POSTCARDGATE: Reagan Wing Reveals Source, Refutes Kirby

As previously reported here at the Reagan Wing, WSRP chair Kirby Wilbur, in the course of attempting to justify the misuse  of party funds for his personal campaigning and that of his allies, including Lori Sotelo has suggested, completely without  evidence, that PCO candidate campaign postcards mailed from Tampa, Florida were the work of a nefarious and secretive anti-Republican group. Some Republicans, including Ron Paul supporters, have expressed concern, even dismay,  and  have asked that the source of the mailings come forward to be identified. In an attempt to imply a takeover conspiracy, Wilbur transparently alleged that the “unethically anonymous group”  was  the Ron Paul presidential campaign.

The Reagan Wing is privileged to reveal the source of these mailings.

We have identified and interviewed PCO candidates who have used the cards in their campaigns. No one we  interviewed was contacted by Kirby to ask the source of their mailing. The funding of these mailings comes NOT from any anonymous PAC,  NOT from some anonymous Sugar Daddy donor, NOT in fact from any group from which, Kirby alleges, he is protecting the GOP, but in fact, from just what the card in Kirby’s possession (for candidate Linda Stark) states: “Independent [and individual] supporters for reforming the Republican Party.”

THE SOURCES:

1. The design was created by a local Seattle resident acting alone.

2. The printing and mailing service used for the project was Sonic Print, based in Florida.

3. The mailings were paid for by the individual candidates who used them.

4. Candidates who were short the cash by the deadline for using a group discount for the printing and mailing, were aided by fellow grassroots supporters from King County who chipped in to meet the financial need in King County.

Kirby Lied.

Candidate Sarina Forbes, a long-time Republican activist and Paul supporter, and two-term elected PCO from the 36th Legislative District in King County, who has been targeted for removal by an inexperienced Sotelo-endorsed outsider, used the cards in her campaign. (Sarina, in fact, was incorrectly persuaded that she must resign her elected PCO position when she moved within the district, thus losing access to KCGOP tools for her current election campaign that Sotelo provides to selected incumbents.)  Sarina’s postcards  clearly came from her, as they included her photograph superimposed over the waving flag image. Sarina confirmed in an interview that she funded the mailing from her personal resources. Sarina chose to use the cards because she is unable to go door-belling in her precinct due to medical reasons.

Additionally, Sarina says she questioned 36th LD chairman Glenn Avery at the regularly scheduled district  meeting July 19, about the WSRP funding of postcards featuring Lori Sotelo’s endorsement of her opponent, contrary to party rules. Sarina demanded that Chairman Avery, who said he was not at the executive meeting that allegedly approved the endorsements,  investigate  and respond to  her concerns about the propriety of the WSRP and KCGOP collusion in the mailings supporting her opponent.

Andrew Pilloud, another PCO candidate in King County’s 36th LD, also used the postcards. Andrew stated in an interview that he, too, paid for his own mailing. Like Sarina, Andrew’s cards included a picture.

From the mailing of Kirby’s improper intervention in a primary election, through each step of his convoluted and shifting explanations for what he had done, Mr. Wilbur has gone from bad to worse. What, pray tell, is next?

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