KEY POINT: Taylor's staffers helped gather signatures for Shaun Brown - a former Democratic candidate in the Virginia Beach-based congressional district - to get on the November ballot as an independent. Among the signatures was that of R. Stuart Cake, a well-known civic activist in Hampton Roads who died April 6 at his Virginia Beach home.
His widow, Elizabeth "Bet" Cake, a former staffer for Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., did an interview Monday on the Hampton Roads talk show "HearSay with Cathy Lewis" and said the writing on the petition did not match her husband's. Plus, the date of his purported signature is June 9.
"There’s no way that could have been signed by him at any time," she said.
Names of dead man and voter who moved show up on petition Rep. Scott Taylor's staff gathered for independent candidate
BY PATRICK WILSON, RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
A Hampton Roads widow said she's hurt and confused about how her late husband's signature ended up on a ballot petition that staff for Rep. Scott Taylor, R-2nd, gathered for another candidate.
Another woman said she moved from Virginia Beach to Nevada, where she's been registered to vote since 2014, and has no idea how her name ended up on a petition a Taylor staffer gathered.
Taylor said he's investigated and found that his staff did nothing inappropriate. He said he's not sure how signatures of someone who is deceased or moved could have shown up on a petition his staff gathered.
"You have no idea when you’re collecting signatures who's signing," he said. "So who knows?"
Taylor's staffers helped gather signatures for Shaun Brown - a former Democratic candidate in the Virginia Beach-based congressional district - to get on the November ballot as an independent. Among the signatures was that of R. Stuart Cake, a well-known civic activist in Hampton Roads who died April 6 at his Virginia Beach home.
His widow, Elizabeth "Bet" Cake, a former staffer for Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., did an interview Monday on the Hampton Roads talk show "HearSay with Cathy Lewis" and said the writing on the petition did not match her husband's. Plus, the date of his purported signature is June 9.
"There’s no way that could have been signed by him at any time," she said.
The controversy for Taylor began last week when WHRO radio reported that four of his paid campaign workers helped gather the 1,000 signatures that Brown needed to get on the November ballot. The Taylor campaign wanted Brown on the ballot as an independent because she can potentially draw votes away from Elaine Luria, the Democratic candidate.
When Brown dropped out of the Democratic primary in March, she accused the party establishment in Washington of not respecting Democratic voters by hand-picking Luria.
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