Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is Morrogh

Liberals and Democrats have angerly denounced Loudoun Co. Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Plowman for taking an active role in investigating Mark Tate in the middle of a political campaign, taking sides with the woman he endorsed, Jill Holtzman Vogel.

Now, Ray Morrogh has done the same thing in this fake outrage over Chap Petersen's mailer. Silence. Well, good ol' Ray--who was never suppose to be challenged if you recall, becasue Bob Horan was going to slide him in under the radar subverting the democratic process--seems to be unable to make up his mind on the issue of political prosecutions.

And don't listen to me, an admitted Republican partisan and newly dubbed "King of the Morons," read the steadfastly Democrat blog Blueweeds:

I could not help but think of the family of Steve Cornejo as I watched acting Fairfax Commonwealth Attorney and current CA candidate Ray Morrogh participate in the Chap Petersen press conference yesterday. Ray Morrogh announced his office is launching a criminal investigation into the mailers sent by the JMDD campaign, adjudged the mailing had "crossed the line," and then in the next breath offered up the following sound bite for the assembled media: "We need to keep it clean. Even the mafia doesn't touch the families."

For two years the Fairfax CAO has balked at providing information about the shooting death of Falls Church resident Steve Cornejo. A death in which the CAO refused to issue a direct indictment and failed to obtain an indictment using the grand jury process when it took the extraordinary step of allowing the case to be presented to the grand jury without a recommendation from the prosecutor. When a civil jury returned a $2 million dollar judgment to the family of Steve Cornejo, in case in which the CAO could not find probable cause and made no recommendation for prosecution, the CAO received requests for information from at least: the family of Steve Cornejo, groups of friends and teachers of Steve Cornejo, three separate private attorneys, the Falls Church Chief of Police, numerous members of the media, the law firm of Delegate Dave Albo, the Falls Church City Attorney, two requests from the Mayor of Falls Church, and the Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

The CAO has stonewalled these requests. The acting CA Ray Morrogh has continued the stonewall policy of the CAO. Only under intense public scrutiny in the context of the current election, has Morrogh made the recent minimal concession that the Steve Cornejo matter is worthy of being reevaluated and promised if re-elected he would look at the case.

Morrogh has angrily defended his actions on the grounds prosecutors should not politicize criminal investigations. Morrogh has taunted his opponent Patrick McDade as a "rookie" for even bringing up the Steve Cornejo shooting in their Reston debate.

The image yesterday of Morrogh standing in the rain next to candidate and fellow Democrat Chap Petersen, outside the campaign headquarters of JMDD, actively participating in a press conference just ten days from Election Day, in which he, as the chief acting prosecutor and current candidate for CA, not only announces he is launching a criminal investigation against his ticket-mate's opponent, but also offers his opinion in advance of any investigation that he believes the suspect has "crossed the line," is jarring in its hypocrisy.

Tonight I am meeting with the family of Steve Cornejo. Steve's father called me recently and asked if I could meet with members of his family to help them understand the legal and political status of the investgation into Steve's death. It is a meeting, candidly, the family should be having with the Fairfax Commonwealth Attorney's Office.

It is dificult to imagine how Morrogh can possibly reconcile refusing for two years to provide information to the family Steve Cornejo on the grounds providing such information would "politicize" a criminal investigation with what he just did in the Chap Petersen matter.

The corrupt Fairfax Democratic Party has hit a new low. Chap Petersen is crying over the names family on a mailer despite teh fact that he has published the names on his own mailers and given his address out on his own blog, and Ray Morrough is attempting to use his non-partisan office to help a fellow Democrat win an election. Is there nothing left in the tank? Is Chap REALLY that desperate to win public office?

Its time to keep our state senator and throw the bum out of the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office and re-elected Jeannemarie Davis and elect Patrick McDade.

Comments

[charles]

But remember, Chris -- nobody LOOKS AT Chap's mailers, and nobody READS his blog, so the fact that he put the kids pictures and names in HIS mailers, and his home address in HIS blog, and his phone number IN THE PHONE BOOK doesn't matter.

Davis is a powerful woman, and people take NOT of her mailers, and read them thoroughly, even the parts that are obviously meant to be ignored like the details on an image of a disclosure form.

But people SHOULD be upset. Since this mailer, Chap's wife had to field a phone call from an irate voter who wanted to know about Chap and Enron. And they had to put up with a message on their machine that asked Chap to call back.

