By Kelly Dougherty
Published by agreement with Bacon’s Rebellion
CAUTION: Foul language in the following post. Don’t blame me. Blame Democrat consultant Ben Tribbett who unleashed a vile verbal attack on Virginia schoolchildren. There is no way to report this without repeating his vulgarity.
If you had any doubt that Virginia’s increasingly unhinged Democrats were suffering from Youngkin Derangement Syndrome, take a gander at the Twitter account of one of their leading consultants, reacting to the governor’s executive order that ends forced masking of schoolchildren.
Ben Tribbett is the founder of a Northern Virginia Democratic consulting firm called Pocket Aces Consulting:
Unbelievable.
He’s gleefully calling little kids “dickheads” while simultaneously urging teachers to punish unmasked children in school by giving them bad grades.
And this pinhead advises prominent Virginia Democrats.
Then, when Republican Del. Nick Freitas reacted to Tribbett’s repulsive Tweet, the consultant lashed out at him. No surprise there. Dems loathe Freitas after he earned national attention last week for his splendid oration on the floor of the House reacting to the vitriol coming from Democrats in the General Assembly.
Crude, childish and totally out of bounds. What is wrong with this guy?
Is this raunchy behavior the way Democrat consultants gin up business? Will Virginia Democrats now distance themselves from Tribbett or flock to him for advice?
As it happened, a story in The Richmond Times-Dispatch this week accidentally uncovered State Senator Louise Lucas’ cozy relationship with the foul-mouthed consultant.
Lucas, accustomed to tongue baths from friendly reporters, was apparently taken aback when Virginia Mercury reporter Ned Oliver tried to ask her a tough question in the hallway at the Capitol. Her over-reaction to the encounter on Twitter prompted a story in the TD, “Press Group Concerned After Virginia Senator Publicly Attacks Reporter Who Asked Her Questions,”
In it, Lucas admitted that ghostwriters pen some of her abrasive Tweets.
In an interview, Lucas said Ben Tribbett, a Northern Virginia political consultant, and other consultants post “some” of the tweets from her account. She said she approves in advance anything that is posted.
“I call him for advice and he helps me out sometimes,” she said of Tribbett, who she said does not receive any pay for the work.
Hmmm. Sure hope Lucas remembers to report Tribbett’s help as “in-kind contributions.”
She does, right?
Thanks to the Richmond newspaper we now know that the person sometimes masquerading as Lucas on Twitter is actually a man who calls little kids “dickheads.”
Good to know.
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, several members of the General Assembly paid Tribbett’s firm for consulting work in 2021.
The list includes Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe, Delegates Kaye Kory, Nadarius Clark and Patrick Hope and Senators Scott Surovell and Chap Petersen.
Oh, and VPAP says the Democratic Party of Virginia cut a check to Tribbett’s firm for $40,903.
These politicians, including Democratic party apparatchiks, need to speak up.
Either they agree with Tribbett that unmasked Virginia school children are “dickheads” or they don’t.
We’re waiting.