Thursday, October 23, 2008

Lunsford's Tape Escapade

An update on the tape recorder that Bruce Lunsford pinched this morning after debating Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, from Pol Watchers:

A Republican campaign aide for U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell has filed a criminal complaint against Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford and his top consultant [Achim Bergmann] alleging that the two stole a digital recorder and intentionally erased it after a debate Thursday morning in Western Kentucky.
. . .

Bergmann said Lunsford had handed off his papers with the recorder among them after the debate to an aide and campaign staffers tracked down the recorder as soon as deputies approached them.

"We tried to find the tape recorder so we could give it back," Bergmann said. He said he didn't know the recorder was erased and "would never" tell anyone to erase it.

Note Bergmann's contradiction:

Bergmann said he never actually touched the digital recorder so it was absurd to charge him. Later, after the charges were filed, Bergmann admitted that the staff had erased the debate but said it was done because it was against debate rules to have campaign material on the podium. Bergmann said the staff felt that the Republicans were intentionally trying to record comments Lunsford made under his breath during the debate.

So what did Lunsford say that his staff felt compelled to erase while the sheriff was looking for the tape recorder?

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