I didn’t want to write about this. I really didn’t. But they have left me no choice.
“They” are members of The Barnacle Caucus, the lowlifes who attach themselves to the ship of politics and serve no useful purpose. They are slimy but usually no more than annoying.
This time, though, they have sunk to a new level, which now cannot be ignored because it has been pushed to the public airwaves.
I’ll keep this as short as I can for reasons that will become obvious. But this is yet another story about how Citizen Outhouse’s Chuck Muth has no lines he will not cross and how the dysfunction in the Assembly Republican Caucus argues powerfully for a great upheaval next year.
It began on Aug. 26 when Muth, asserting “I can’t vouch for anything here,” nevertheless wrote in his "newsletter" that Speaker John Hambrick, whom he tried to recall in the most embarrassingly inept attempt in history, was part of the Ashley Madison hack. (Hambrick denies he put his email into the database -- more on that in a moment.) Muth said he had a source who told him the account was set up in January 2013, and “Somebody’s got some ‘splainin to do.”
Clever, eh?
First, let me say I don’t care if Hambrick’s name is actually in the site’s database or not (I’ll get to that in a moment.). Despite Muth’s attempt to get this into the mainstream, no one bit. Muth, who has said he won’t write about people’s personal lives but frequently violates that supposed rule, was simply using his usual lack of journalistic standards to try to hurt someone he considers a political foe.
It was disgusting and typical.
Four days later, Muth acknowledged he had gone after Hambrick because of his vote for the tax increase – I kid you not:
The decision on whether or not to publish the name of the GOP state assembly leader whose email address was disclosed in the “data dump” of the Ashley Madison “cheaters” website was a coin flip.
On one hand, an argument could be made – and was by a very good friend of mine and bona fide big-time DC political guru whose opinion I value greatly – that private behavior, even by stupid elected officials, usually isn't really relevant.
On the other hand, the elected official in question is two-faced liar who betrayed conservatives and the voters of his district by supporting the $1.4 billion tax hike.
So he got no benefit of the doubt. The tie did not go to the runner. That said, upon further contemplation, I understand my friend's point about relevance.
So even though this weasel wins the Benedict of the Year Award for 2015, I don’t plan to cover his possible role in the scandal any further. There are plenty of other political reasons to take this guy out in the GOP primary next year.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is who Muth is. This is Grover Norquist’s man in Nevada. This is his modus operandi: Different standards (or none at all) for those who don't vote the right way or, perhaps, hire him.
I had vowed to ignore this until two more members of The Barnacle Caucus, Steve Sanson of the disgraceful group Veteran in Politics, and Assemblyman Brent Jones, a Muth ally, openly discussed the report on Sanson’s radio program last week. I was made aware of this by someone who I knew wanted to get the information into wider distribution, so I felt I had no choice. Indeed, Jones, who theoretically is a lawyer and should know better, said he had read about Hambrick “on Facebook.”
My God.
As this was going on, Hambrick denied to those close to him that he had set up the account and hired a forensics expert, who appears to have proved someone else put the speaker's email into the data base. As I have said, I don’t care either way, but Hambrick has now decided to release a full statement on this grotesque tactic by Muth and Jones, which I release in its entirely below.
This is the kind of tactic that should finally erase Muth from the political world and ensure Jones' political demise. But I have no such hopes.
Hambrick's full statement:
Let me start out by saying I HAVE NEVER HAD AN ACCOUNT WITH ASHLEY MADISON and the facts my team have uncovered prove that. Nancy and I understand that personal attacks are an unfortunate reality in politics, but there are certain lines in politics you NEVER, EVER cross. This had nothing to do with differences of policy or strategy – it was just a cheap and reckless attack to harm my wife Nancy and me.
Earlier this month it was brought to my attention that a blogger had published a completely unsubstantiated claim that a “source” had told him my email address was associated with the recent Ashley Madison (AM) data dump. The blogger admitted he did nothing to vet his source and later admitted it was a mistake to publish the post.
I was obviously upset because I knew any account on Ashley Madison associated with my name was created to hurt me.
Knowing this kind of accusation could put doubts in people’s minds, my campaign team led by Nathan Emens retained a nationally-recognized forensic data analyst to get to the bottom of it. Ira Victor, Director, Digital Forensics Practice, co-founder of Data Clone Labs, has decades of experience with digital forensic analysis and regularly consults with federal and local law enforcement on cases. Once Mr. Victor found the actual AM data(apparently there are multiple fake data dumps floating around the internet) he promptly “poured” it into a searchable database and conducted his forensic analysis. His analysis included a thorough search for anything that could link to me,including my name, date of birth and email accounts (including personal, campaign and legislative accounts).
