Did Gillespie Lie to the Northern Virginia Chamber?

GOP gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie, a/k/a Enron Ed, seemingly will say anything to win endorsements even if it involves lying.  Desperate to secure the endorsement of the Northern Virginia Chamber, Gillespie privately promised to veto any anti-transgender bathroom that might come to him if he is elected governor next month.  That promise, of course, is directly opposite of the promise Gillespie has made to the Christofascists who weld huge influence within the GOP base in Virginia, best embodied by The Family Foundation ("TFF"), a virulently anti-gay, anti-transgender which vigorously opposes any legal protections for LGBT Virginians and which, if given its way, would bring back the sodomy laws struck down in 2003 by the Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas.  It is most disturbing that the leadership of the Northern Virginia Chamber fell for Gillespie's lie - or was all they cared about Gillespie's promised tax cuts that would most favor large corporations and the wealthy?  Don't be surprised when Gillespie breaks his promise after TFF president Victoria Cobb takes him to the woodshed tomorrow, if not sooner. The Washington Post looks at how Gillespie duped the Northern Virginia Chamber:

Republican Ed Gillespie won the endorsement of an influential Northern Virginia business group after privately assuring members that he would oppose any bills dictating which bathrooms transgender people must use — a new promise that shocked conservative backers.

The gubernatorial candidate “vowed to oppose bills like North Carolina’s HB2 that would threaten Virginia’s reputation as an open and welcoming Commonwealth,” Jim Corcoran, president of the Northern Virginia Chamber, said in a written statement announcing the endorsement by its political action arm, NOVABIZPAC.

In an interview Friday, Corcoran said Gillespie promised to oppose similar legislation two weeks ago, during a private interview with the 25-member board. He said that position factored into the board’s decision to back Gillespie over his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, who has long supported LGBT rights. Corcoran said Gillespie made the vow after the board expressed concerns about HB2.

“We stated that we are an open and welcoming state here, we don’t want anything that is going to persuade persons that this is not a conducive place to do business,” Corcoran said.

But when the General Assembly considered a bathroom bill in January, Gillespie did not come out clearly for or against it. Rather, his campaign issued a statement that seemed aimed at having it both ways — echoing concerns raised by the bill’s advocates and taking a swipe at an Obama administration restroom directive, while also suggesting the matter should be left up to localities. Gillespie used stronger language — with no nod to local control that could be construed as opposition to state bathroom bills — at a Republican gathering in Amherst in April. This isn’t about bathrooms alone,” he [Gillespie] said, repeating warnings about co-ed showers and hotel stays. “And the fact is, we have to make clear, that we are going to protect our children from that. We are not going to allow for that to happen.”

If those statements were meant to convey Gillespie’s opposition to bathroom bills, that was lost on Don Blake, president of the Virginia Christian Alliance. He was surprised and upset to learn that Gillespie was promising to oppose that sort of legislation.

“It’s a very dangerous thing to speak out on positions that offend your base,” said Blake, who said he worked hard on Gillespie’s unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid in 2014.

“I’ve spent . . . a lot of time with him, talking about his Catholic faith, and he believes in the same things I believe in. He’s pro-life and pro-marriage,” he said. “To make a statement like that to get an endorsement from a business group will disappoint a lot of people. . . . It weakens your support. It doesn’t mean the base won’t go vote for him, but they may not put up yard signs and make phone calls.”

The PAC also endorsed state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Fauquier) over former federal prosecutor Justin Fairfax (D) in the race for lieutenant governor. And it backed Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D), who is running for reelection, over Republican challenger John Adams. . . .

Given Gillespie's career as a lobbyist, often lobbying on behalf of crooked corporations and unsavory types, it should come as no surprise that he'd be only too happy to lie to the Northern Virginia Chamber .  Anyone who believes Gillespie's promise is a fool.   Look at the anti-LGBT policies of Der Trumpenführer if you want to know what Gillespie really stands for.