SUMMERSVILLE — Sen. Robert Karnes (R) responded to the charges against the creators of a defamatory website that attempted to interfere in his primary election.
On August 19th, Michael Lee Morehead and Asad Derya Khan were charged with criminal misdemeanors for anonymously and knowingly publishing false statements specifically to influence the voting results of the 2020 primary election. Their targets included city council, municipal, House of Delegates, and State Senate candidates. Dr. Ali Khan also admitted to providing contributions to one of the defamatory websites, though no criminal charges were filed.
“When someone goes out of their way to lie about people (whether it’s myself or any other candidate), it’s really important that they are held accountable,” Karnes expressed. “Politics can be a ‘ruff ‘n’ tumble’ game. There’s nothing really wrong with that aspect of it, as long as what is being said about people is truthful. So, one of the things that I’ve always insisted on, in anything that I do from a campaign perspective, is ‘always tell the truth.’ It’s unfortunate that not only did they not tell the truth, but they did so in a very illegal way. It looks like now they are going to be held accountable, which is a good thing.”
On September 8th, Karnes’ opponent Denise Campbell (D) disavowed their behavior, expressing,
“If what is said by the authorities as to what happened is illegal, no, I do not support that whatsoever.”
Karnes told Mountaineer Journal that he took moderate issue with Campbell’s statement, because lying about political candidates should be disavowed regardless of its legality.
“The first thing is, I wouldn’t wait for law enforcement to get involved,” Karnes stated. “I would be the first to go to people, who pretended to be my supporters (because you can’t be my supporter whenever you’re acting in the way that they were acting). So, I would be the first one to go to them and say, ‘You have to stop this now.’ I wouldn’t wait for law enforcement to get involved.”
He went on to describe Democratic politicians now disavowing the perpetrators, after waiting for law enforcement to conclude their behavior was illegal, as being “rats jumping from a sinking ship.”
“What we see now in the situation in Buckhannon with Dr. Khan, Derya Khan, and Michael Moorehead is: a lot of these politicians are waiting until after law enforcement has gotten involved (until it’s clear that what was being done was illegal) and then suddenly, they’re like rats fleeing from a sinking ship. Suddenly, they want to pretend like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know anything about that. I didn’t know what was going on.’
For me, no, I don’t want to wait until it gets that far along. I want to be clear to my supporters, even now: I appreciate all the help I can get, but let’s keep it straight and honest.
We can point out the differences in terms of what we believe, but not make things up.”
He also described the gravity of the attacks.
“There was some stuff on there that even went beyond simply lying. It went into the profane, the vulgar, and really things that don’t belong in a civilized society.”
Karnes concluded by emphasizing the importance of honesty, while maintaining spirited, civil disagreement.
“What these campaigns should really be about, even once we’re elected into office, are the issues. The positions that I’ve taken: never supported a tax increase, fought very hard for pro-life policies, the second amendment, and so on… I believe those do stand on their own for me. I believe that resonates very well with the voters of the 11th district.
For my opponent, whatever her positions are on those issues, that’s up to her to get the word out. I may point her positions out sometimes if it’s out of sync with the district, but I would never tell a lie. I would never want any of my supporters to tell a lie about what my opponent does or doesn’t believe. I think that the contrast between her and myself is clear, and I think the voters are going to make a good choice in November.”
Sen. Robert Karnes is the Republican nominee for State Senate in the 11th senatorial district.