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Race for the 51st gets personal
It's that time of year again: time for the race in the 51st House of Delegates District to turn into a hit-below-the-belt brawl.
This time, it's attorney and freshman Del. Paul Nichols (D) against 30-year Air Force veteran and challenger Rich Anderson (R). The controversy deals with two mailers that Nichols claims subjects him to potential identity theft.
During a debate in Manassas at George Mason University's Verizon Auditorium, Nichols and Anderson did discuss issues that affect the residents of eastern Prince William.
But, without a doubt, the most attention-grabbing portion of the program came when Nichols charged Anderson with malice.
"How dare you attack my personal reputation that I've been building for 31 years in my community," exclaimed Nichols during his intro speech. "On top of that, you set me up for identity theft. On the face of your mailing, you displayed my Social Security number, place of birth. My place of birth! My date of birth, my sister's name; all information there. You had to maliciously do this because you could have blacked that information out. Your actions were dishonorable, deceitful and desperate and I demand an apology."
Anderson responded during his intro by saying, "this is not about a conviction versus a non-conviction. This is about bad behavior. This is about misbehavior. This is about bad conduct and we have valid proof that it occurred. And as a former senior military officer, I don't want that kind of representation in Richmond. He says he's the victim and he wants to demonize police officers, but the record shows he was arrested for assault."
Nichols had been arrested for assault but his court case was dropped as the arresting officer was no longer a member of the police force at the time. Nichols expunged his record this year.
Anderson claimed the number on the mailers was "a derivative of" the Democrat's Social security number and "the Social Security number was not on it."
The Times has verified that the number printed was Nichols' Social Security number, except for the hyphens.
"If I knew he was going to take exception to that legally, publicly-available document, listing his birthplace, I probably would have taken it out because it doesn't add or detract to the value of the form," said Anderson.
Anderson closed his portion of the forum by saying, "And I sincerely want to be your delegate in Richmond where I will bring responsible and sober leadership."
The "sober" reference brought a collective gasp from the audience. When asked to explain what the intended meaning of the word was in the context he used it, Anderson said he was not trying to insinuate Nichols is a drunk.
"When I said, 'sober,' I mean responsibility. Responsible leadership. That was not a reference to the North Carolina situation," said Anderson.
One of Anderson's mailers stated, "In 2006, Paul Nichols and a friend were stopped by Police for suspicion of DWI."
The mailer does not mention the fact that Nichols was not the driver. It honed in on Nichols being charged with "assault on a law enforcement official."
"I was attacked by a police officer. I was the victim. I was considering suing the county. The case got dropped, dismissed, and I did not run in and get it expunged because I felt like I had nothing to hide and I just got it expunged this summer because I wasn't worried about it," said Nichols.
The 51st House of Delegates District in eastern Prince William has earned a reputation during the last two election cycles of being the most drag-out, knock-down, hit-below-the-belt race in the county.
In 2007, Faisal Gill defeated Julie Lucas for the Republican nomination at a convention surrounded in controversy as some precincts reported more votes than checked-in members.
Gill's subsequent campaign was sabotaged in part by members of his own party suspicious of any ties to a terrorist organization, even though he was an American military veteran.
Del. Jackson Miller (R-50th) even accused Gill of being soft on illegal immigration, which was a hot-button issue, especially among Republican activists, at the time.
Nichols, who successfully ran against Gill, refrained from piling on at a debate but eventually sent out a mailer accusing Gill of supporting illegal immigrants in court as a lawyer.
Local media slammed Nichols for acting unethically, but Nichols went on to win a close race that November.
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