Police: Campaign Worker Admits Making Up Story
A Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Ashley Todd confessed to making up the story & is facing charges
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Police sources tell KDKA that a campaign worker has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter "B" in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker.
Ashley Todd, 20, of Texas, initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.
Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test.
Authorities, however, declined to release the results of that test.
Investigators did say that they received photos from the ATM machine and "the photographs were verified as not being the victim making the transaction."[snip]
The commander added that Todd will face charges; but police have not commented on what those charges will be.
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i'm SHOCKED!!!!
ReplyDelete*gasp*
In other news, the sky is blue and water is wet.
ReplyDeleteAnyone with a brain could see this coming. I said so much on my blog yesterday when I talked about it.
ReplyDeletei'm waiting to hear the right wing yakkers appologise.
ReplyDeleteThe charge will most likely be making a false report to law enforcement. $2500 fine and a year in jail. Hope it was worth it Ashley!
ReplyDeleteIn fairness, some Republican apologists were saying this story stunk yesterday. It wasn't just us Obama-supporters who said this story reeked.
ReplyDeleteI don't want Ashley to be in "prison welfare" for a few months. I want her to pay a fine and go back to Texas. Hopefully, the local McCain office will not take her back (but, who knows, maybe they will forgive her).
I think we're all handling this well, as long as the Obama folks don't get all smug about it.
ReplyDeleteGlen Beck was hawking this story at 11:00 AM today. The danger in these things is still real -- it will always generate a response. With everyone from politicians to pundits to Hollywood commenting, surely someone is could say something obnoxious. And then its ... "this is what the Obama camp is saying!"
So yeah. Open-source message discipline. Let's see if it's possible.
Just from seeing the picture(and the now infamous backwards "B" - would an "O" have made more sense?) and having read the articles posted on the Trib's site last night and the P-G's, it was clear this was bunk.
ReplyDeleteBut there's something else I think police will follow up on.
Last night, the P-G reported that they College Republican committee executive, Ethan Eilon, who is a friend of Todd's. And the Tribune Review interviewed her friend, the University of Pittsburgh law student. Too bad they didn't get their stories straight:
The P-G reported that Mr. Eilon said that Todd went to an "unknown" hospital by herself sometime later Wed. evening.
The Trib reported that a friend of Todd's, a law student at the U. of Pittsburgh, said that Todd was convinced to seek treatment and that he took her to UPMC Shadyside.
These two friends are going to be asked why they're stories don't match. And why they lied.
This isn't over yet.
Here's a link to the Trib story.
Here's the link to the P-G story.
An odd few days for McCain supporters around these parts. First Kevin Miller pulls a stunt and lies to his audience and now Ashley Todd pulls a Morton Downey Jr.
ReplyDeleteThese wingnuts are a crazy bunch.
This story has legs: KDKA told TPM that McCain's Pennsylvania communications director pushed this story to them before all the facts were known.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was a much more incendiary version of events.
At the very least, we can say that the McCain campaign was willing to push a story they didn't know to be true with information they knew wasn't true(did they get them from when Todd talked to McCain and Palin? Who else did Todd talk to w/ the McCain campaign?).
This is nothing short of racebaiting by the McCain campaign.
John Lewis was right.
And this is what John McCain will be forever remembered for.
Jaywillie,
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was just reading that. Will try to put up a post on it in a bit.
In the days before an election, the rightwing nutballs will do ANYTHING. Cling to ANY bit of hope. They are keenly aware that many times people will only hear their side of the story and they don't give a damn whether it's true or not.
ReplyDeleteThose people my friends, represent the heartland of American voters.....
Yea.
Maria,
ReplyDeleteYou should also look into Ethan Eilon, who is quoted in the Post-Gazetter article I link to.
Eilon is the Executive Director for the College Republican National Committee.
And he just happens to be a friend of Todd?
And he just happens to be in Pittsburgh?
And he just happens to be available to provide quotes to the Post-Gazette?
From what I can tell, Eilon has no connection to Pittsburgh. Most of the political work he's done seems to have occurred in Colorado.
So, why was he in the city?
And how long has he been a friend of Todd, who I believe is quite younger than Eilon?
And doesn't it seem strange that an operative/volunteer would have a friendship with the executive director of the CRNC?
This story stinks.
Just to clarify, Todd is/was a "field rep" for the CRNC.
ReplyDeleteMaria,
ReplyDeleteOne more thing:
This is a story from Oct. 2nd, 2006.
"Despite a national whirlwind of speculation, political finger-pointing and a nasty black eye, police said rumors surrounding the assault of an Oakland University student who woke up beaten and bruised in Ann Arbor on the night of Sept. 23 are false.
Ann Arbor police said Justin Zatkoff, the executive director of the Michigan Federation of College Republicans, was not attacked by "liberal thugs," as posted on the conservative blog truthcaucus.com."
"The post cited a source close to Zatkoff who said he may have been attacked by members of the pro-affirmative action group By Any Means Necessary or a gay rights group. The story attracted national attention and was soon picked up by other sites like Wonkette.com, a Washington gossip blog, and dailykos.com, a well-known liberal blog."
"The police report tells a much different story.
Police said Zatkoff received his puffy purple left eye during a fight with a high school friend.
Zatkoff was at a friend's party on the 1100 block of White Street on Sept. 23 when he engaged in what the police report called "horseplay" with a friend. Fueled by alcohol, Zatkoff was belligerent.
"When Zatkoff drinks, he gets a little out of control," the report quoted one of Zatkoff's friends. "At this particular party Zatkoff was being obnoxious."
Another one of Zatkoff's friends eventually admitted to police that it was he - not a gang of angry liberals - who punched Zatkoff.
"
There seems to be a pattern.
The CRNC needs to answer some questions.