The AP dug up a few facts about the Tea Party of Nevada candidate for Harry Reid’s seat, who’s facing a $5K felony bad check charge:
Records show Ashjian lost his state contractor’s license Wednesday after failing to appear for a disciplinary proceeding stemming from a complaint that he bounced a $981.82 check to a materials supplier last year.
[…] Public documents on file with the Clark County Recorder show Ashjian also faced foreclosure on home loans totaling almost $1 million, owed a $200,000 Internal Revenue Service tax debt and faced city nuisance actions and liens alleging he failed to pay homeowners’ dues, a roofer, and his trash collector.
Homeowners’ dues are clearly unconstitutional, however, so this doesn’t matter. Though I will admit that it’s nice to find a teabagger hero who isn’t on Social Security Disability.
rā¬nato
Check out the bowtie on that dude. Looks like he went to Tucker Carlson’s spring cleaning garage sale.
Ash Can
From that article:
Heh, indeedy.
Violet
OT – Levi Johnston is shopping a TV show to the cable networks.
Snow machines with jet fuel! Awesome!
Warning – link goes to radaronline.com.
Michael
Obviously, the government has been targeting him for his Christian patriotism, and has coerced his vendors and local prosecutors into joining its hellish crusade against him.
Woodrowfan
let’s see, bad checks, owes the IRS a bundle, losing state trade license. Sounds like a Freeman-on-the-land tax protester loon to me….
Ash Can
@Violet:
A Darwin Award in the making.
PaulW
Does a felony block someone from being an elected official?
Violet
@Ash Can:
But seriously much more fun to watch than Queen Sarah’s show. Nails-on-chalkboard voiceovers vs. snow machines with jet fuel? No contest!
The Grand Panjandrum
OT: (Maybe tangentially related, via kombiz twitter feed):
But you can’t blame him Lindsay Lohan hangs out at Voyeur!
evie
This guy is actually a help to Reid if he takes votes away from the GOP candidate.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Ash Can: Except I don’t think you can win a Darwin if you have already spawned, unless you take your offspring with you.
Dr. I. F. Stone
The national Tea Party folks had rejected this joker’s candidacy long before the story hit the media. In fact, most folks in Nevada felt Ashjian was nothing more than a stalking horse for the Harry Reid reelection campaign, trying to discredit the real tea partiers.
LD50
Ashjian is just doing his best to go galt here, and you’re being all mean to him. Yeesh.
Napoleon
Were did you get that idea? That is not true.
David in NY
Two points:
1. (oops just made by evie above) Having this guy in may be Reid’s best hope of winning, and
2. “Bad check” charges are subject to incredible abuse, particularly when, as here, there’s a political motive for them. Most “bad checks” that are written are not written with any intent not to pay, although if the local authorities are friendly, a mistakenly written bad check can be a prima facie case of criminal activity and court action can ensue. Such charges can be used as a form of blackmail of innocent folks. This seems like a suspect case (although the tea bagger here seems like a financial idiot).
soonergrunt
@Woodrowfan: The movement is doubling down on “Joe the Plumber.”
This guy can write the forward for the next printing of Joe’s book, “fighting for the American Dream!”
This gonna be great!
gbear
Well if they don’t allow his name on the ballot, he can be the forge-in candidate.
Chyron HR
@Dr. I. F. Stone:
We’ll wait for the Lipton Institute to decide who is and isn’t a real teabagger, thank you very much.
mistermix
@Napoleon: Joke!
Fergus Wooster
@gbear: Win.
Punchy
@Napoleon: Your snark-meter is broken, obviously.
Napoleon
@Punchy:
I plead guilty to that.
Citizen_X
@Dr. I. F. Stone:
Yes, because that’s sooo difficult.
Violet
The teabaggers and Republican establishment are concerned that the vote may be split and that would benefit Reid. I read something to that effect in the write ups of the Galtamont festivities on Saturday.
Problem is, they don’t seem to have settled on a candidate, so Reid may yet be the beneficiary of this internecine feud.
