VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – The fallout continued Tuesday morning from the troubled 2018 re-election campaign of former congressman Scott Taylor. A third campaign worker pleaded guilty to falsifying election petitions.
Heather Guillot, 32, was one of several workers on Taylor’s campaign for re-election three years ago. As part of a plea agreement between her attorney Richard Doummar and special prosecutor John Beamer, Guillot pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor willful neglect of election duties.
Like her former colleagues Lauren Creekmore Peabody and Roberta Marciano who were prosecuted last year, Guillot was originally charged with felony election fraud and making false statements. All three received the same sentence – no active jail time, one year in jail suspended, and a net fine of $1,000 after an additional $1,500 was suspended by Judge Margaret Spencer.
The campaign workers were involved in petition drive to get a third-party candidate on the 2018 congressional ballot for the second district.
“Mistakes were made,” Doummar said outside the courthouse following sentencing. “A lot was going on at the time of the election with entrusted people and it was a mistake that was made, and it happens sometimes in elections.”
Guillot admitted to signing a petition containing signatures that someone else collected. When asked whether she was directed by others to do what she did, Doummar responded, “I’m not able to comment on that unfortunately but I appreciate the question. All I can tell you is that she’s moved on.”
According to court documents, Taylor’s campaign wanted to help third party candidate Shaun Brown collect petition signatures. The idea was to split the Democratic vote, but Democrat Elaine Luria won that election as well as a rematch with Taylor in 2020.
Several investigations including one by the Virginian Pilot revealed the petitions had forged names and the names of dead people.
“I really have no idea how that could have happened,” Doummar said, adding that it’s his understanding that Guillot is out of politics for good.
“Today is another reminder that Virginia Republicans are willing to stoop to any level to win an election, including breaking the law,” said Luria’s campaign manager Kate Fegley. “The people of this district have now twice rejected fraud.”
In a response to 10 On Your Side Tuesday evening, Taylor said “We have waited three years for three misdemeanors. The delay… appears to be a Democratic prosecutor’s office interfering in political elections.”
Taylor’s statement went on to call the prosecutions of his campaign workers a “waste of resources and energy” a “Democratic witch-hunt” and a misuse of the justice system.
Taylor has long claimed he had no involvement in the ballot fraud scandal. In a press release following Marciano’s September conviction, Taylor claimed he had never been under investigation, according to a Virginia State Police investigator. “In no way are you being looked at as
any type of suspect,” Taylor says the investigator told him.
The special prosecutor’s only comment this morning was that the investigation is ongoing, and Guillot’s attorney said there “could be” further developments in the case but did not elaborate.
Here is Taylor’s statement in full:
“Since 2018, I have been committed to maintaining open, honest and forthright communications with the public on all aspects of the investigation into this issue.
“We have waited three years for three misdemeanors. I maintain that anyone involved in wrongdoing should be held accountable, but what has been the delay in swift justice in a case where the investigators knew what happened three years ago? We all deserve transparency on this issue – after all, it is our public resources at work. The delay, along with actions appears, of course, to be a Democrat prosecutor’s office interfering in political elections. The office appeared to be there with the ammunition to aid a nasty and false smear campaign, through two elections.
“Those who continue to hold faith in an impartial judicial system should be abhorred at the waste of resources and energy that could’ve gone to pursuing other criminal activity that endangers life and property, Instead of this democratic witch-hunt used and continues to use the levers of government to slow down justice and help their party stay in power. What we are seeing is a misuse of the justice system and of our taxpayer funded resources.”