I try to abide by the maxim “Don’t feed the trolls,” but sometimes I need to bite, especially when my name and the name of the organization I so passionately advocate for are attached.
Andre posted this blog on his site. You can go ahead and read it, but here’s the gist:
In an email sent out Monday afternoon, the Young Democrats of Georgia informed their members that Lance Robertson needs volunteers for his PSC campaign. The email goes on to let Georgia Young Democrats know how they can contact Robertson’s campaign…
Lance Robertson currently affiliates himself with the Republican Party…
t seems suspicious that the Young Democrats of Georgia would promote a Republican candidate for statewide office. Even more suspicious is the background of the Republican candidate the Young Dems are promoting.
There’s a little theory known as Occam’s razor. Occam’s razor says all things equal, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.
So which explanation is the simplest? That the Georgia Young Democrats suddenly support Republican candidates for office? Or that the Young Democrats of Georgia are up to dirty tricks designed to get the most unelectable Republican nominated in the July primary?
Notably, Andre has no quotes from any individuals within Young Democrats of Georgia, including President Louis Elrod, Press Secretary Ansley Tuten, or me, the guy whose address the email came from and whose email is plastered all over it from top to bottom. He never asked any of us for comment, but instead attempted to concoct a baseless story out of what I can only presume is an active imagination.
Here’s the email, verbatim, that I sent to Andre earlier today, which he has yet to respond to or, evidently, deal with as I suggested he did:
Andre, Louis Elrod brought your article to my attention.
I put that into the newsletter as Mr. Robertson asked for me to do so. I did not think anything of his request, as I had met him at the opening of the new Democratic Party of Georgia Headquarters, where he introduced himself as a former officer in the Young Democrats of Georgia. Therefore, I believed him to be a Democrat, and had no reason to think otherwise when he sent me the aforementioned request.
I expect that you will issue a retraction or clarification in your article.
I appreciate you bringing this issue to our attention, and I can assure you that Mr. Robertson’s name will be removed from our newsletters, and I will be glad to issue a retraction and clarification in subsequent mailings.
So there you go people. That’s literally what happened. But yet, the simplest explanation, that the guy told me he was a Democrat and wanted to promote his campaign, is in fact the situation we find ourselves in. As I conclude, I would make a few statements. First, I’d ask Andre to live up to the most basic tenet of journalistic integrity and correct his post, or delete it altogether, as its newsworthiness is frankly nonexistent. But I would also ask Mr. Robertson, a man who has claimed to be both a Democrat and a Republican, a man whose Facebook page describes him as “conservative,” “progressive,” and “independent,” and a man whose “likes” include the GCSU Young Republicans, Howard Dean, and Kasim Reed, to explain what the heck he is, and what party he is going to affiliate himself with.
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