The faithless Republican elector whose conscience won’t allow him to vote for Donald Trump when the Electoral College votes on Dec. 19 has for years touted a questionable resume, according to an investigation by WFAA, an ABC affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Chris Suprun, who wrote an op-ed in The New York Times on December 5 explaining why he would not cast his electoral vote for Donald Trump, has often portrayed himself as “a heroic firefighter who was among the first on the scene” after a hijacked plane flew into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
WFAA is calling into question his 9/11 first responder claims, as well as other claims regarding the 41-year-old’s career history that don’t quite pan out.
Suprun, a Dallas resident for more than a decade, even used his résumé to establish credibility in the Times piece, writing in the second paragraph: “Fifteen years ago, as a firefighter, I was part of the response to the Sept. 11 attacks against our nation.”
He has founded a nonprofit called Never Forget and state records show he is a licensed paramedic — but much of the rest of résumé, publicly available on LinkedIn, is questionable.
In addition, on at least two occasions over the last couple years at crowded Major League Baseball games, Suprun has been introduced as a 9/11 veteran before throwing out first pitches.
“He claimed to be a first responder with the Manassas Park [Virginia] Fire Department on September 11, 2001 and personally told us stories ‘I was fighting fire that day at the Pentagon.’ No, I was on a medic unit that day at the Pentagon and you make a phone call to Manassas Park and you find out that he wasn’t even employed there until October 2001,” said a first responder who knows Suprun and only agreed to speak about him if his identity was concealed.
The City of Manassas Park confirmed to WFAA that it hired Suprun on October 10, 2001, one month after the 9/11 attacks.
The fire chief there added that his department never even responded to the Pentagon or any of the 9/11 sites.
“It’s no different than stolen valor for the military; dressing up and saying ‘Hey, I earned a Purple Heart’ when you weren’t even in combat.’ There’s a big difference between shopping at Old Navy and being a Navy SEAL,” said the first responder who knows him.
But Suprun’s résumé raises even more questions.
It shows he was, at the time this story aired on WFAA, a paramedic with Air Methods air ambulance service. But Christina Brodsly, a spokeswoman for that company, said he is not an employee there.
Suprun also claims to currently be a paramedic with Freedom EMS in Dallas. But records from the Texas Department of State Health Services indicate there’s no such company. A firm with that name used to exist in Houston, but it went out of business in 2008, according to DSHS.
Turns out, federal court records show Suprun has spent the last five years in bankruptcy while his résumé says he was working. He even collected unemployment during part of it, court records show. Suprun was just released from bankruptcy supervision this month.
He never responded to multiple emails from WFAA and calls to his telephone go to a recording which says his voicemail is full.
https://youtu.be/9dsGcA40JmI
Suprun is the sole Republican to publicly announce he will not cast his ballot for President-elect Trump.
He also co-signed a letter with nine Democratic electors which has been widely described as “bipartisan” calling for briefings before the college voted from intelligence agencies on claims Russia hacked Hillary Clinton’s emails in an attempt to tip the election in Trump’s favor.
As for whom he would support for president, Suprun told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that “the low-hanging fruit” is Ohio Governor John Kasich because he has the best qualifications.
Two public relations firms hired by Suprun – Megaphone Strategies and Fenton Communications – responded to WFAA’s requests for an interview with “Suprun’s schedule is jammed packed.”
Megaphone Strategies is a progressive social justice PR firm launched by Van Jones and Molly Haigh.
Fenton Communications is one of the foremost public relations firms of the political left, representing environmentalist groups, pro-Democratic political action committees, labor unions, and the anti-war movement. Past clients have included Marxist dictatorships in Central America and Africa. Fenton has launched misleading media campaigns against Alar and silicone breast implants, and in more recent years climate change.
Why would any self-respecting Republican want to have anything to do with either of these far left-wing outfits?
WFAA asked Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at SMU, how presidential electors are chosen.
“Parties might want to ask for a little more background information, do a little bit of checking into people who would like to be members of the electoral college,” said Wilson. “I think in the future there will be a little more vetting and scrutiny given to prospective electors only because there’s been so much discussion in this cycle of the possibility of faithless electors,” continued Wilson.
The Texas electors will meet Monday in Austin.
Suprun disputed WFAA’s report on Reddit Friday, claiming that he worked as a volunteer firefighter in Dale City, Virginia, on September 11, 2001.
But as WFAA notes, “There’s no listing for Dale City on his publicly available and comprehensive LinkedIn résumé.”
In September 2001, according to Suprun’s LinkedIn résumé, he was employed by the Manassas Park, Virginia fire department. Suprun also does not list being a firefighter in Dale City, Virginia on a lengthy seven-page paper résumé he has recently handed out to potential employers in Texas. Neither Suprun nor his public relations firms have responded to WFAA since this story was first published.
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