West of the Cascades
Sadly, he’d still be the second-most-corrupt Nevada Senator if elected …
Graeme
Well, if politics is really a distraction for people who can’t effectively run their own lives, this guy is right where he needs to be.
soonergrunt
@PaulW: In some jurisdictions, yes. These particular alledged felonies should block anyone serious from voting for this guy though.
soonergrunt
@Violet: Galtamont
Win.
Camchuck
@PaulW:
(D) = Yes
(R) = Not necessarily.
Ditto affairs.
mistermix
@David in NY: I was ready to believe that the Republican DA dug up a bad check charge to get this guy out of the race, but after reading about his other financial dealings, it looks like it might be legit.
Violet
@soonergrunt:
Can’t take credit for it. GBear coined it on Saturday. It’s by far my favorite description of the event, though.
dr. bloor
@Violet:
Boy, this is the stuff of a multiyear run on the teevee.
DougJ
@Violet:
Galtamont
Did you make that up? I love it.
DougJ
Okay, I see that gbear made up Galtamont. I thought it sounded familiar. It’s brilliant.
Violet
@DougJ:
No, gbear did – see my post @ 31. It’s excellent, isn’t it?
Grumpy Code Monkey
@PaulW: I think it varies by state. Here’s what I found in the TX election code:
That’s in addition to the other usual requirements; US citizen, 18 years or older, residing in state/county/wherever for at least X years/months prior to running, not obviously crazy, etc. Although we seem to waive the “not obviously crazy” requirement on a regular basis.
burnspbesq
Contractors nearly always owe money to the IRS. There is a very typical scenario involving erroneously treating employees as though they were independent contractors, and not withholding income tax and Social Security and Medicare taxes. Once they get behind it is generally very difficult to get caught up. Eventually the IRS starts levying on draws against the construction loan and the project dies.
Bender
You are, unsurprisingly, wrong from start to finish.
The Nevada Tea Party group has already run ads and done interviews saying that they don’t HAVE a candidate, they aren’t a political party, they don’t know who this Ashjian guy is, he’s never been involved in their functions, and that they suspect he’s a Harry Reid plant designed to split the conservative vote. They’ve already told people not to vote for him… but your help in taking Ashjian down would be greatly appreciated by them, I’m sure.
twiffer
@burnspbesq: so, what you are saying is this guy doesn’t know how to run his own business? well, i suppose that is qualification for holding office.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@The Grand Panjandrum:
Family values, bitches!!
soonergrunt
@Bender: And the proper response is, of course, to keep referring to him as the choice of the real conservatives.
If we can find any way to tie him to the other senator that would be great too.
Svensker
@Dr. I. F. Stone:
Tea Partiers can never fail, huh? Gotcha.
Chyron HR
@Bender:
“We aren’t a political party and Ashjian’s not an official member of our party, anyway!”
soonergrunt
seems like my replies to Dr. bloor keep disappearing into the ether. FYWP!
Does this even work? Anyway, it was this thing about how if we’re very lucky, we’ll get both shows doing a dueling snowbillies kind of thing.
ellaesther
Speaking of the Tea-partiers and hypocrisy, did we cover Russell King’s “open letter to conservatives” in an earlier thread/s? Has it been discussed to death?
What with Passover starting tonight and me being the sort who spends days cleaning in preparation (15 hours in the kitchen alone!), I haven’t been around much.
So, just in case:
An open letter to conservatives.
My take on it.
rā¬nato
@burnspbesq: I’m surprised they are still doing that. The IRS has been on to the ‘my employees are really independent contractors’ scam for decades. There is a well-defined set of rules (most if not all of which are entirely common sense) which determines whether someone is employee or contractor.
You’re not a contractor just because the boss says so.
LD50
@Bender:
As usual, conservatives are incapable of blaming themselves for their own fuckups.
ellaesther
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: No, no, if you want your children to grow up right, the lesbian sex has to be genuine. That’s just basic parenting.
Michael Steele is terrible for America’s children!
scav
The charges are out for the Hutereenies. Apparently involve killing a policeman and then killing more when the attend the funeral. Plans transmitted over the tulubz? Not Bright.
