Blacksburg town council candidate Frank Lau apologized on Monday for any confusion caused over campaign literature claiming endorsements, some of them false, distributed to Blacksburg residents.
A letter endorsing Lau, along with fellow candidates Greg Fansler, Krisha Chachra and Tom Rogers, was distributed en masse last week at a campaign event. Over 100 supporters of the candidates signed the letter.
However, several people listed as supporters claimed that they did not actually sign the letter.
Lau admitted that two people were inadvertently put on the list, including Rhoda Myers, widow of Derek Myers, whose seat on the council is one of the four open for election tomorrow.
“They should have been left off the list,” Lau said. “And I’m sorry. But we’re still friends.”
Greg Fansler, one of the candidates endorsed in the letter, said that existing coverage of the issue was a “complete farce.”
“The issue is moot,” Fansler said. “It was a mistake and he’s (Lau) owned up to it.”
Lau said that he was disappointed that the public had chosen to focus on this mistake rather than other portions of his campaign.
He also said, however, that “most people have already pretty much made up their minds (on voting) because there’s a definite difference between the two ‘factions.’”
“It’s being overdone by the media,” said fellow candidate Tom Rogers. “He made an honest mistake, and no one did anything wrong.”
Krisha Chachra said that she received permission from every name she placed on the list.
“We trusted that everyone was going to follow those rules,” Chachra said. “Unfortunately Frank didn’t, but that wasn’t intentional. It was pretty clear that I didn’t put any names on there that weren’t supposed to be on there.”
Lau said that he wasn’t overly concerned that the weekend’s faux pas would affect his chances in today’s election.
His hopes lie in a strong turnout from not just residents, but also students.
“Most of the students could be my grandkids,” Lau said. “I’m not asking for their vote, but I’m asking them to vote.”
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