With the race for the 100th District considered a toss-up, new ads are being played on the radio where Mr. Hernandez accuses Representative Bloxom of using his political position to help his business (auto repair, and parts sales) win lucrative government contracts. The government procurement process is fairly stringent, and would hardly allow for this to happen. The ads also accuse Bloxom of taking gifts and not reporting them.
Bloxom told the Mirror, “All gifts are reported on VPAP.org. I can only assume he is referring to an award I received in 2015. It was the Virginia Chamber of Commerce Champion of Business award. It was a small statue plaque. It was valued at 115 dollars. I appreciate the award and consider it an honor to receive such an award but I had no idea it was to be considered a ‘gift’.”
This week, many of us on the Shore received Hernandez mailers with a picture of a man being depicted as a local ‘waterman’ who voted for President Trump. Not sure how to really connect the two, but somehow going against Trump and choosing to support Hernandez is going to be better for the Eastern Shore.
Local watermen Scott Wivell posted on Facebook asking if anyone knew the guy in the mailer. Wivell’s family has been working on the water for many years and pretty much knows everybody that would be considered a watermen. However, nobody really knew Mr. Ashbee. It seemed doubtful that he was actually an Eastern Shore watermen.
Sam Ashbee has confirmed on his Facebook page that he does not claim to be a waterman but has been “fishing the Chesapeake bay since 1966”. So it appears Phil Hernandez exaggerated the ‘waterman’ story to try and draw favor from Shore folks.
So it goes.