Marshall County Democratic Party

Comment

Comment by George Erdel on August 2, 2010 at 1:32pm

A Public Apology to Candidate Ben Leming Tennessee 6th District


On July 19 I began to publicly request of Mr. Leming some documentation to demonstrate that he has in fact voted during his 15 year hiatus to serve in the USMC.


On the day I obtained the copy of his new registration from the Rutherford County Election Commission I was told that what they had presented to me was all that they were in possession of at the Election Commission.


Well the fine ladies at the election commission went back into their filed archives and they did in fact provide to my satisfaction that Mr. Leming has in fact participated in election through the Rutherford County Election Commission.


Therefore I most humbly apologize to Mr. Leming in the same open forums in which I brought forth what turned out to be erroneous information. On the day I requested the initial information from the commission they were all as busy as bees during the first day of early voting and I did receive responses to my inquiries by three individual employees. It is very easy to understand that they provided to me information that was in error.


I will be going by Mr. Leming's Office to shake his hand look him in the eye and tell him I am sorry to his face.


While I maintain that Mr. Leming is not a good choice to replace Mr. Gordon as Congressman in the 6th district I can not say that his voting record is a reason to disqualify him for such a seat.


I continue to charge that Mr. Leming is just a paper doll cutout of the Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid Liberals that have not only damaged our party they have steered our government hard to the left and if we do not work to correct the programs they have forced upon the district and the nation in the past 18 months we may not be able to recover at all.

To see the Contrasts between me and Ben, Please see my issues pages of my web site at:

http://www.georgefortennessee.com/id2.html

Comment by George Erdel on July 31, 2010 at 6:57pm

I just received a call from Mr. Chris Adkins of the Leming Campaign. He and I will go on Monday morning and visit the Rutherford County Election Commission and look into this further. On the day I went there it was the beginning of Early Voting and it was a mad house. I first spoke to one individual at 09:00, and she told me I needed to return at 11:00. When I did so I was asked by a second individual how she could help me and I told her that I was returning for some information requested earlier that morning. She then turned me over to a third lady that obtained the information which I left with. I was told that this was all that was available in their office.

Again, this was at a very busy time and all people there were extremely busy.

I can promise you this, If I made a mistake and put out bad information, I will just as publicly say so on this and every other forum I have stated it that I had made an honest mistake.

I think you can understand with that which was given to me and the comments made that this was all there was makes it understandable that this could happen. I told Mr Adkins with Ben's Campaign that I wish he had contact me sooner because on that very first day I publicly asked for Ben to come forth with any tangible evidence that I have said something that was not factual. I thank you for your input and I hope to report back here on Monday.

Comment by Chris Atkins on July 31, 2010 at 6:23pm

I'm sorry, George, but you are very mistaken on this issue.

I went down to the Rutherford County Election Commission the first day you started stirring up this accusation and asked the officials point blank if Ben Leming had ever registered or voted before. The clear and unequivocal answer was YES, BEN LEMING HAS VOTED SINCE 1994 (the first year he was eligible to vote). He has always been registered to vote in Rutherford County. He had to apply on March 16 for a permanent registration because he had to regularly request changes of address for his absentee ballots WHILE SERVING OUR NATION IN THE MILITARY.

George asked to see Ben's registration, saw that it looked like Ben Leming first registered this March and that was enough for him. George, its a matter of public record, why don't you go down and ask the officials at the election commission, "Has Ben Leming ever voted in the past?" The answer you will receive is "YES."

Anyone else wishing to check into this can do the same.

George I understand that you also served our nation honorably in the military. So did I. As a military man, I take you at your word that this was an honest mistake. I hope you will investigate a little deeper, learn the facts, and apologize to Ben Leming for your mistake.

Comment by George Erdel on July 31, 2010 at 6:02pm

A close examination of the Rutherford County Election Commission’s Application for Voter Registration clearly shows that Mr. Leming signed up to vote on March 16, 2010 which happens to be the same date he obtained a petition to run for the seat being vacated by retiring Congressman Bart Gordon. Also you can readily see that Mr. Leming does not list any name or address for ANY PRIOR REGISTRATION. This question is asked of every applicant so that the Rutherford County Election Commission can contact the former place of registration and advise them that the voter is no longer in their district and they can cancel any previous registration held by the voter by that voter.

Get the whole story and LOOK at his NEW Voter Registration dated March 16, 2010 at:

http://www.georgefortennessee.com/id18.html

Comment by Grover Christopher Collins on June 30, 2010 at 10:52pm

Everyone check out the Democratic BBQ with Mike McWherter on July 8th @ 5:30 P.M. at the Marshall county Rec Center