WHEELING - Acting West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's campaign denies it was playing politics when it implicated Republican challenger Bill Maloney in an extortion plot that was a likely attempt to smear Maloney's campaign in the final days of the election.
The Maloney campaign, meanwhile, isn't so sure the campaign for Democrat Tomblin wasn't playing a political game.
"Resorting to dirty politicking in the last few days of an election cycle is something only a desperate campaign would do," said Maloney spokeswoman Michelle Yi. "The Tomblin campaign saw the momentum of Bill Maloney's message, and felt the tide has turned against them.
"It's clear that career politicians are willing to do anything in order to prevent West Virginians from having honest leadership from the governor's office."
On Friday, the Tomblin campaign released a statement, "Maloney Campaign Implicated in Extortion Plot." The statement detailed how Florida resident Harry Marshall Rae was arrested by federal authorities Thursday for sending threatening messages to Tomblin, and also attempting to extort Wheeling greyhound dog breeder Dean Miner.
Tomblin's family is in the dog racing business, and Rae was threatening to release video of violent training methods he believed would damage Tomblin's campaign.
Rae had claimed in emails to Miner that Maloney wanted the video, though Maloney has denied any involvement in the plot.
Tomblin campaign spokesman Chris Stadelman said the campaign knew the information regarding Rae's Thursday arrest would surface Friday, and they believed they should address it.
"The campaign (as a whole) made the decision," he said. "It was not just one person."
Stadelman said he believed "implicating" Maloney in the extortion case was relevant, because Maloney was mentioned in "four or five of the emails" included in Rae's federal arrest warrant.
The emails sent by Rae said Maloney's "chief of staff" was interested in the videos, and had offered him $100,000 and a consulting job with the Maloney administration if Maloney became governor.
Stadelman denies the Tomblin campaign released the information because Maloney was gaining in the polls.
"Absolutely not," Stadelman said. "If the (information hadn't surfaced earlier on Friday), we wouldn't have had to do anything. We did not want it to come out."
Yi answered an emphatic "no" when asked Monday whether the Maloney campaign made any kind of money or job offer to Rae. Yi said the campaign is confident that after all investigation is completed, the campaign will not be implicated in any extortion plot.
She also said the campaign has never considered using video depicting violent training of racing dogs.
"We already had a winning message of honest leadership, and Bill being a job creator and not a career politician," Yi said.
