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Reporter confirms Plowman leaked investigation details
In a sworn statement filed Aug. 30, former reporter Charlie Jackson, who left his post at Leesburg Today Aug. 24, said Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Plowman leaked information to the press about the content of his investigation of Mark D. Tate's possible campaign misfilings.
Tate, a Middleburg restaurateur who ran for the Republican nomination for State Senate in 2003 and 2007, was indicted May 21 on two counts of election fraud and nine counts of perjury. His jury trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 26.
Tate lost the Republican primary June 12 by more than 30 percentage points to Jill Holtzman Vogel, of Upperville. Vogel will face Karen Schultz (D) and Donald Marro (I) for the 27th District seat Nov. 6.
Plowman, who is up for re-election in November and is running unopposed, led the initial investigation into the accusations about Tate's misfiled campaign finance reports. Plowman voluntarily recused himself from the case in April, citing his public endorsement of Vogel as a conflict to the prosecution.
However, in an affidavit to a notary public filed Aug. 30 by Tate's defense attorney Ed MacMahon, the 26-year-old Jackson said Plowman was trying to persuade him to write an article that would negatively impact Tate and cause him to lose the election.
Plowman said he wouldn't comment on Jackson's affidavit, but said that “one of the [news]papers was talking about a grand jury leak. There was no reference to leaking a grand jury indictment in [Jackson's] statement.”
Jackson agreed.
“The Northern Virginia Daily [which first reported on Jackson's affidavit] reported that incorrectly,” he said. “I didn't say that he leaked grand jury information.”
But Jackson's affidavit has drawn more attention to the role Plowman played in the Tate case, giving the defense ammunition in its argument that the charges against Tate were politically and not criminally motivated.
Jackson said he was contacted in August by MacMahon, who asked the reporter if he “had information regarding the investigation of Mr. Tate that took place before the primary election June of 2007.”
Jackson said he did and volunteered the following statements in his affidavit.
“On March 26, 2007, I received a call from Jim Plowman,” Jackson said. He said Plowman was returning his call about another story.
“In that conversation, Mr. Plowman asked if I was calling about something unrelated to Mr. Tate. At that point, Mr. Tate's name had not been mentioned.
“When I asked Mr. Plowman what he thought I called about, Mr. Plowman brought up Mr. Tate. Mr. Plowman insisted that the conversation be off the record.”
Jackson's statement goes on to state that Plowman bashed Tate saying, “Tate was a big financial disaster” and “absolutely a criminal.” Jackson said Plowman accused Tate of “bouncing checks to different organizations,” and that checks from Tate's campaign were going to his restaurant, The Coach Stop.
“I asked Mr. Plowman what the charges would be against Mr. Tate and when they would be returned,” Jackson said. “Mr. Plowman said campaign finance fraud and embezzlement, and that the charges would likely come forward before the election.”
According to Jackson, Plowman told him “he would love to do this case, but months ago he backed Jill Holtzman [Vogel] and now he would have to get off the case.”
On April 17, Plowman filed a motion to recuse himself from the Tate case, saying Vogel was a “personal friend” and “it would be improper for him or any member of his office to continue this inquiry based on his public support for Mr. Tate's opponent.”
Special Prosecutor Matt Britton, the King George County Commonwealth's attorney, was appointed to replace Plowman.
Jackson said he tried to verify what Plowman had said about Tate's finances by interviewing Tate. During the interview, Tate confirmed he was having some financial difficulties, Jackson said, including owing money to the Town of Middleburg for The Coach Stop's utilities.
After the interview, Jackson called Plowman and asked him to go on the record for a story, but Plowman fell silent.
“I then told Mr. Plowman that I would report that he had declined to comment and he said, 'no,' ” Jackson said. “Mr. Plowman said that I could only report that [Plowman] could not be reached for comment.”
According to Jackson, news of the indictments against Tate broke in late April/early May in an article on the Virginia Conservative Action PAC's Web site.
“... [the] Web site published a story citing unnamed sources that Mr. Tate was going to be indicted soon,” said Jackson. “I called Mr. Plowman to ask about the story. Mr. Plowman refused to confirm or deny the story but said to be patient.”
VCAP's Executive Director Robin DeJarnette and Political Director Jamie Radtke were included, along with Plowman, in MacMahon's Aug. 30 list of witnesses the defense intended to subpoena. Neither could be reached for comment by the Times-Mirror's deadline.
Leesburg Today published its first article on Tate's indictment's -- “Grand Jury Indicts Tate; Candidate to Fight Charges” -- May 23.
Jackson said the paper had been unable to verify information Plowman had given him and chose not to run the story before Tate was formally charged.
MacMahon filed a motion Aug. 7, charging Plowman with political foul play, saying, “ ... this prosecutor was politically motivated from the start. ... The Commonwealth's Attorney for Loudoun is a public supporter of Mr. Tate's opponent ... and has made numerous public statements about this case even after he was recused by order of the court.”
MacMahon filed another motion Aug. 30, using Jackson's statement and an article published in the Aug. 22 edition of the Loudoun Times-Mirror as evidence.
The following quote and paraphrased statement by Plowman from the Times-Mirror article were included in the motion.
“ 'We actually took measures to protect [Tate].' The subpoena for Tate's financial records was sealed from the public until the commonwealth had evidence of the alleged misfilings, Plowman said. These documents may still be sealed, he said, adding that this was done to prevent a negative impact on Tate's campaign.”
Jackson said media sources have questioned why he volunteered information given by an off-the-record source.
"I felt that I was doing it because it was the right thing to do,” he said. “I can understand that someone would say it's weird that a reporter would do this.”
Ultimately, Jackson said he felt that because he had been approached by a source and not the other way around, he didn't need to protect the source.
“None of this speaks to Tate's guilt or innocence,” he said, adding that his affidavit was not meant to indicate that Plowman had leaked grand jury information.
Jackson said he had hoped his affidavit would shed light on the Tate proceedings.
“If Plowman was just being friendly and leaking this stuff, or whether he was planning with Holtzman Vogel, I don't know,” said Jackson.
Contact the reporter at hhobbs@timespapers.com
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