Charlottesville City Councilor and 5th district Congressional hopeful Meredith Richards has been acused of abusing the UVa messenger mail system for promotional purposes. 600 fundraiser invitations were sent to a handpicked list of UVa faculty members via the internal mail system, which UVa mail officials says is an abuse of the intra-school communications system. It appears that Richards may not have been aware of the manner in which the invitations were distributed, and it is not yet known who caused it to occur. Paul Quinlan has the story in today’s Cavalier Daily. Update: Richards’ campaign communication coordinator Dave Sagarin has posted a comment to this story explaining. It seems that the error was made unknowingly by UVa students, but Richards still accepts responsibility, and intends to make restitution, if necessary.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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What happened was, the U-Dems got a list from the Richards campaign (culled from various sources, mostly the UVa Directory) and generated a printed invitation, which they intended to hand-deliver to mailboxes. That’s all the campaign knew.
When they started to deliver the invites, someone told them, "you don’t have to go to all that trouble – there’s a central mail service you can use." So they did. Which was a mistake, and now they know it.
And since they were doing it on behalf of the Richards campaign, it is ultimately our responsibility, and if there’s restitution to be made, we’ll make it.
I am absolutely delighted to see a campaign immediately explain a snafu clearly and at the end of the explanation say: but we’re still responsible.
Makes me more inclined than ever to give my vote to Meredith Richards…
Well done, particularly the acceptance of responsibility. To parrot Elizabeth, it’s not often that such an error on behalf of a political campaign is so quickly explained in such a simple fashion along with acceptance of responsibility.
We screwed up. It’s our fault. We’re sorry. We’ll make things right.
I’m impressed. Grown-ups taking responsibility.
Cheers, Dave, and Three Cheers to Meredith, who always has been a woman of conscience. And even though I support the "other guy" in this political race, I have the utmost respect, and always have, for Ms. Richards. It’s so great just to know how blessed Charlottesville has been to have such honest and forthright politicians. Congress should take a lesson from our little burg.