A national gun–rights organization was as good as its executive director’s word when it threw its support to GOP House of Delegates nominee Catherine Crabill last week.Gun Owners of America’s executive director, Larry Pratt, had come to a Northumberland County Republican County Committee meeting Sept. 10 and voiced his support for Crabill. A week later, his organization officially came on board.
Pratt, who came from Springfield to support Crabill , told the crowd that Crabill’s now-famous “ballot box/bullet box” speech inspired his organization and that the state GOP, which has shunned Crabill, would pay a price if it didn’t reverse itself and help her. Unless the state party switched and came to Crabill’s aid, Pratt said his organization would write its members telling them not to send their donations to the state party or statewide candidates but to Crabill.
Within a week, Pratt and the GOA had made good on his promise.
Pratt sent a fund-raising “alert” letter sent to GOA’s Virginia members, entitled “Candidate Under Fire for Being Pro-Second Amendment”, urged that credit-card contributions be sent to Crabill through her campaign’s Internet Website, Crabill’s campaign announced Thursday.
The campaign noted that contributions had already started flowing in.
In his letter, Pratt wrote, Crabill “is being condemned for this statement: ‘We have the opportunity to fight this at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box’ and asked the recipients ““Who would object to that besides an anti-gunner?”, according to Crabill’s campaign.
At the Sept. 10 meeting attended by Pratt, there was ample room for conflict since it was attended by state GOP chairman Pat Mullins, who, along with the party’s three statewide candidates, recently repudiated Crabill, and the hall was full of Crabill supporters and Crabill herself was there.
For all the potential for conflict, the local Republicans’ ire at the state leaders didn’t emerge until after Mullins had left. Only Ken Smith managed to get in a confrontational question when he asked Mullins if any of the state leaders had actually spoken with Crabill before distancing themselves from her. “No,” Mullins answered. When Patrick O’Brien asked if the local leadership had been given a “heads up” before the leaders came out against Crabill, Mullins said, “I’d rather not talk about it. It doesn’t do us or Catherine any good.”
Pratt took the floor in Crabill’s favor after Mullions had left.
99th District GOP chairman Allen Webb also rose in Crabill’s defense. He said he was offended that the statewide people had dumped Crabill without notifying local leaders such as himself. “Don’t ever do this again,” he said. “Don’t tread on me.” Webb said that he would continue to support Crabill. “The nominee is the nominee,” he said.
Crabill herself was moved almost to tears as she thanked the audience for standing by her. She wasn’t backing off from her controversial comments, either. She noted that Mullins himself had used the Patrick Henry speech she was using when she made the remarks and, saying she had received ugly , threatening emails after her speech became widely known, asked, “Is the crime mine or those who incite crime against me and my family.”
Crabill wasn’t the only one getting support last week. Incumbent delegate Albert C. Pollard, Jr., got the endorsement of a Republican lawmaker Chris Saxman of Staunton.
Del. Saxman said, “In an era when partisanship has created a hostile and unproductive political environment, political leaders must be willing to work with each other every year - elections included. Albert truly exemplifies the bi-partisanship and independence that we should expect from our leaders in Richmond. Having worked with Albert, he is clearly the best candidate for Delegate in the 99th district. We don’t agree on everything, but that hasn’t stopped us from working together on the things we do agree on.”
The National Rifle Association, which the Gun Owners of America views as weak in its protection of gun owners’ rights, has endorsed Pollard in the past but has not made an endorsement so far this election. It is expected to do so next week according to informed sources.
