Tea Party of Nevada Candidate Jon Scott Ashjian in His First TV Appearance

By Elizabeth Crum | 8:52 pm March 2nd, 2010
Updated 8:53 pm March 2nd, 2010

First, my Live Tweets from his interview on Face to Face (then a few notes):

Vetting by Twitter? About to Tweet #teaparty of #NV US Senate candidate comments from @RalstonFlash’s Face to Face. I Tweet, You Decide.

#teaparty of #nv candidate Jon Scott Ashjian on deck. Not known or endorsed by Tea Party groups who ask: real deal, or agent of espionage?

Ashjian: “I’m a person that loves his country. I’m a patriot. I’m not a politician. I am running against Harry Reid, an enemy of the state”

Ashjian: “Harry Reid has done a bad job; it’s time to send him back to Searchlight” #teaparty #nv #reid

Ashjian: “We started this tea party w/ a conversation between family/friends and neighbors” but “movement has been co-opted by Republicans”

Ashjian: “There is only one real conservative person on this ticket, and that person is me” & “I have no ties to the Republican party”

Ashjian: “Tea Party movement is patriots from across the country” – “not about Ron Paul, or libertarian, or liberal, or democrat” #teaparty

Ashjian: “Sharon Angle is a good woman” “Sue Lowden represents big business” “Danny is a good family man” but “all beholden to Republicans”

Ashjian responding to Q about IRS liens, contractor’s board complaints, license suspension: “IRS thing on credit report, not true; (MORE)

many businesses experience issues with contractor’s board at 1 time or another” & “yes” to all issues will be cleared once vetted #teaparty

My impressions?  Hard to have many from such a short interview, but here goes:

He carried himself well on TV for a first-timer.  Calling himself a patriot (and not a politician) and Reid an “enemy of the state” right out of the box were probably planned/calculated remarks intended to establish his Tea Party credibility up front.  Re: friends/family/neighbors being the impetus for the Party registration and his candidacy, I guess that’s how candidates always get started, so, fine.

I would have very much liked to hear why he thinks he is the “most conservative” candidate (I mean, how exactly does one get to the right of Sharron Angle?) as well as where he stands on all the major issues.

Re: his pending contractor’s board complaint issue and the IRS liens (which I did not know about), until more is known it is hard to say how significant they will be in the scheme of things.

To my Readers who are convinced that Ashjian is a Reid plant designed to pull votes from the GOP candidate:  I am not convinced that this is so.  I’ll keep digging around (as will other media types, I’m sure).  Not to worry; the truth will come out either way.

  • http://capitolcurmudgeonbarnett.blogspot.com/ Ned Barnett

    These are my personal views, in no way related to CCRP, Oath Keepers, Independent Caucus, meet-ups or other grass roots conservative groups I’m affiliated with. Ned Barnett

    *************

    I am convinced that this Tea Party Squared (Tea Party Party) group is a “false flag” operation, one designed to split the vote and give Reid the election with a plurality, instead of a majority (a la Clinton ’92).

    Why am I convinced? Because in three weeks since Ashjian burst on the scene, NOBODY in any of the grass roots/tea party/Oath Keeper/Independent Caucus or meet-up groups has been able to vouch for this guy. Nobody’s met him (or his cohorts), or seen them at a tea party event. Which means he and his associates have intentionally stolen the good name, reputation and “brand” of the tea party movement in Nevada.

    They have earned no right to this honorable name – they have done nothing to participate in, support or lead the grass roots tea party movement in Nevada. Yet they had no qualms in purloining this name, and the reputation built by thousands of independent grass roots activists.

    This was a coldly-calculated move whose only legitimate justification (it seems to me) is to split the votes of grass-roots tea party supporters and, by doing so, ensure that Harry Reid will get more votes than any individual candidate (but not more votes than the Republican AND this Tea Party Squared candidate, Scott Ashjian).

    This party’s theft of our good name is dishonorable. This misrepresentation as being the tea party movement in Nevada is fraudulent. This pretense of being part of the grass roots constitutional movement is blatant deception. Which is why I think this is Harry Reid (for he is certainly all three of those things – dishonorable, fraudulent and deceptive. None of those terms apply to the real tea party/grass roots movements and their members.

    Or so it seems to me – and remember, this is my personal opinion, and not the official policy of any group with which I’m affiliated.

    Ned Barnett
    Las Vegas

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