Facts uncovered by Mr. Victor and Mr. Emens:
1- There was an account created using one of John’s email address.
2- It appears the AM account was created 1/23/2013 11:58 PST / 14:58 EST
a. It is important to note that Assemblyman Hambrick’s email account has been breached multiple times including twice in the past 4 months.
a. At this time legislative records show Assemblyman Hambrick was sitting in Room 4100 of the legislative building in the Legislative Commission’s Budget Subcommittee which was called to order at 8:36 am PST [Meeting Minutes] and adjourned at 15:13 pm PST
3- The location of the hub that provides internet service to the neighborhood where the account was created is
latitude: 39.19662 longitude: -119.76192
a. That location services a neighborhood in the Northern part of Carson City nowhere near the legislative building where Assemblyman Hambrick was at the time.
4- An AM technical support employee independently confirmed the time stamps in the data are EST.
5- Once the account was created it was never modified by a user.
6- There is NO information, personal or otherwise, associated with this account that isn’t openly available on the internet
7- There was no username “Carson City” associated with the account as stated in one of the accusations.
Since the original blog post, two additional allegations have surfaced. These accusations all seem to lead back to Assemblyman Jones; it appears he is upset because it is no secret we are no longer supporting his re-election. Our withdrawal of support is not because of any political differences or policy fights, but because of vicious personal attacks he has levied against other caucus members and now myself.
Assemblyman Jones is one of the last people I would have expected this particular type of attack from, given his own personal history: In 2012 Jones claimed his opponent in the race for Nevada Senate District 9 made defamatory allegations about him and his conduct in a past business deal. He filed a defamation suit to protect his reputation and his family (Clark County Case No. A-12-662563-C). He has a law degree from Pepperdine University and was a practicing attorney; he should certainly understand defamation and slander as he didn’t stand for it when it was done to him. I am puzzled as to why he would take any part in this attack.
Nancy and I appreciate all of the support we have been shown from both sides of the political aisle and hope this statement will expose these remarks for what they are: cheap and tawdry personal attacks designed to harm me and my family and to exact revenge. While bloggers and radio show hosts may be looser with the facts and use salacious statements to drive traffic and sell subscriptions, I expect more from a fellow colleague and legislator; Brent Jones crossed the line from politics to personal and it is not acceptable!
“They” are members of The Barnacle Caucus, the lowlifes who attach themselves to the ship of politics and serve no useful purpose. They are slimy but usually no more than annoying.
This time, though, they have sunk to a new level, which now cannot be ignored because it has been pushed to the public airwaves.
I’ll keep this as short as I can for reasons that will become obvious. But this is yet another story about how Citizen Outhouse’s Chuck Muth has no lines he will not cross and how the dysfunction in the Assembly Republican Caucus argues powerfully for a great upheaval next year.
It began on Aug. 26 when Muth, asserting “I can’t vouch for anything here,” nevertheless wrote in his "newsletter" that Speaker John Hambrick, whom he tried to recall in the most embarrassingly inept attempt in history, was part of the Ashley Madison hack. (Hambrick denies he put his email into the database -- more on that in a moment.) Muth said he had a source who told him the account was set up in January 2013, and “Somebody’s got some ‘splainin to do.”
Clever, eh?
First, let me say I don’t care if Hambrick’s name is actually in the site’s database or not (I’ll get to that in a moment.). Despite Muth’s attempt to get this into the mainstream, no one bit. Muth, who has said he won’t write about people’s personal lives but frequently violates that supposed rule, was simply using his usual lack of journalistic standards to try to hurt someone he considers a political foe.
It was disgusting and typical.
Four days later, Muth acknowledged he had gone after Hambrick because of his vote for the tax increase – I kid you not:
The decision on whether or not to publish the name of the GOP state assembly leader whose email address was disclosed in the “data dump” of the Ashley Madison “cheaters” website was a coin flip.
On one hand, an argument could be made – and was by a very good friend of mine and bona fide big-time DC political guru whose opinion I value greatly – that private behavior, even by stupid elected officials, usually isn't really relevant.
On the other hand, the elected official in question is two-faced liar who betrayed conservatives and the voters of his district by supporting the $1.4 billion tax hike.
So he got no benefit of the doubt. The tie did not go to the runner. That said, upon further contemplation, I understand my friend's point about relevance.
So even though this weasel wins the Benedict of the Year Award for 2015, I don’t plan to cover his possible role in the scandal any further. There are plenty of other political reasons to take this guy out in the GOP primary next year.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is who Muth is. This is Grover Norquist’s man in Nevada. This is his modus operandi: Different standards (or none at all) for those who don't vote the right way or, perhaps, hire him.
