On Monday, October 13th candidates for U.S. Senate, Democrat Mark Warner and Republican Ed Gillespie faced off in their final debate before the midterm election, reports The Washington Post.
In their final debate Ed Gillespie made sure to attack Warner for the recently revealed job talked he had with the son of former state senator Phillip Puckett. The talks surrounded a potential federal judgeship for Puckett’s daughter, which had the intention of persuading Puckett, a Democrat, to keep his seat and thus avoid giving the control of the state Senate to the Republicans.It was also recently revealed that Governor McAuliffe’s chief of staff had similar conversations with Puckett.
“This is very serious in terms of the federal bench, [it] has a big impact on our lives, and we need to make sure the qualified people are put on the bench, and I would never play politics with recommending judicial appointments,” declared Gillespie during the debate.
Warner denied the job offer and said that the call was intended to innocently “brainstorm” potential job options for Martha Puckett Ketron, Puckett’s daughter.
Warner also responded that “I’ve been a friend of Senator Phillip Puckett and his family for nearly 20 years. When I heard that Phillip was considering resigning from the Senate, I reached out to his son Joseph to find out what was going on,” further elaborating that, “I did not offer her a job nor would I offer her any kind of position.”
The Virginia Vibe 