Jarody drops House run at behest of Republican Party leaders

By Jessica Alaimo, PolitickerME.com Reporter

A Republican former state House candidate said he was pressured out of running by leaders of his party because of politically incorrect online comments he had made on various Web sites.

Jarody, a 24-year-old from Augusta who only goes by one name, planned to run for House District 57 against incumbent Patsy Crockett (D-Augusta). GOP Party Chairman Mark Ellis and House Republican Leader Josh Tardy convinced him not to.

He withdrew, but in retrospect regretted the decision.

"I was a Ron Paul person, I was used to not getting their support," he said.

It is past the deadline for replacement candidates, so Crockett is now unopposed.

His withdrawal initiated a buzz on the blogosphere this weekend, with posts on the Christian Civic League's Web site, conservative forum As Maine Goes, liberal forum Turn Maine Blue and political blog Maine Politics. The links for the CCL and AMG are no longer available.

The league supported his candidacy because of his pro-life and pro-family stances.

Jarody said Ellis and Tardy produced printouts of politically incorrect comments on Web sites such as Life of Debauchery and Outraged Americans. Jarody said they warned him that the Democrats would use these for "dirty tactics," and the party would not back him up.

Most of the comments in question came from several years ago, when he got involved with online trolling - a practice where one posts outrageous comments solely to enrage the other posters. He did this under his own name.

"I pretty much was an Internet troll for quite awhile," Jarody said. "I said anything and everything that was offensive and politically incorrect. I didn't mean any of it."

Recently Jarody has been a poster on As Maine Goes. While posting on controversial issues such as gun control and the elimination of the state of Isreal, his posts were less outrageous.

He said the party leaders told him that voters would not be able to differentiate between what he meant and didn't mean, and it could make the party look bad.

Ellis said that asking Jarody not to run was nothing personal.

"I respect Jarody as an individual and I don't want to do anything that will harm him," Ellis said. He later added: "We really are a big tent in respect to people's views. However his commentary online was something I don't think any party would support."

Jarody said that he feels disavowed from his party. He plans to fulfill his obligations on both the Augusta Republican Committee and the Kennebec County Republican Committee, but when 2010 comes around he does not know if he will remain in the party.

"The question is," Jarody said, "can I really support a party that won't support me?"

Jessica Alaimo is a PolitickerME.com Reporter and can be reached via email at noreply@politicker.com.

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