Grand jury to hear evidence over Sessoms campaign flier

Here is the deal. Will Sessoms or D.I.A. had paid staff put out a flier in majority BLACK polling places with him and Obama together. Will Sessoms the same man who trashed Obama and supported McCain. The problem is not the fact that you support Obama or not.(I did not) The issue is that there were thousands of first time voters in the booths who had no idea about local races. The info they got walking into the polling center told them that Will Sessoms was on the Obama team. Watching some of the TV interviews people said they had only came to Vote for the President. One quote was "If he is for Obama and Obama is for him then he is my man" and another said "I have not followed local elections but I suppert Obama supporters so I voted for Will Sessoms" We can point and call them uninformed but the fact is any piece of information is information. If the information you have been handed is misleading then there is the problem. D.I.A didn't know about the fliers? Sessoms had no idea? Then how did they show at campaign headquarters? Who told dozens of paid staff to only hand them out at urban voting centers? Why would the one flier with a falsehood be the only one without the legal autho

What a joke! And what a waste of the court's time. No one reads those disclaimers anyway. It was clearly a minor oversight that had no impact on the campaign.

And Sessoms should be ashamed of himself. This guy Iwans helped him beat one of the most popular mayors in the history of Hampton Roads. What a sleezbucket he must be. VA Beach is going to wish they had a class act like Meyera back.

First, it is unlikely that these flyers hurt Sessoms with white conservative voters because the flyers were reportedly handed out at predominantly black precincts. Second, it is highly unlikely that the City Council will do anything regarding ethics violations because they are just about exclusively of the same persuasion: white, right wing, conservative, and pro-special interests. They are jointly taking money from the school reserve fund and the city rainy day fund to cover budget shortfalls but have refused to stop spending on the slow light rail and railway access, to allow a [second] referendum, or pay attention to the first referendum. They are all joined at the hip. Finally, a trial could produce evidence (e-mails, etc.) showing that there was a direct connection between Sessoms' campaign and the flyers. Everybody can see that there is a scapegoat being put on the spit.

I am sure the flyers hurt Sessoms as much as helped him. I did not vote for him given the flyers showed his 'association' with a such a horrible leader. I thought, quite correctly, if Sessoms is not wise enough to see through that man; he surely is not wise enough to run our city. I don't want a spend-thift running this great country and sure didn't want one running the city in which I live. I got stuck with both because too many people could not see past their nose on November 4th - too bad for them if they voted for him uninformed of who he was and what party he 'claimed' to belong.

Hard to believe the mayor or his campaign staff did not proof read or have someone proof is before it was released! Easy to put the blame on someone else rather than make sure all facts (especially the cover)are correct since it represents your reputation. Easier to get out of a jam instead of 'Duh, I didn't know!'

Looks to me like Iwans is taking all the heat. Williams was the black voter consultant, yet he is not being investigated?

Seems like they found a “fall guy” to take the heat and provide cover for those involved in the lowest political stunt in VB election history. This smells of a whitewash and cover-up. The Obama/Sessoms flyers are no longer the real issue. Instead it is the charges of interfering with an investigation, lying to investigators and the collusion of the parties involved in the flyer productions and distribution that must be addressed. These are serious charges that the Commonwealth’s Attorney must investigate and present to the Grand Jury in the form of charges. Mayor Sessoms and many others have publicly commented they “knew nothing about the flyers” production, production cost/payments or distribution of those flyers to the campaign workers and voters. Those statements are likely false and are the true charges that the Grand Jury should be hearing instead of a silly misdemeanor charges.

I should mention the violation of the City of Virginia Beach Code of Ethics should be considered by the members of City Council and if it can be determined that Mayor Sessoms was knowledgeable of any of this sordid event. If he is violation, he should be censured by the majority of

Re:Sore Loser?
Submitted by bornfree on Tue, 03/24/2009 at 4:58 pm.
"I wonder how many folks voted for Sessoms thinking he was an Obama supporter? Enough to tip the election? These guys make ACORN look like like slackers."

I didn't vote for Sessoms thinking he was an Obama supporter and I never saw any of those fliers. Yes, there is something fishy about who produced them, but I would have voted for whomever I wanted based upon my decisions as to who the best candidate was, not based on some flier. Are you implying the election was somehow rigged? If so, you sound just like all of those nutty conspiracy theorists I mentioned in earlier posts. I voted proudly for Obama. Face it, he is our new President.

Man that is such a sleezy move. It's like all these local businesses begging customers (and some begging non-customers) to vote for them in the "Best Of" Hampton Roads thing. When I see spam email saying "Vote for us plz" it discredits their previous Winner banners.

that flyer looks like a cover from the old "MAD" magazine. Two buffoons side by side.."what? me worry?"

I’m sure that this stunt didn’t affect the election, but it sure will be interesting to find out which developer or lawyer paid for them.

By now, Obama is one of Sessoms’ heroes, after the Bank Prez and Towne Bank received $76 MILLION dollars in TARP money.

A failure to disclose who paid for them??? That's obviously just digging for technicalities to complain about.

It is not about who won, it is about playing by the rules -- disclosures. I guess that the rule of law means nothing to some -- until it affects them directly (and I imagine they will cry loudly then).

I don't believe flyers either. I think Will Sessoms seat was bought and paid for by developers. He could have been shaking hands with Charles Manson and it wouldn't mattered one way or the other.

If Myra Oberndorf had pulled this stunt you guys would be all over this like stink on a pig. And Will Sessoms sounds like Claude Raines in "Casablanca" when he tells us he was "shocked" to learn that his campaign manager was responsible for this. I wonder how many folks voted for Sessoms thinking he was an Obama supporter? Enough to tip the election? These guys make ACORN look like like slackers.

So who did it?

Dave Iwans is a good and honest man and I don't believe would ever resort to such nonsense. They didn't have to, the Mayor won because Myra had to go!

Dave Iwans may get more time than a hardened criminal if found guilty. Picky, picky, picky . . . . . . or are they just sore losers.

Geez, talk about a waste of tax payer money, and other resources! If the effected voters can have their knowledge of an election determined by a campaign flyer, am I the only one who believes they aren't smart enough to be voting to begin with? How many times do we see flyers and other items produced that show a candidate with other people in the hope that the images will harm the person's candidacy? Like putting any Repub candidate anywhere with an image of, say, Bush, or Cheney? So a flyer is made with Obama and Sessoms together, and that's AGAINST THE LAW? Lol..

If I were Sessoms or any other Repub/independent candidate for office, I would have flyers drawn up showing me marching with Martin Luther King. I might even have one made with me shaking hands with JFK. Let these clowns stew over that!