Why Greg Lavelle Wants To Change The Subject…

…from the fact that he has clearly violated campaign finance laws, I mean.  The guy who is always first to the microphone to allege misdeeds by others now claims that he’s the victim of some unwarranted election year scrutiny.  Setting aside that his misdeeds took place during an election year. This election year. In the past few months, to be specific.

Lavelle’s default, once his lie about what he did being perfectly legal was undermined by a citation of the law he voted on, is/was ‘whataboutism’.  In a scarcely intelligible screed, he cited alleged misdeeds by Michael Houghton and Brenda Mayrack, neither of whom are Greg Lavelle, and neither of whom are running for office this year. He is now fulminating against Helene Keeley’s new cushy job, which, while worthy of fulmination (including by me), again has nothing to do with Lavelle’s blatant violation of campaign laws.

But I think the real reason why Lavelle casts so far afield is b/c he suspects he’s a goner, and needs to change the subject for his own peace of mind. The latest campaign finance reports show that Lavelle is in deep doo-doo. Allow me to cite the ways:

Despite his bleating that he played fiscal legerdemain with his PAC b/c the mean ol’ Dems were outspending him, that, of course, isn’t true. As if that would have excused his breaking the law in any case.  The 30-day reports show Sturgeon with $66K cash-on-hand, a healthy total, and Lavelle with $178 K on hand.  But that’s more than a bit misleading. Lavelle has lent his campaign, wait for it, $135K since 2016. He may, or may not wish to spend that money (which may or may not explain why he is illegally using PAC money in a coordinated fashion on his own behalf). OTOH, Sturgeon has lent her campaign the princely sum of $1776 (quite the patriotic figure), which is roughly what I spent on Mega Millions.

And, of course, the bulk of Lavelle’s money comes from out of state and from corporate lobbyists. Only 41% of Lavelle’s money comes from in-state individuals, while 83% of Sturgeon’s money comes from Delawareans. If you scan her report, you’ll see that the vast preponderance of that money comes from people in the 4th SD.

45% of Lavelle’s money comes from PACs or loans, whereas 96% of Sturgeon’s money comes from individuals. 

And, of course, the average Lavelle donation is for $300 while the average Sturgeon donation is for $130.

Despite his financial advantages, Lavelle now finds himself mired in electoral quicksand of his own making.  All he can do is try to change the subject and hope something sticks. And to keep his mind off of his impending political fate. If he hadn’t been such an unrelenting dick for the past 15 years or so, I might even feel some sympathy for him.

But an unrelenting Trump-loving Rethuglican dick is what he is. Who, like Trump, will break the law to suit his political purposes. Don’t let him off the hook. If you live in the 4th, and if you have a shred of humanity, show it by voting for Laura Sturgeon on Nov. 6.