College Republicans fingered in Ashley Todd affair

Only the CRs and the Pittsburgh cops had the photo that ran on Drudge, and then around the world.

Michael Fuoco of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a retrospective on the Ashley Todd affair. It makes for very sad reading. I wonder whether the College Republicans knew when they hired Todd that she’s been fired from the Ron Paul campaign for acts of deception?

TPM blogger “astral66” makes a very nice catch: since the photographer who took the picture first posted on Drudge (who had met Ashley Todd at a College Republicans mixer) only gave it to the police and the College Republicans, and since Drudge had it before there was any announcement from the police, guess who gave it to Drudge?

Will John McCain denounce the College Republicans? And while he’s at it, will he denounce his Pennsylvania communications director?

Bonus moment:

Ms. Todd’s job as a field representative for the College Republican National Committee brought her to Pittsburgh about two weeks ago to recruit college students. She had worked for the committee since August. Yesterday, the organization fired her.

Ashley Barbera, the organization’s communications director, said workers initially were concerned for Ms. Todd’s safety.

“We are as upset as anyone to learn of her deceit. Ashley must take full responsibility for her actions,” she said.

Get that? This mentally ill woman must “take full responsibility for her actions,” but the College Republicans (who have a long tradition of “ratf*cking”: Nixon’s dirty tricksters and Karl Rove got their start with the CRs) take no responsibility for hiring her, or for pushing her story. How hard would it have been to look at Todd’s MySpace page, where she said “Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her cloths off”? They used her, and now they’re throwing her away. Feh.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com