I had vowed to ignore this until two more members of The Barnacle Caucus, Steve Sanson of the disgraceful group Veteran in Politics, and Assemblyman Brent Jones, a Muth ally, openly discussed the report on Sanson’s radio program last week. I was made aware of this by someone who I knew wanted to get the information into wider distribution, so I felt I had no choice. Indeed, Jones, who theoretically is a lawyer and should know better, said he had read about Hambrick “on Facebook.”
My God.
As this was going on, Hambrick denied to those close to him that he had set up the account and hired a forensics expert, who appears to have proved someone else put the speaker's email into the data base. As I have said, I don’t care either way, but Hambrick has now decided to release a full statement on this grotesque tactic by Muth and Jones, which I release in its entirely below.
This is the kind of tactic that should finally erase Muth from the political world and ensure Jones' political demise. But I have no such hopes.
Hambrick's full statement:
Let me start out by saying I HAVE NEVER HAD AN ACCOUNT WITH ASHLEY MADISON and the facts my team have uncovered prove that. Nancy and I understand that personal attacks are an unfortunate reality in politics, but there are certain lines in politics you NEVER, EVER cross. This had nothing to do with differences of policy or strategy – it was just a cheap and reckless attack to harm my wife Nancy and me.
Earlier this month it was brought to my attention that a blogger had published a completely unsubstantiated claim that a “source” had told him my email address was associated with the recent Ashley Madison (AM) data dump. The blogger admitted he did nothing to vet his source and later admitted it was a mistake to publish the post.
I was obviously upset because I knew any account on Ashley Madison associated with my name was created to hurt me.
Knowing this kind of accusation could put doubts in people’s minds, my campaign team led by Nathan Emens retained a nationally-recognized forensic data analyst to get to the bottom of it. Ira Victor, Director, Digital Forensics Practice, co-founder of Data Clone Labs, has decades of experience with digital forensic analysis and regularly consults with federal and local law enforcement on cases. Once Mr. Victor found the actual AM data(apparently there are multiple fake data dumps floating around the internet) he promptly “poured” it into a searchable database and conducted his forensic analysis. His analysis included a thorough search for anything that could link to me,including my name, date of birth and email accounts (including personal, campaign and legislative accounts).
Facts uncovered by Mr. Victor and Mr. Emens:
1- There was an account created using one of John’s email address.
2- It appears the AM account was created 1/23/2013 11:58 PST / 14:58 EST
a. It is important to note that Assemblyman Hambrick’s email account has been breached multiple times including twice in the past 4 months.
a. At this time legislative records show Assemblyman Hambrick was sitting in Room 4100 of the legislative building in the Legislative Commission’s Budget Subcommittee which was called to order at 8:36 am PST [Meeting Minutes] and adjourned at 15:13 pm PST
3- The location of the hub that provides internet service to the neighborhood where the account was created is
latitude: 39.19662 longitude: -119.76192
a. That location services a neighborhood in the Northern part of Carson City nowhere near the legislative building where Assemblyman Hambrick was at the time.
4- An AM technical support employee independently confirmed the time stamps in the data are EST.
5- Once the account was created it was never modified by a user.
6- There is NO information, personal or otherwise, associated with this account that isn’t openly available on the internet
7- There was no username “Carson City” associated with the account as stated in one of the accusations.
Since the original blog post, two additional allegations have surfaced. These accusations all seem to lead back to Assemblyman Jones; it appears he is upset because it is no secret we are no longer supporting his re-election. Our withdrawal of support is not because of any political differences or policy fights, but because of vicious personal attacks he has levied against other caucus members and now myself.
Assemblyman Jones is one of the last people I would have expected this particular type of attack from, given his own personal history: In 2012 Jones claimed his opponent in the race for Nevada Senate District 9 made defamatory allegations about him and his conduct in a past business deal. He filed a defamation suit to protect his reputation and his family (Clark County Case No. A-12-662563-C). He has a law degree from Pepperdine University and was a practicing attorney; he should certainly understand defamation and slander as he didn’t stand for it when it was done to him. I am puzzled as to why he would take any part in this attack.
Nancy and I appreciate all of the support we have been shown from both sides of the political aisle and hope this statement will expose these remarks for what they are: cheap and tawdry personal attacks designed to harm me and my family and to exact revenge. While bloggers and radio show hosts may be looser with the facts and use salacious statements to drive traffic and sell subscriptions, I expect more from a fellow colleague and legislator; Brent Jones crossed the line from politics to personal and it is not acceptable!
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