Dork
I would like to subscribe to your magazine…..and/or whatever other magazine you’re referring to here.
Citizen_X
@The Grand Panjandrum: Damn! How the hell do you spend $1600 at a nightclub, with or without topless imitation lesbians?
ellaesther
@Dork: You need to go back to the original @ Grand Panjandrum: comment to see what I’m talking about…!
Also, may I say that while I’m certain that your feelings are genuine, in my experience, real lesbians mainly have sex for their own enjoyment, and not the enjoyment of straight men on the intertubez (I’m assuming you are a straight man here!).
I know, the world is a cruel, cruel place.
Michael
Could you imagine being Todd and having to endure her when she’s on a full-bore snit? {shudder}
scav
@ellaesther: oh noez! Organic Free-range Songbirdfriendly Organic Lesbian Sex for the MenOnTuubz is a myth?! ppphhht. I bet some of them don’t enjoy long walks on beaches either. petui.
morzer
@dr. bloor:
Sounds like time for David Lynch to make a new series to me. Twin Hicks, anyone?
jon
Who does he think he is, Michael Steele?
Svensker
@morzer:
You deserve a fake-lesbian spanking for that elitist remark, at least.
soonergrunt
@scav: It took me a while to figure it out too, but that whole “pina coladas and getting caught in the rain and making love in the dunes on the cape” thing…it’s a LIE!
morzer
@Svensker:
That’s ok. I can live with authentic lesbian spanking also, too. *s*
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@morzer:
I vote for Snowpocalypse Now. Now that 24 has been canceled, I imagine Kiefer Sutherland is available. Put him in the Martin Sheen role and send him up-river.
morzer
@soonergrunt:
But is it a good lie.. can you play through?
ellaesther
Oh, how the lesbians in the audience are chuckling over all the warm-hearted humor in this thread!
To my lesbian friends: I am sorry that I contributed in any way. One wants to crack on the GOP, and sometimes, one loses one’s head.
morzer
@ellaesther:
I think you’ll find that the lesbians are not the target, but rather the hypocrites who go to fake-lesbian shows. If you read the thread, that is.
ThresherK
He sounds like a Clay Puppington: “Elect me; I need the money”.
Nylund
No doubt he identifies with the industrialists in Atlas Shrugs and thinks that HE is who Ayn Rand was talking about. It is this winner that apparently can’t be counted on to pay for anything that the world will sorely miss if he goes Galt.
Like most tea-baggers, he sounds like a bitter failure that wants desperately to blame someone, or something, for his personal failings as a human being.
Xboxershorts
…… Though I will admit that itās nice to find a teabagger hero who isnāt on Social Security Disability.yet
But this guy’s well on his way to living on the dole so ya better hurry…
scav
Reading the counts, what with all their nicknames, it’s like reading Dostoyevsky.
Bubblegum Tate
Actually, think Bender has it right–Nevada teabaggers have never really embraced this guy. The conspiracy theory that he’s a Reid lackey just pretending to be a teabagger in order to ruin the teabaggers has been around for a while. That said, I did like the Nevada teabaggers’ “We’re not a political party, and he’s not part of our political party!” defense.
freelancer
Might I suggest a tag for upcoming races with Tea Party Candidates?
“A Million Little Naders”
chrome agnomen
one down, eleven(ty) to go.
Calouste
So we find that someone who’s involved in a movement that thinks that the government shouldn’t set rules isn’t playing according to the rules the government has already set? Color me surprised.
Easiest way for the GOP to get rid of any annoying tea party candidates is to snitch them to the IRS/building/labor inspection. Something will turn up.
scotch-irish rebel
According to the scuttlebutt going round the Mormon web, Ashjian is LDS and served a mission. Per someone who served in the same mission with him (this is third-hand): he is “a piece of work.” FWIW.
burnspbesq
@rā¬nato:
IRS can’t be everywhere at once. They don’t catch everybody. That’s especially true in parts of the country where a large part of the construction labor force consists of undocumented immigrants who are paid in cash off the books. Matching of 1099s doesn’t work very well when there are no 1099s and no 1040s.