Politics & Government

Updated: PAC Distributes Attack Ad Against Walker

City Council candidate Boyd Walker explains charges made against him in mailing distributed by Alexandria Democrats for Responsible Government.

2:30 p.m. Saturday update — John Chapman confirmed the removal of Gail Gordon from his campaign team in a statement released Saturday afternoon. He reiterated that he had no part in the organization of Alexandria Democrats for Responsible Government, nor the production or distribution of the attack ad targeting Boyd Walker.

"I am running for City Council as a fourth generation Alexandrian to help preserve and extend the best traditions in our city, including civility and transparency in elections," Chapman wrote. "A recent mailer from a new PAC attacked another candidate in ways that are not consistent with those Alexandria traditions."

Gordon was the treasurer of Chapman's campaign. Chapman told Patch on Friday he only became aware of Gordon's PAC on Thursday night.  

"Gail Gordon, the treasurer of the PAC, has also served as treasurer of my campaign," Chapman wrote. "I respect Gail's rights to speak out, but my campaign is about the issues our city faces and I will not take any negative stands about other candidates. Today I thanked Gail for her support to date and asked her to step aside as treasurer of my campaign. I have notified the State Board of Elections that as of 2 p.m. today, I will serve as my own campaign treasurer until after June 12th."

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12:15 p.m. Saturday update — Gail Gordon is no longer a member of John Chapman’s campaign team.

Find out what's happening in Del Raywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I'm off John's campaign," she wrote in an email to Patch on Saturday afternoon.

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A new political action committee called Alexandria Democrats for Responsible Government distributed a mailing advertisement that landed in many of the city’s mailboxes on Friday attacking .

The mailing reads “Boyd Walker wants to turn Alexandria City Council into a game show” and “We can’t afford to have Boyd Walker playing with Alexandria’s future.” It depicts a cartoon image of Walker spinning a game show wheel and lists links to media reports and Alexandria City Council docket items about the candidate failing to pay taxes, abusing historic property and disrespecting women. It also refers to Walker as “a developer” who has “proposed a plan for taxpayers to foot the bill for over $80 million of development of Alexandria’s waterfront.”  

Alexandria Democrats for Responsible Government was registered just last week with the State Board of Elections. Gail Gordon is listed as the group’s treasurer on the Virginia Public Access Project website. The PAC was registered on June 1 and does not have to file a finance report until July 16. No other contributors or members are known.

Gordon is a member of the Alexandria Democratic Committee’s executive board and is the treasurer of candidate ’s campaign. Chapman and Walker are two of 14 candidates squaring off in Tuesday’s Democratic primary to select six nominees for the November election.   

“I am a private citizen and I have a right to be a part of the process. I recently became treasurer for a PAC called Alexandria Democrats for Responsible Government,” Gordon wrote in a statement. “Everything in the PAC's mailing about Boyd Walker is accurate and voters have a right to have information about candidates running for public office. The PAC does not represent any candidate or committee's viewpoint and is not related to any volunteer or paid work anyone in the PAC does for any other candidate or committee or employer.”

Gordon also wrote that the PAC voted to oppose but “did not have time or money to send out a piece on Peabody.”

She declined further comment and said the PAC will not speak to the issue anymore.

Walker said Friday that he was behind on his taxes for an Old Town property located at 1307 King St. and has since paid that bill, including any additional penalties.

The reference to abusing historic property is related to a $25,000 fine levied against Walker in 2006. Walker said a roofer he hired took down part of the canopy of a historic ice house building he owns on Commerce Street in Old Town. Walker has plans to turn it into a gelato shop.

“The [Board of Architectural Review] put a particularly high fine on the incident because of my outspokenness,” Walker said. “The fine was reduced to $6,500 by City Council, which I promptly paid the next day.” 

Walker said the canopy has since been completely restored.

Walker was a member of Citizens for an Alternative Alexandria Waterfront Plan until he jumped into the council race. The group submitted an alternative plan to the one developed by city planners last year, when Walker was serving as one of CAAWP’s leaders. .

“I was not proposing any additional spending on the waterfront,” Walker said. “As an opponent of the [city’s] waterfront plan, I think it is safe to say that I was actually an opponent of the $51 million the city proposed to spend.”

Walker said city officials “made up a number” that they thought the CAAWP plan would cost “without much factual basis.”

The mailing’s reference to Walker disrespecting women stems back to a blog entry he published in January when he mentioned a female employee of the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership and commented on her clothing and public speaking ability. Members of the city council discussed the blog post with Walker when he .  

The blog has since been taken down.

Walker said Friday he did not disparage women on his blog and called the charge “ridiculous.”

Walker said he asked Chapman to dismiss Gordon from his campaign team. Chapman told Patch that he was not involved in Gordon’s PAC and only became aware of it on Thursday night. With just four days before the primary, Chapman said he couldn’t turn around any late contributions without the assistance of a treasurer.

“[The attack ad] is not something I condone, especially with the issues we have going on in the city,” Chapman said. “I’d rather run on issues than against people.”

Alexandria Democratic Committee Chair Dak Hardwick released a statement on Friday evening saying that with the exception of the chair and vice chairs of the ADC’s finance and precinct operations, members of the committee’s executive board “may choose to support whomever they wish” and that more than one has done as much in the buildup to Tuesday’s primary.

"The Alexandria Democratic Committee is committed to remaining neutral during this process, even as PACs may choose to turn what has been a positive, competitive election into a mud fight," Hardwick wrote in the statement.

Editor's note: The financial report filing date for political action committees is July 16. This article has been changed to reflect this fact.


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