NEWPORT NEWS – The District 1 Virginia Senate race is getting uglier by the day.
Republican Mickey Chohany is trying to take the one seat in the district from Democrat Senator John Miller.
The seat represents parts of Hampton, Newport News, York county and all of Poquoson.
Miller is now running for a second four-year term in the state senate.
Chohany is a restaurant owner and former Williamsburg councilman.
Ads have been out for a while now with each candidate accused of various mistakes on stances of public policy.
Miller is very upset with a new TV ad that puts him in a bad light and he wants the ad pulled. He says it contains false information.
Friday afternoon, the Republican Party of Virginia announced it would alter the offending portion of the commercial which is about four seconds in length. The ad never mentions Phil Hamilton, but it makes implications comparing Miller to Hamilton who is now serving nine years in prison for bribery and extortion.
The accusations stem from Miller co-sponsoring a tax break for Orion Air Group, a business where he later accepted a job as director of community relations.
Wednesday’s Virginian Pilot editorial page stated that elected officials can’t sacrifice credibility. "That's what Miller has done," and as such, the incumbent "has disqualified himself," the article read.
Miller defends himself, saying, “The CEO of Orion Air has said that the legislation had nothing to do with my being hired. I had no idea I would ever work for Orion Air when I co-sponsored the legislation. All you can do is tell people the facts and hope they come to the right conclusions."
Chonany denies any involvement in the Orion Air group story coming to light, but does say he thinks it's "something that will weigh heavy on the voters' mind."
"It's dirty politics," says Quentin Kidd with Christopher Newport University government and public affairs. "This is exactly the reason that people get turned off by politics and get frustrated by politics. It's a late last-minute suggestion based upon tenuous evidence at best. It's just dirty. It's smear politics and voters don't like that kind of stuff.
Whenever the Miller and Chohany have gotten together, they've clashed on public policy matters especially funding for transportation improvements.
Senator Miller has called for multi-faceted approach which includes raising the gas tax two cents over ten years.
"Nobody will be happy with that approach but it solves the problem and gets the job done," stated Miller.
Chohany prefers 'reasonable" tolls and says Miller's plan is wrong.
"The gas tax is not the way to go because the problem with that is the funding flaw, the redistribution of the money," Chohany argued.
