False Eckersley Campaign E-mail May Have Come From Someone With Press Release E-Mail List Access: Is Billy Long's Campaign Responsible?

I just got off the phone with Jay Eckersley, a representative for the Eckersley campaign. He describes the Eckersley campaign as chaotic after KSPR reported they received but were unable to verify an e-mail that claimed Scott Eckersley is dropping out of the Missouri 7 Congressional race. The e-mail, addressed from s.eckersley@yahoo.com was not written by Scott Eckersley, and may have some serious consequences for the Billy Long campaign as Eckersley claims this is a case of "dirty politics."

The e-mail was sent to more than just KSPR. Jay Eckersley reported numerous press sources have called or have driven to the Eckersley campaign headquarters ready to report the false story of Eckersley dropping out of the race. The story is false says Eckersley, and now reporters may be investigating the ISP address of the e-mail.

Considering the e-mail was sent to key people in the media, it's very likely this e-mail came from within the Long campaign who had access to the e-mail list of key media sources throughout Southwest Missouri. Campaigns use convenient features in their e-mail address books to provide a on click and send feature that groups all media sources into a single group.

If this indeed come from the Long campaign, one would guess there would be a huge Federal Election Commission investigation into the Long campaign based on questionable ethics and perhaps even mail fraud designed to influence the outcome of the campaign.