Could Unsealing Divorce Records Seal GOPer's Electoral Fate In Georgia?
Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 18, 2010, 8:40AM
Sometime before the election, a Georgia judge will decide whether the Republican nominee for Congress in the 8th Congressional District's 2001 divorce records will remain under seal until after the election.
The decision, according to one newspaper editor and one Democratic activist, could be the turning point in Rep. Jim Marshall's (D) battle for reelection in the Peach State.Chatter about just what's in the divorce records of state Rep. Austin Scott, the Republican facing Marshall, first began when Scott was considering running in the Republican primary for Lt. Governor, according to Macon Telegraph columnist Charles Richardson.
Allies of the sitting Lt. Governor -- also a Republican -- "started leaking" info on the divorce while Scott was making his decision, Richardson says. After Scott decided to run for Congress against Marshall -- one of two Democrats in Georgia's Congressional delegation -- back in April, a Democratic activist and blogger picked up the cause and filed a motion to get the records unsealed. A judge will decide whether to unseal them on Oct. 26, just days before the election.
So
what's in the records? No one knows for sure. But two separate political operations attempting to track them down -- as well as Scott's recent public freakout at the notion of their release -- suggest what's in them is what opposition researchers like to call "gold." Marshall's in a tough race (a Republican poll in late September in showed the incumbent Democrat down eight points to Scott), and some on the ground in Georgia believe that the juicy details of a messy divorce could make all the difference.
more...
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/divorce-records-could-seal-gopers-fate-in-georgia.php?ref=fpb