WOODBRIDGE, Va. — It’s early in the campaign season but already things are heating up in Virginia’s 2nd House District after some irregularities were found on a campaign website.
Democrat Michael Futrell is challenging Republican Mark Dudenhefer for the 2nd District seat, which spans portions of Stafford and eastern Prince William counties. But when similar text from Virginia House Minority Leader David Tuscano’s website appeared on Futrell’s on Tuesday, red flags went up.
On Futrell’s transportation issues page, the text began with an accurate statement about Futrell working as a traveling pharmaceutical company representative. But the text went on to mirror the same words used on Tuscano’s website that states state transportation officials “cannot build our way out of problems.”
On Futrell’s education issues page, there were references to Charlottesville and Albermarle County – areas represented by Tuscano.
Those pages have since been removed from Futrell’s website, and on Wednesday the Democrat chalked it up to an honest mistake made by a campaign worker.
“Our website was produced by a volunteer who used David Tuscano’s website as a template, as a way to show us what the final product would look like,” said Futrell.
He went on to say those pages were never meant to be published and were up for about a day. The volunteer who made the website is no longer working with the campaign, added Futrell.
“This has shown me the importance of hiring someone to do the job correctly,” said Futrell.
A representative from Tuscano’s office in Charlottesville said they were aware of the situation and provided the following comment via email:
“Michael called my office and apologized. I understand that he was working on his website and various ideas for issue positions, and apparently borrowed from my website so he could develop his own language. Unfortunately, it went ‘live’ before he had developed his own language. His site had not been submitted to the caucus nor approved to go ‘live’, either by us or by the candidate.”
Dudenhefer’s campaign wasted no time in chiming in on the website issue and said Futrell plagiarized Tuscano’s website.
“Representing the people of Prince William and Stafford in the House of Delegates is an honor and privilege. The Second District has unique problems that require thoughtful consideration, not blindly copying the words of another delegate from another part of the Commonwealth,” stated Dudenhefer, who has held the office since 2010.
Futrell is best known in Prince William County for his Make the Future charity which works with area youth.
