tribbett's credibility takes another hit.
10 comments:
You actually expect me to believe that Ben came out of his parents basement?
You could atleast make up a semi realistic story to bash Ben with.
LLC ID: S214345-3
Duke Advisors
NAME: JENNIFER L BARNES
STREET: 4010 UNIVERSITY DR STE 200
CITY: FAIRFAX STATE: VA ZIP: 22030-0000
STATUS: 4 MEMBER OF EFF DATE: 02/26/07 LOC: 129 FAIRFAX COUNTY
More information available here: http://www.scc.virginia.gov/
If you're a real journalist, I don't know why you're commenting on here. I would think you would have better things to do.
Also, a quick google search of Jennifer Barnes shows that she is a corporate lawyer in Chap's law firm. You don't think a corporate lawyer would know how to register an LLC using anyone's name?
Also, why would a CORPORATE ATTORNEY make $1,000 on a State Senate campaign. I have no doubt that Jennifer Barnes volunteered on Chap's campaign, but she certainly wouldn't need to make $1,000 doing it.
So let me get this straight:
Chap pays an LLC $11,000? Weird number, but ok...
LLC pays Ben $10K for consulting.
Attorney pockets $1K. (makes sense now)
Attorney goes "I dunno" when a diligent reporter asks her questions as to whether Benny was paid under the table.
Problem solved... until you dig a bit more and find someone willing to throw Benny under the bus.
DEVELOPING...
Makes you wonder if it would be worthwhile looking at other candidate's reports.
Agreed. A corporate attorney would have no need to start a political consulting business for herself
Let's try one other possibility. Ben ran Chap's first campaign. It was a major upset. Perhaps he was actually doing real work for Chap behind the scenes and he was paid because Chap valued his advice? Who knows what that real work was...
Also, I never heard of Ben soliciting any work this year which might say that Chap asked him to work on the campaign instead of the other way around.
BTW--Did Ben stand you up for the high school dance or something? You're obsessed. Stop standing in front of his window with a big radio and go get a job or something.
Whether Chap asked him to be involved or not is irrelevent. The bottom line is that if Ben is getting paid through Duke Advisors LLC, Chap felt he had to cover up his involvement. If I were Ben I would be pretty hurt that my involvement in a campaing is such a political liability that my name can't be on the finance reports.
Also, if you notice, I don't post nearly as often as Ben who has the luxury of living in his parent's basement. Instead I work. Full time. Like a normal adult. Because $1,000 a month as a secret staffer isn't going to pay the bills.
http://vpap.org/expends/vendor.cfm?VendKey=ORP000247113
No one pointed out that the only client Duke Advisors has ever had was Chap.
Anyone want to make odds on a Leslie Byrne contract?
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