(Team Hof) – After days of stonewalling questions by the Assembly District 36 campaign of Dennis Hof, Assemblyman James “The Big Selloutski” Oscarson finally acknowledged in a late Sunday afternoon statement posted on his Twitter site that he’d been arrested on criminal charges in Arizona back in 1997.
But even his admission continued a pattern of deception and deceit, which we’ll get to in a minute.
First, let’s address why this issue even came up in the first place and then why it’s a legitimate issue for this campaign…
The whole thing started when a political operative to the Oscarson campaign was overheard last month bragging about the campaign having an “arrest warrant” they were going to use against Mr. Hof. And sure enough, a couple weeks later they fed the story to a Las Vegas television station.
However, an investigation found that these “dumpster divers” either intentionally or through gross incompetence got the wrong guy!
The warrant turned out to be for someone else who lives in another state and is some 25 years younger than Mr. Hof.
You can read all about it at: www.dennishof.com/dumpster-divers/
Anyway, that threat caused the Hof campaign to do a background check of its own – and that’s how a January 1, 1997 arrest and conviction in Flagstaff, Arizona for a “James Oscarson” was discovered.
But not wanting to accuse the man wrongly – as they did to Mr. Hof – the Hof campaign simply asked Mr. Oscarson via Twitter if it was him.
After ignoring the question all last week, Mr. Oscarson finally fessed up yesterday.
“At an ice hockey game,” Oscarson wrote in prepared statement,”over 20 years ago, I was arrested and had to plead guilty to a disorderly conduct charge.”
Now here’s the rest of the story that he conveniently left out…
The reason he “had” to plead guilty to a disorderly conduct charge was because he entered a plea bargain to have the far more serious criminal charge of “Assault” violence dismissed!
Of course, this raises all kinds of new, as-yet-unanswered questions…
- Who did Mr. Oscarson assault?
- Was it a man or a woman?
- Was it another parent at this youth hockey game?
- A player?
- A referee?
- A security guard?
- Was it part of some drunken brawl that broke out or just a case of parental “fan rage”?
- Did similar incidences take place elsewhere in which no arrest was made?
Cage Your Rage, Mr. Oscarson!
In a plea bargain entered into on May 12, 1997, the assault charge was dismissed and Mr. Oscarson was fined $900.
However, on the disorderly conduct charge Mr. Oscarson was sentenced to “12 hours of impulse control counseling” at the Nevada Treatment Center in Las Vegas and the fine was reduced to $305.
On June 11, 1997, Mr. Oscarson paid the $305 fine using his Visa card.
On August 22, 1997, the court “rec’d proof of counseling from Nevada Trmt Ctr” and the case was closed.
Now, why is this a legitimate issue in this campaign?
In his statement on Sunday, Mr. Oscarson concluded…
“Dennis Hof has redefined disgusting in politics. Our elected representatives are supposed to be a reflection of the constituents who elect them. None of us is perfect, but Dennis Hof is a new low…”
First, it’s not negative to tell the truth about your opponent. And as we’ve now discovered, it’s absolutely true that Mr. Oscarson was, in fact, arrested in some kind of “fan rage” incident.
Secondly, it was Mr. Oscarson’s campaign that stooped to a “disgusting” “new low” when they fed a “tip” to a reporter falsely accusing Mr. Hof of having a warrant out for his arrest over a traffic ticket.
Talk about being hoisted on your own petard!
As to the notion that “Our elected representatives are supposed to be a reflection of the constituents who elect them,” does that include lying to those constituents about being opposed to tax hikes and then turning on them and voting for the largest tax hike in state history?
Not being a man of your word is a SERIOUS character flaw in a public official, wouldn’t you agree?
But it’s more than that…
Despite having gone through anger management counseling 19 years ago, Mr. Oscarson appears to still have problems with his temper – and that’s not a good thing in an elected representative who needs to work cooperatively with legislative colleagues in order to be an effective representative.
A legislator who doesn’t play nice in the sandbox with the other kids and continues to exhibit an uncontrollable and combustible personality is going to have a tough time forming necessary alliances to protect the interests of his constituents.
Indeed, Mr. Oscarson’s very reaction to having his criminal assault arrest exposed – which also included numerous personal attacks against Mr. Hof and his businesses – only further demonstrates that the man’s anger management problems didn’t go away 19 years ago after 12 short hours of “impulse control counseling.”
Voters clearly didn’t know about this side of Mr. Oscarson – who hid it from them – when they elected him.
Now they can finally make a fully-informed decision as to whether or not this is the kind of person they want representing them in Carson City.