Having already been in the news multiple times this year, state Representative Robert Goforth is once again making news – this time with a questionable mailer from his wife.
The backstory
Rep. Goforth was arrested on April 21 and charged with “first-degree strangulation, fourth-degree domestic assault and third-degree terroristic threatening.” The arrest noted that “a woman alleged he had assaulted her at home, where there were three small children present.” In the initial reports, the woman was not named.
According to police, the woman had “visible marks on her forehead, neck, and arms. The victim told deputies Goforth strangled her with an ethernet cord from a kitchen drawer, and threatened to kill her.”
Then, on September 21, a Laurel County grand jury indicted him on one count of first-degree strangulation and fourth-degree assault. The indictment named his wife, Ashley, as the person assaulted.
One week later, on September 28, Ashley Goforth issued a statement saying that she never wanted him criminally charged. According to the statement, the two of them had reconciled, and had lived together at their home since the incident in April. But in spite of Ashley Goforth sharing her sentiment with the grand jury, they had gone ahead with the case and indicted him anyway.
Both the Kentucky Democratic Party and Goforth’s opponent this fall, Mike VanWinkle, have called on Goforth to not only drop his re-election bid, but to resign from the legislature. He has refused to do either.
And now this …
In the past week, notes have begun showing up in the mailboxes of voters in Goforth’s district. Both the notes, and the envelopes containing them, appear to be hand-written notes from Goforth’s wife, Ashley. Here is a photo of one of these notes.
And here is one of the envelopes, along with the stationery used:
A kind and supportive note, right? A warm message from his wife, right?
Possibly so. Perhaps they have, indeed, reconciled. Perhaps she wrote this of her own volition, sincerely wishing for her husband, state Rep. Robert Goforth, to be re-elected. We do not know Ashley Goforth, we do not know what is in her heart, and we do not know the circumstances of her and Robert Goforth’s home life.
The issues with this latest episode
What we DO know is this:
The notes received by voters were identical. Not just in their wording; they were actually identical. We have received photos of a number of them, and you can line them up. The only difference between them was the salutation (blacked out above) and the address on the envelope.
Therefore, the notes were mass produced. They were either actually printed from an original, or they were done by a machine called an “auto-pen,” which basically recreates a hand-written note.
Why does this matter? Besides the fact that the notes are not what they appear to be — a hand-written note from a candidate’s loving wife — it also means that the names and addresses came the voter file used by the campaign.
Therefore, this was a campaign mailing, which is supposed to have a “Paid for by” disclaimer on it. But none of these do.
So, not only is this a campaign mailing and not a nice note just to you from Goforth’s wife – it is an illegal campaign mailing, since it does not follow campaign finance laws.
And add this …
It’s not a surprise, though, that the Goforth campaign is ignoring campaign finance laws. Why? Because they’ve also blown off their campaign finance report for October.
This year, the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance is using a new fully-computerized reporting system for campaign finance reports. All candidates are now required to file online, rather than mail in their report on paper. The good thing about this is that as soon as the candidate files, we the public can see the report – or, the lack thereof.
And while many candidates on both sides of the aisle have had no problems getting in their October 6 report as required by law, state Rep. Goforth has not filed his report. We have no idea who has donated to him, and we have no idea where he has spent the money.
What we DO know is that his campaign paid to have notes printed on stationery with his wife’s name that were supposed to look hand-written, paid to have the envelopes printed to look hand-written as well, sent them to voters using names and addresses from his voter file, and didn’t include the required “paid for by” disclaimer – because then it wouldn’t look like a personal note from his wife.
Oh, and just for kicks, here’s a last little fact about this strange episode:
Goforth’s opponent, Mike Van Winkle, got one of the notes.
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