UPDATE: The Bruce Shuttleworth campaign describes campaign donations from 17 attorneys at the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro as "more personal than political." Shuttleworth's wife works for the firm, according to a campaign spokesman.
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The campaign describes the In 1990, Congressman Jim Moran beat Republican Stanford Parris to take over Northern Virginia's 8th District.
Twenty-two years later, the law firm that employed Parris—Dickstein Shapiro with headquarters in Washington, D.C.—is one of the most generous donors to Democratic newcomer Bruce Shuttleworth, who is challenging Moran in Tuesday's Democratic primary.
In all, 17 attorneys from the law firm, including chairman Michael Nannes, have donated a total of $6,700 in campaign funds to Shuttleworth, a first-time politico. Not all of the attorneys live in the 8th District—donors are also from Annapolis, Potomac, Bethesda and Palm Beach, Fla.
Parris represented the 8th District for six terms in Congress before then-Alexandria Mayor Moran defeated him in a tight race in 1990, with Moran winning the seat with 51.7 percent of the vote and Parris garnering 44.6 percent of the vote. Independent candidate Robert T. Murphy took 3.5 percent of the vote.
Parris served as of counsel for the Dickstein Shapiro firm for 14 years from 1996 until his death at age 80 two years ago.
Shuttleworth's total donations as of May 23 are $128,553, according to the Federal Election Commission. Of that, $50,000 or nearly 40 percent, is from the candidate himself.
Moran's donations total $720,925. FEC records show that no one from Dickstein Shapiro has donated to the Moran campaign.
Dickstein Shapiro was one of the top contributors to Sen. Mark Warner's 2008 Senate campaign, contributing nearly $30,000, according to FEC records.
Glenn McCormick
11:16 am on Friday, June 8, 2012
Good morning Mary--
Hope you are enjoying this awesome day.
Reference your latest on Bruce Shuttleworth and Dickstein Shapiro, the connection is more personal and not political. Bruce's wife works at Dickstein Shapiro. And although the contributions to the campaign are greatly appreciated, your characterization of 'most generous' is a bit of hyperbole. I am sure you know the individual limit is $2500 per election cycle. With 17 attorneys contributing a total of $6700, that comes to less than $400 per person on average. The implication of your article is that somehow Bruce is a front for Republican interests in some way. If you have taken the time to research Bruce's positions on the issues, you would immediately realize that assertion would be ludicrous. If you meant to leave the reader with that impression, that's one thing. If not, I do hope you would update your article giving a more accurate accounting of the campaign. As you know, Congressman Moran is much better funded than Shuttleworth, and as you much also know has a history of reflecting the interests of some of his donors which do not reflect the interests of his constituents.
Again, enjoy this amazing day--doesn't get much better than this.
Glenn McCormick
Ryan O'Connor
8:37 pm on Saturday, June 9, 2012
Wow, $394.11 average donations are "most generous" in your headline? And all from FRIENDS? How about changing the headline to reflect the TRUTH??? A donation to Jim Moran of that amount would not even result in a hand-signed thank you!
How about you focus on WHY we NEED new and younger leadership in Congress, instead of creating a non-news story to put down the first viable candidate to stand up to the old-time bosses?
Kate Nahapetian
2:19 pm on Friday, June 8, 2012
Why didn't the Patch do just the most basic rudimentary research to realize that his wife worked at Dickstein Shapiro and that was why he likely received support from people close to his family? Now that the Patch knows that they should have done more homework before trying to create some kind of far fetched link to a Republican conspiracy, I hope they will pull this article or correct it the false impression it gives its readers. The Patch should be informing not misleading readers.
Mark Williams
10:36 pm on Saturday, June 9, 2012
Shuttleworth is being funded by his wife's law firm (she litigates on behalf of the fast-food industry) because the Texas Republican PAC that originally backed him has dropped him. He is posted on the "Tea Party Cheer" site; he has attempted to falsely link himself to House Democratic leadership, which isn;t supporting him. He has literally zero political or governmental background, and he hasn;t held down a job for a while. He's a non-story.
J Stahl
8:35 am on Sunday, June 10, 2012
If you believe $6700 is bankrolling, you have a peculiar sense of scale. Who then is bankrolling Moran and his $700,000?? Connecting Shuttleworth to the Tea Party or Republican Party is laughable in its lack of factual basis, just as are the contents of this article. Did you know that the bios of Jim Moran as well as Tim Kaine AND every other candidate running are also posted on “Tea Party Cheer” or did you just do a simple google search and not even click thru? It simply appears you didn't bother to do any due diligence on this candidate. The super PAC, The Campaign for Primary Accountability, never had any contact with the Shuttleworth Campaign. Regardless, their mission is “to oust congressional incumbents on BOTH sides of the aisle.” Perhaps their backing by Texas Conservatives is one of the reasons they didn’t bother spending money on negative ads against Moran since Bruce is just as liberal as Moran.
Mark Williams
10:30 am on Sunday, June 10, 2012
So, first, the Texas Republican PAC did cut a check to Shuttleworth, then the PAC "never had any contact" with him? Can't both be true. Shuttleworth is running as a spoiler; he's a "Democrat" in name only, and he deserves not one vote from anyone. Shuttleworth has literally no local political, policy or government record at all, and hasn’t even been actively employed for much of his post-Navy civilian life. He has not articulated a single credible policy position – on anything. His campaign now is being funded by his wife’s law firm colleagues; she represents the fast-food industry in litigation. Shuttleworth has no visibile means of his own support. Shuttleworth has fraudulently claimed an affiliation with Democratic Congressional leader Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, whose campaign has completely disavowed Shuttleworth and called Shuttleworth’s actions “inappropriate.”
J Stahl
2:02 pm on Sunday, June 10, 2012
There is no check from Campaign for Primary Accountability or any other PAC on the FEC reports - check it yourself - that is public information. Whoever told you this information is lying. If you want to believe liars and not be informed yourself, so be it.
Ricky W Kracker a.k.a. Diggy Swagga
4:38 pm on Sunday, June 10, 2012
I agree with J Stahl. A bit of patient click thru research goes a long way. MW, I'm afraid you are glazing over easily obtainable facts including the part about his "post-Navy" employment. (By my count, he's worked at at least 3 different name brand firms.) If you are like most Americans, we appreciate a fresh outside view especially from a person with a fighting heart & a brain. Isn't that exactly what our US Congress needs? As for his policy, I've met the man and am comfortable with his stances. Have you met him and spoken face to face? Funding from his wife's colleagues (probably because they also know and respect the man) at $400 each (6.7k total) doesn't sound overly maniacal vs. the $128k he's managed to raise in aggregate. If you think 5% is big, look at Moran's fundings to votes %. You'd be running against him too. But then again, it takes solid research of fact to know of what I'm referring.
Scott B
7:29 pm on Sunday, June 10, 2012
Probably a little more relevant the large defense contractor donation to Moran and his brother to the tune of 100's of thousands...which jim more than helped pay off with tens of millions in earmarks. PMA anyone?? PMA who were as crooked a they come -- game head Crook Moran almost $100,000 in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles alone. Come on Patch -- you are better than this drivel!