As you may notice, I have a contact form on this blog that allows people to send information to me if they are so inclined. I often get inane stuff through it and yesterday was no exception.
A “john smith” sent this comment via the contact form last night:
Contact the EEOC: Floundering Newport News Candidate desperate for help, skirts Americans with Disabilities Act
I have been hearing rumors for some time that Democrat trial lawyer Robin Abbott has been disappointed in her ability to gain any traction in her race against Newport News Delegate Phil Hamilton. Prominent local Democrats like former Del. Alan Diamonstein and Mayor Joe Frank have been lining up in support of Hamilton. So, it is no surprise that the word on the street has been that Abbott is highly frustrated by her inability to recruit volunteers and raise money.
The most recent proof of Abbott’s trouble is a part time job posting at Christopher Newport University that lists a contact in Tennessee to call or e-mail about receiving hourly compensation to go door-to-door for Abbott.
But, Abbott may be running into some trouble with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The job posting seems to imply that it discriminates against individuals with physically disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits qualified individuals with disabilities from being discriminated against by potential employers.
According to the EEOC’s website, “An employer is required to make a reasonable accommodation to the known disability of a qualified applicant or employee if it would not impose an ‘undue hardship’”. It would seem that Abbott should really give individuals the opportunity to compete without prejudging them based on a disability.
Abbott’s campaign appears to believe that money will buy them anything in elections. This isn’t the first time that the Abbott campaign has had to resort to money to try and make the campaign a success. Several bloggers noted in September that Abbott’s law firm appeared to have used contributions of up to $50,000 to statewide Democratic candidates in order to attract their scrutiny of Hamilton.
Abbott’s law firm, Consumer Litigation Associates (CLA), has been serving as her life-line to keep the doors open on her campaign. According to vpap.org, CLA and its lawyers have donated over $100,000 to Abbott as of August 31st. CLA has also donated $70,000 to Minority Leader Ward Armstong’s PAC who turns around and makes sure that her staff gets paid.
CLA must be looking to get something back from Abbott in Richmond to be throwing money around so indiscriminately. But, this race is starting to look bleak for Abbott. There are less than 5 weeks till Election Day. Hamilton has been on television for over six weeks. Abbott has been throwing mud like crazy. So far people don’t seem to know who she is, what she stands for, or even what district she is running in.
Now, I have no idea what this guy is talking about (seriously, dude, I live in Caroline County, you might want to try one of the Hampton Roads blogs) but the first thing I do when I get these type of e-mails is to check the sender’s IP address.
Care to guess who the IP address is registered to? Well, the IP address 128.82.43.237 is registered to Old Dominion University according to the American Registry of Internet Numbers.
Wasn’t it ODU that hired Delegate Phil Hamilton after they received money through a budget amendment that Hamilton sponsored?
Just sayin’.