By Kim Smith and Laura Dennis
With only two days remaining to early vote and just six until election day the nastiness of politics is on full display in Ector County.
Unlike nationally, the political drama is not between Democrats and Republicans but within the local GOP and candidates vying for offices that will be decided in Tuesday’s primary as there are no Democratic challengers.
The race of current State Rep. Brooks Landgraf and challenger Casey Gray has been testy from the start but has reached a new level of nastiness with Gray accusing Landgraf of having multiple affairs “with men and women.”
A Lubbock woman, Tiffany Wilson, last week said she did not have an affair with Landgraf but since that time has changed her story repeatedly and the Odessa American cannot independently verify anything she has told the OA or social media outlets.
Landgraf has declined to publicly address the allegations of an affair with Wilson or anyone else. When Gray dared Landgraf to publicly deny the affairs during a recent forum, Landgraf said the truth would come out and he was not going to be baited by his opponent.
Asked last week via email to provide proof of his claims, Gray simply asked if Landgraf had publicly denied the claims yet.
Meanwhile, the Ector County GOP will meet Thursday night. Longtime Odessan Tommy Ervin on Wednesday was urging local Republicans to attend the meeting in support of Landgraf.
Ervin said that in his opinion Landgraf is the victim of a “major smear campaign” and he’d like people to show their support for him by waving campaign signs outside the closed-door meeting.
Ector County GOP Chairwoman Tisha Crow said precinct chairs had invited Landgraf to meet with them last week in the hopes of having some questions answered, but Landgraf did not show up. They’ve invited him to attend Thursday night’s meeting, but he has not indicated one way or another if he will attend.
“They want to hear from him. They don’t know what to do and they won’t know what to do until he answers their questions,” Crow said.
Asked what questions they have for Landgraf, Crow said she never asked and they don’t have to clear them with her.
They’ve discussed many avenues they could take upon hearing from Landgraf, Crow said. Those options include doing nothing or asking him to resign, she said.
Asked if they could decide to endorse Gray, Crow said that hasn’t been discussed because “up to this point this has been about Brooks.”
Some members of the Ector County GOP executive board have sought before unsuccessfully to unseat Landgraf.
Gray has also accused Landgraf of spreading misinformation about Gray’s military service record and claims of “stolen valor.” However, claims of stolen valor and Gray actually came up during Gray’s 2018 run for the congressional seat held now by August Pfluger.
The OA has been contacted by more than a dozen people who have sent hundreds of pages of documents that question some aspects of Gray’s military service and whether he has worked for the CIA, as he has said. Those people have also suggested Gray has exaggerated the nature of a helicopter incident in Korea and the injuries he sustained.
Gray has said he has gone through more than two dozen reconstructive surgeries and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He has given conflicting details about how much time he spent in the hospital recovering from his injuries.
The OA has repeatedly asked Gray to respond to the allegations, inviting him to send his resume, any documentation he has regarding the helicopter crash and Standard Form-50s, which is a form used by the federal government to document personnel actions, such as hirings and terminations.
“I find it appalling that you continue these unethical attacks to attempt to discredit my military service. You are very much in the business of attacking military members and their service and these absurd questions that seem to come from internet trolls and from Landgraf supporters are telling of your bias,” Gray said via email.
When asked via email to clarify how much time he spent in the hospital, Gray replied, “I have had over two dozen reconstructive surgeries and was assigned to a warrior transition battalion, which took over five years. I am still receiving surgeries to help me gain loss of function.”
On Tuesday, Gray provided a letter signed by a nurse case manager assigned to the now defunct Community-Based Warrior in Transition Unit in McClellan, California that lists some of the injuries Gray has said he sustained in the helicopter incident.
According to the November 2012 letter, Gray was injured in a combat-related helicopter crash “while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom” on March 25, 2011. To see the letter click here.
Operation Enduring Freedom was launched following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and focused on removing the Taliban from power and crippling al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Attempts to reach the nurse case manager have not proven successful.
When asked for the crash report itself, Gray responded, “You seem to be more interested in perpetuating slander that (sic) actually interested in the truth.”
Gray was once quoted as saying that as a result of the brain injuries he sustained in the crash, he has “no emotions or empathy” which makes him “very direct.”
Gray was asked if he thought that would impede his ability to get along with other lawmakers or how he might compensate for something others might see as a liability.
“Unfortunately, due to the medical condition stemming from my injury in service, I can come across not as I intend at times, and it is still something I must work on to improve. I am far from the polished politician, and can come across as very direct, and non-politically correct. My hope is that if elected, I will get to know all my constituents personally, and that they will know the real me,” Gray wrote, in part.
As for questions about the CIA, Gray said he signed a non-disclosure agreement with the agency. He also said he didn’t use a Standard Form 50.
“While I did work for the agency directly, some of the time I also worked for them through my employment in the Navy. If you need further guidance please refer your questions directly to the CIA at CIA.gov, it seems you don’t like going the official route and would rather make false accusations and skirt the truth by asking questions repeatedly until you get a response you want.”
Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis, who endorsed Landgraf and said he continues to support him, bemoaned the tone of the current campaign. “I’m saddened by how nasty this has gotten.”
Odessan Ronnie Lewis said some within the local GOP are determined to keep Landgraf from representing the district “on accusations of an extra-marital affair but willfully ignore their candidate (Gray) has restraining orders against him and pending charges of bail jumping.”
Gray is accused of violating a restraining order twice and jumping bail on the two cases that were filed as a result of those alleged violations in Wisconsin. Online records also indicate Gray is involved in a child custody dispute in that same county. He has a court date in April on the bail jumping charges.
Lewis said he is out of town otherwise he would be at the Thursday meeting to support Landgraf. “It’s time for the dirty campaigning out of the ECRP to stop.”
