Scott Eckersley continues to believe Billy Long's campaign may have been responsible for an e-mail that was sent to major media hubs around Southwest Missouri the Friday before the election. The e-mail said Scott Eckersley was quitting his campaign, which was instantaneously celebrated by key members of the Long campaign, including Billy Long. Through tracing the IP address, the e-mail came from Glendale Heights, Illinois, and there are close ties with a political consulting company from that area to Billy Long. The creation of a fake Scott Eckersley Twitter account led to the discovery.
There may be ties to Billy Long's campaign and the Glendale Heights political consulting firm from an earlier social media effort designed to defeat Gary Nodler that was launched shortly after Billy Long hired Jeff Roe and James Harris. The media tried to discover the origination of the site, which had an anonymous URL, but were unsuccessful. However, with a federal investigation pending, the Eckersley campaign may have included included key information about the Web site Defeat Nodler with his package to the FBI and Federal Elections Commission, and it's very likely a subpoena may force the hosting company to tell federal officials who was behind the Defeat Nodler site to see if there are any connections to Billy Long and the political consulting company in Illinois.