As longtime readers of The Bull Elephant may recall, a vicious email campaign was launched against newly-elected 7th District Republican Chairman Fred Gruber in June of 2014. The “To the Woodshed” email ostensibly came from a former member of the House of Delegates from Hampton, Tom Gear.
In Anatomy of a Smear Campaign, we detailed the outrageous nature of the attacks on Gruber’s character, and how that and similar defamatory emails (remember VAGOPNOW?) were transparently calculated to injure the personal reputations and political standing of their victims. As we wrote at the time:
Today is one of those occasions where we are going to expose the underbelly of those who have gotten away with outright thuggery for far too long. Today, we’re going to outline for you one of the favored tactics of the besieged old guard of our Party: the smear campaign.
Shortly after this story came to light, Gruber filed a $1 million defamation suit against Gear.
The case had gone silent for quite a while, until today, when Gruber’s lawyers filed a motion seeking to amend their earlier complaint. Attached to that motion was a sworn affidavit from Gear in which he acknowledges that the allegations in his “Woodshed” email were false, and further went on to implicate those who he says put him up to it.
First up is former Third District GOP Chairman Mike Wade. Wade, according to numerous sources close to the matter, is apparently currently consulting for the Henrico Sheriff of the same name on the Sheriff’s campaign to oust Rep. Dave Brat.
In his affidavit filed today with the Spotsylvania Circuit Court, Gear writes:
I was asked by Mr. Mike Wade to lend the credibility of my name to this effort. Mr. Wade was the principal architect of the “To the Woodshed” campaign. See Exhibit 2. Mr. Wade provided the list of email addresses and, together with Mr. James Hicks who either was at the time an employee of RPV or had very recently been employed by RPV, created the website and the email database used in the campaign. I was told by Mr. Wade he came into possession of the email list from the U.S. Senate campaign of George Allen “George Allen list.” Mr. Wade told me it consisted of 70-80,000 email addresses. It is my understanding that Mr. Wade and Mr. Hicks were responsible for the logistics of sending the Gruber Email to addresses on the George Allen list, and of posting the contents of the Gruber Email on TOTHEWOODSHED.COM.
Wade email to Gear showing involvement with the ‘Woodshed’ campaign
Gear also implicates RPV First Vice Chairman Mike Thomas:
Mr. Wade, upon my query on multiple occasions, told me that what was contained in the Gruber Email was “one hundred percent accurate.” In order to give me further confidence in this, Mr. Wade assured me repeatedly that Mr. Thomas, the second most senior official in the Republican Party of Virginia behind only the Chairman, had proofread, made changes and approved the Gruber Email. I was in fact assured of the complete accuracy of the Gruber Email the night before Mr. Wade caused it to be sent out.
In fairness to Thomas, The Bull Elephant contacted him before publishing this story. Thomas disclaims any involvement in the Gear/Wade email, as does Chesterfield County GOP Chairman Donald Williams, whom we also contacted. Gear wrote that those
involved with or having knowledge of the Gruber Email, and/or in launching the “To the Woodshed” and a similar earlier campaign in 2014 [nb: this is VAGOPNOW] include former Third District Republican Committee Chairman Mike Wade, RPV First Vice Chairman Mike Thomas, Chairman of the Chesterfield County Republican Committee Don Williams, former Lieutenant Governor John Hager, and Mr. Gruber’s predecessor as Seventh District Republican Committee Chairman, Mr. Cobb.
In case anyone is wondering at this point what the motivation was behind the attack on Gruber (and others maligned in the VAGOPNOW emails), Gear clears that up nicely:
The campaign was launched in the wake of the defeat of Rep. Eric Cantor in the Seventh District Republican Primary, which had followed on the defeat of the Chairman of the Seventh District Republican Committee, Linwood Cobb, who was a close ally of Rep. Cantor’s.
…
The Gruber Email came about as part of an organized effort by members of what later came to be called the Virginia Conservative Network (“VCN”), a loosely-affiliated group of Republican politicians and activists organized around the goal of gaining control of Republican committees around Virginia, including especially the governing committee of the Republican Party of Virginia (“RPV”), the State Central Committee. The “To the Woodshed” campaign was launched principally to further VCN’s cause.
For background, TBE contributors have written about the Virginia Conservative Network here.
Folks, this is just about as dirty and desperate as politics can get. If what Gear has sworn is true, then those involved should be ashamed of themselves for debasing the Virginia Republican Party in such a crude manner.
In fairness, what Gear is revealing is not first hand knowledge of the direct involvement of any of the named individuals other than Mike Wade, and the two named individuals whom we contacted put distance between themselves and the allegations in Gear’s affidavit. Consequently, had Gear not sworn his statements under penalty of perjury, we would not have published them. We invite any of the men implicated by Tom Gear in this scandal to contact us to put forward any corrections to what Gear alleges, or to otherwise disclaim involvement. The Bull Elephant will publish all sides of this story.
In the meantime, we will also publish additional materials arising from this matter, including the full affidavit and attachments, in the coming days. These materials will reveal the alleged strategy behind the defamatory emails, and the mechanics of how they came about.
