Post by Mockingbird on Aug 10, 2021 13:32:29 GMT
Martin Suarez (Left) being questioned about the allegations
The Democratic presidential candidate Martin Suarez faced intense scrutiny this week after an alleged hit-and-run incident in 2003 was unearthed. At the time, Suarez was a councilman in Mesa City. On May 6th, 55 year old Nicholas Harvey was struck by a red 2-door coupe at an intersection in Tanetown. As no cameras were operational in the area, the police only had the witness details of Harvey's daughter Alice to build a case around. No suspect was found, and the family received no compensation.
In the past week, Justine Hartman, an aide of the former mayor Dan Perkins has alleged that her boss was asked to convince the MCPD Commissioner to drop the case by a colleague who worked in the city council. Hartman believes that this call was made by Martin Suarez, due to him having a car of a matching description - a claim backed up by the fact that in 2000, his bank records show the purchase of a used red Buick Reatta. She has also pointed out that although no traffic cams were operational at the intersection at that point, cameras on the streets proceeding it did which could have easily been investigated to determine the number plate of the driver. The MCPD Commissioner Arthur Velaquez has dismissed her claims as "Slanderous" and "Armchair policing".
Several days after, Suarez denounced these claims as false, explaining that the driver couldn't have been him as he was still with family in Hermosillo, Mexico having gone there to celebrate Cinco de Mayo the day before. The explanation came too little too late however: throughout the week #MartinCarez had been trending on Twitter; several Republican ads were made hinting at the scandal with one baring the message "Suarez is a car-crash candidate, don't let your vote be a hit-and-run" and Lex Luthor made a speech expressing his empathy for the Harvey family, before launching a fundraiser to re-open the investigation.
In polling, Suarez has been met with a considerable reckoning, dropping by -26% (going from 44% to 18%). While Ridgeway's polling has only increased by 1% (38% to 39%), Luthor has soared from 18% to 43%, increasing by +25% since last week's polls. Whether or not the Democratic candidate can make a come back from this is difficult to predict, all we can safely say is that the two-party system is being faced with a tougher enemy than it first anticipated.
Written by Otis Graveling
In the past week, Justine Hartman, an aide of the former mayor Dan Perkins has alleged that her boss was asked to convince the MCPD Commissioner to drop the case by a colleague who worked in the city council. Hartman believes that this call was made by Martin Suarez, due to him having a car of a matching description - a claim backed up by the fact that in 2000, his bank records show the purchase of a used red Buick Reatta. She has also pointed out that although no traffic cams were operational at the intersection at that point, cameras on the streets proceeding it did which could have easily been investigated to determine the number plate of the driver. The MCPD Commissioner Arthur Velaquez has dismissed her claims as "Slanderous" and "Armchair policing".
Several days after, Suarez denounced these claims as false, explaining that the driver couldn't have been him as he was still with family in Hermosillo, Mexico having gone there to celebrate Cinco de Mayo the day before. The explanation came too little too late however: throughout the week #MartinCarez had been trending on Twitter; several Republican ads were made hinting at the scandal with one baring the message "Suarez is a car-crash candidate, don't let your vote be a hit-and-run" and Lex Luthor made a speech expressing his empathy for the Harvey family, before launching a fundraiser to re-open the investigation.
In polling, Suarez has been met with a considerable reckoning, dropping by -26% (going from 44% to 18%). While Ridgeway's polling has only increased by 1% (38% to 39%), Luthor has soared from 18% to 43%, increasing by +25% since last week's polls. Whether or not the Democratic candidate can make a come back from this is difficult to predict, all we can safely say is that the two-party system is being faced with a tougher enemy than it first anticipated.
Written by Otis Graveling
