UPDATE, 9:00 p.m. EST: Virginia political blogger Tom White offers an example of Shaun Kenney’s recent behavior in the service of Eric Cantor’s primary campaign.
In early March, a third candidate named Peter Greenwald was still active in the primary race. Greenwald, along with Dave Brat, was challenging Cantor from the political right. White, who felt Brat was the stronger challenger to Cantor, wrote a post suggesting that Greenwald bow out of the race.
Shortly thereafter, Shaun Kenney interviewed Greenwald. Kenney prefaced the interview by referring to White’s post:
So I read this piece from Tom White over at Virginia Right over the week, and I couldn’t help but think that it just didn’t sit right. So I took the time to do a “Five Questions” interview with former U.S. Navy commander Peter Greenwald at his home in Chesterfield. What I found was that Greenwald — far from the lunatic or fanatic some are feverishly trying to paint him as — is a remarkably profound and Christian man with the courage to wear his faith on his sleeve.
What was supposed to be a one-hour chat turned into a two-and-a-half hour conversation about faith and family, motivating principles, America’s national security and defense, and above all else Greenwald’s overwhelming concern for the federal debt and the national deficit. One thing struck me very quickly — Greenwald is a genuine candidate with very real motivating principles that are different than David Brat’s more libertarian-leaning concerns. Greenwald was a realist in every term, knowing that he had an uphill campaign against Majority Leader Eric Cantor with a small chance of success, but knew that any victory he had would be attributable — according to his faith and values — to God.
Walking away, I drew two lessons: (1) Brat is not going to push Greenwald out of the race, and (2) Greenwald and his army — flying column might be more like it — are going to wear out significant shoe leather making a go of this campaign.
Recall: Kenney’s consulting firm was hired by Eric Cantor’s campaign, and Kenney was subsequently appointed as Virginia GOP executive director. Days after Tom White suggested that Greenwald bow out of the race so a stronger challenge to Cantor could arise, Kenney criticized White and conducted a praise-filled interview with Greenwald.
Kenney’s interview oddly referred to Brat as “libertarian-leaning,” claimed Greenwald has “very real motivating principles” as opposed to Brat, and insisted that Brat would not push Greenwald out of the race.
In service to Eric Cantor, it appears that Kenney spent two-and-a-half hours misrepresenting himself and his motives to a former U.S. Navy commander. In the commander’s home. Was he directed to do so? Did his employer know or approve of the dishonest interview?
Forget it, Jake. It’s Cantortown.
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UPDATE, 4:30 p.m. EST: Eric Cantor’s primary opponent Dave Brat has provided me with an exclusive response:
“Since no Democratic challenger has emerged from that party’s own primary process, the GOP primary election on June 10 will result in the next U.S. Representative for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
Yet with this revelation, any pretense of fairness regarding that June 10th election has been dashed.
We now ask Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins to explain how and why Shaun Kenney was appointed Executive Director.
We are also calling for an independent investigation into the financial relationship between Eric Cantor, Shaun Kenney, and the Republican Party of Virginia.”
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On a local website co-managed by Shaun Kenney, the newly appointed executive director of the Virginia GOP, a colleague of Kenney’s admitted last night that Kenney’s political fundraising and consulting firm is employed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
Cantor is now campaigning to retain his seat in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. Cantor’s challenger for the GOP primary on June 10 — Dave Brat — is politically on Cantor’s right, and is thus receiving national interest from conservative/Tea Party groups that are disappointed with Cantor’s record as majority leader.
The magnitude of the revelation can not be overstated: GOP voters in Virginia’s 7th District have just learned that the person appointed to manage the primary election season for the party is being paid by one of the candidates. And, in addition to the disqualification of Kenney as a fair arbiter of the primary, the financial ties obviously raise the question of whether Cantor, the most powerful Republican in Virginia, had Kenney installed as executive director.
Further, the article revealing the financial ties attempts to describe a longstanding relationship between Cantor and the partners at K6 Consulting. However, this appears to be irrelevant. Cantor’s own financial disclosures for 2013-2014 do not include any records of payments made to K6 Consulting or any other entity tied to Shaun Kenney. The article claims that the upcoming FEC financial disclosure will reveal that K6 is employed by Cantor.
Unless Cantor’s financial disclosures were incomplete, K6 Consulting signed a contract with Cantor just in the past few weeks or months, as Kenney was being selected as executive director.
Indeed, this matches with what I have heard from multiple sources.
Last week, I was told that in recent weeks Shaun Kenney was overheard on more than one occasion — and at two different locations — claiming that “he had landed the big fish, Cantor.” The two locations were the Republican Party of Virginia Headquarters and the Richmond General Assembly Building.
I will update this article as I receive more information.
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