Top Aide to N.H.
Congressman Resigns
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, September 27, 2006
CONCORD, N.H. Sept.26 -- A top
aide to U.S. Rep. Charles Bass resigned Tuesday after disclosures that he posed
as a supporter of the Republican's opponent in blog messages intended to
convince people that the race was not competitive.
Operators of two liberal blogs traced the postings to the House of
Representatives' computer server. Bass' office traced the messages to his
policy director, Tad Furtado, and issued a statement announcing Furtado's
resignation Tuesday.
''Tad Furtado posted to political Web sites from my office without my knowledge
or authorization and in violation of my office policy,'' said Bass, who
apologized to the bloggers and said he referred the matter to the House
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
Posting as IndyNH and IndieNH, Furtado professed support for Democrat Paul Hodes
but scoffed at a poll showing him tied with Bass and suggested Democrats should
invest their time and money elsewhere.
''I am going to look at the competitive race list to figure out where to send
another mydd.com/netroots donation and maybe help out in other ways,'' IndieNH
wrote. ''Maybe CT or NY for me -- they are at least close by. Anyone
interested in pooling NH efforts for some of those races?''
Laura Clawson, who runs ''Blue Granite,'' and Michael Caulfield, who runs
''NH-02 Progressive,'' said they were suspicious of IndieNH's postings from the
beginning.
''You see this all the time on political blogs, some elaborate act where someone
says, 'Now, I hate to say something against a Democrat, but,''' Clawson told the
Concord Monitor. ''So you develop an eye for it. And this poster
definitely tripped all the wires.''
After tracing the poster's IP address, Clawson posted an article last week on
the results, and the postings stopped. The bloggers said they also could
see opposition research done on Hodes by the same computer user, under searches
such as ''Hodes and gay marriage'' and ''Hodes and taxes.''
Bass said in an interview Tuesday that Furtado apologized to him and was
''obviously very upset'' about the incident, but was not available for comment.
There was no phone listing for Furtado in the Washington metropolitan area.
House ethics rules state that congressional staff time and equipment may not be
used for campaign purposes, and that criminal and financial penalties can be
assessed. The rules also say congressmen are responsible for their staff
members' actions.
Hodes spokesman Reid Cherlin said that although he thinks the resignation is
appropriate, ''I don't think it answers the real questions here'' because of the
opposition research apparently being done from Bass' congressional office.
Hodes said the Bass camp must have felt threatened by his campaign, his second
run against the incumbent.
''The sad thing is to use taxpayers' money to play dirty tricks in an
election,'' he said Tuesday.
There was a similar controversy in New Jersey earlier this month, when a liberal
blogger accused a campaign staffer for Republican Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr.
of using aliases to pose online as an ''ardent Democrat.'' Kean denied the
accusation.
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