And don't forget at least 5 phone calls that nobody answered, but who didn't leave messages. No candidate should ever have to endure people calling their phone and not leaving messages.

[Disillushioned Independent]

It is interesting that NLS and also Blueweeds refuses to discuss the comparison to the Plowman issue. At least blueweeds is talking about the hypocrisy of investigating JMDD and ignoring the Cornejo family.

I guess it's great to hack up someone for using the office for political issues when the target is republican, but it's business as usual when the target is a democrat who (in his own mind) deserves the job simply for having been around long enough to perpetuate the failed administration of the great Bob Horan.

[J.R.]

"King of the Morons"

Nice. When you start taking pot-shots like that, you know you're doing well. I congratulate you on your new-found status.

Morrogh has stated more than once that he is not a politican. He certainly proved that when he allowed himself and his office to be drawn into this Chap/Ben press conference. The concern one should have is since he will have to stand for re-election, who will be the next politican who will use him.
I frankly am not impressed with McDade's legal experience. Now, I have concerns about Morrogh's street smarts. I guess I flip a coin.

[Isophorone]

With this kind of corruption, "Blueweeds" will be tempted to change to "Redweeds." LOL

[janice]

I used to vote for Davis, but lately, and with the obvious damage she has done, it's just too much. Today, we received a doorhanger telling us to vote. I saw the guy who delivered it and asked him.

HE asked me if I was illegal. She is shameful.

[Anne]

Chris, why would the Ray Morrogh want to address the Cornejo case, really? Not what I'd call a high point from the Ffx CA office! It's been rather a thorn to them.

To Anon., I am not concerned about Patrick McDade's relative youth. He's a damned good lawyer and he's definitely got the experience and the credentials necessary to run for this position. Ask anyone who knows him or has seen him in action. He's extremely talented and unflappable in an adversarial setting, which is what we need. I really feel McDade totally destroyed Morrogh in that debate a month or so ago, too. To me, that was telling.

I've been a lawyer for 17 years and most of my friends are lawyers (and not one of us are criminal defense lawyers, btw)-- Dems, Reps, Indeps, we're backing McDade. If I had both of these guys come in for a job interview, McDade would get the job hands down. No question. That's why I'm voting for him. He's the better candidate.

[Anonymous Is A Woman]

Chris, you're not King of the Morons in my book. But I do think you've gotten so caught up in the partisan excitement you've temporarily lost your moral compass which disappoints me.

And you JR, obviously, don't have time to follow things that closely right now or you of all people wouldn't be applauding this. I KNOW your moral compass is better than that.

[Anne]

Sad, but true: My husband (who was, for the record, NOT the person who is said to have knocked on Janice's door, as his manners are impeccable!) was out door knocking for JMDD this weekend. Most people were friendly, even the people who were Chap supporters. He got one woman who obviously was not a fan of JMDD, so he politely thanked her for her time, and turned to leave. The lady decided to continue to rant about JMDD a little and in what I would describe as rather colorful language. He thanked her again, smiled, and left. (Note: I do not doorknock, owing to my argumentative nature. Even my own mother, who is an elected official, would never want me doing it for her.)

Gee, I guess some people have gotten way too fired up out there, too emotional. This is all distracting from the candidate's real messages. My observation (in my rare moments of spare time I am a coach and a competitive masters athlete) is that politics and just about everything else in life should be like sports are in an ideal world: You do your best, you win or lose fairly, and you don't let your cheering section turn into a jeering section when things aren't going your way.

Enough jeers, let's get to the cheers.

Frankly, I think Chap Peterson is a decent guy. He has many good qualities and even though I will not be voting for him, I will admit that he has them. He has a history of volunteering a lot in the community. I just happen to like JMDD more. She's closer to my viewpoints on a couple key issues. I don't agree with her on every little thing, but I think she's done an excellent job representing the diverse interests of the people in our district. She's responsive to her constituents. You want to talk to her? She's there. She also has a history of volunteering a lot in the community.

I say fight it out on the positive note now, please, in this last week.

And may the best woman win!

I'm as Republican as they get but why don't you redact the innacurate statements like the BlueWeeds Blog did. No investigation into JMDD is being launched. At least correct it like he did. This doesn't help JMDD out at all.