Odd turn in Clark bankruptcy story
A story in The Daily Progress reporting the personal financial struggles of Fifth District independent congressional candidate Jeffrey Clark has taken an interesting turn.
Clark sent out a news release on Tuesday offering to drop out of the Fifth District race if the person who made the information about Clark’s past available to the paper will come forward.
“I think that it is important for transparency sake to let the people of the Fifth District know exactly who was involved in gathering, paying for, and disseminating the information so the voters of the Fifth District can judge for themselves the intentions behind the distribution of the material,” Clark said in the release.
The story in the Progress detailed that Clark, a conservative Tea Party member, had filed for bankruptcy in 1993 and has a history of personal debt dating back to the 1980s.
Clark said in the news release that he is not considering dropping out of the race in the Fifth because the information was made public.
“I am extending this offer because the people of this country have had enough of these types of backroom dealings, corrosion and the practice of the politics of personal destruction,” Clark said. “The citizens have a right to know and assign ownership and responsibility to the appropriate party.”
Clark went on to say that he has his own suspicions “as to who is responsible and what their intensions were behind the dissemination of this material,” though he did not elaborate on that point.
“I only hope by taking this step it will provide some transparency and get people to think about what it will take before they are willing stand up and draw a line in the sand and tell their political leaders,” Clark said.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
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Press release from Clark campaign:
Fellow citizens, as of today at 5 pm no one has come forward to claim credit for compiling and distributing the public records dealing with my families finical past and per our 48 hour deadline I am rescinding my offer to withdraw from the race.
I appreciate Congressman Perriello coming forward and addressing this issue head on and making it clear that his campaign had no involvement in compiling or distributing the information.
As of today State Senator Hurt’s campaign has not denied involvement. He chose instead to engage in childish insults calling me personally delusional. I am disappointed that Senator Hurt has not issued a simple yes or no answer concerning his campaigns involvement in the compiling and distribution of this material.
I would encourage all people in the 5th district who have had enough of the politics of personal destruction to encourage Senator Hurt to issue an unambiguous statement concerning his or his campaigns involvement in this matter.