by James A. Bacon

I was fully prepared to believe the worst when I dipped into a Virginian-Pilot article about an indictment filed against Laura Hughes, chairwoman of the Virginia Beach Republican party. According to the Pilot, she was charged with the felony of “intercepting wire communications.” Another case of politicians behaving badly!

It has become routine for Virginia elected officials and politicos to do stupid or unethical things, and I try to acknowledge the more prominent cases so readers can see that the corruption and incompetence they observe in their hometowns are all-too-prevalent elsewhere in Virginia. But after reading the Pilot’s account, I was left scratching my head. What was this all about?

“The allegation that Ms. Hughes recorded an openly audible conversation in GOP Party headquarters with her cell phone is an absurd basis for a felony prosecution,” says a statement released by Hughes’ attorney. “There is no allegation that any recording was surreptitious or done without the knowledge of those on an open speaker phone call. Neither is there any allegation that the alleged recording was shared or even played.”

It is illegal for any person who is not a party to a communication to intentionally intercept, disclose, or use that communication without the consent of at least one involved party, reports the Pilot. The law also states it’s illegal to use any wired or wireless device to intercept such a communication.

The charges stem from a February incident, which the Pilot reconstructed as follows:

Hughes says she wanted to let people know about the filing process to run for chair. The deadline to file paperwork and a $500 check was 5 p.m. Feb. 20. She handed hers to Carol Hickman, at the party’s office, and Hickman logged it and put it in the safe, Hughes said in [a Facebook] video.

She goes on to say that she went back to the party’s office with a few other people the following day and asked to see who else had filed.

“I wanted verification of filing to see if anyone else who filed did file timely,” she said in the video.

Hughes said Hickman then went into the bathroom to have a private call with Bill Curtis, the former party chair.

“She had him on speaker phone, so it could be clearly heard,” Hughes said.

The person on the phone said he had handed his paperwork to another person who works in the office, Hughes said. She then called that person who said Curtis’ paperwork was at the office. Hughes asked to see it again but was not allowed.

Hughes said she was concerned about election integrity….

Jimmy Frost, a member of the Republican Party of Virginia Beach, corroborated the account given by Hughes in the video recording. He said he was one of the people with Hughes who went to headquarters to find out if Curtis or anyone else had filed in a timely manner in the chair’s race.

“They couldn’t really seem to produce any documentation that he had,” Frost said.

Hickman called Curtis and put him on speaker phone while they were in the office, Frost said.

“It’s dubious that there was a violation of anybody’s privacy,” he said, adding he could hear Curtis’ voice on the phone.

There do seem to be inconsistencies here. Hughes said Hickman, the office secretary, retreated to the bathroom to make the call in private… but she also said that Hickman put Curtis on speaker phone so others could hear. Well, which was it? Was the call private or not? Meanwhile, Frost said Hickman put Curtis on speaker phone while they were in the office. What happened to the bathroom?

On the other hand, so what if Hughes made a recording of the conversation? Did she misuse the recording? Who was hurt here? Was that really a felony with a potential penalty of five years in jail?

There’s always another side to a story like this, and the revelation of new facts and context could change my appraisal. Until then, as appalled as I am about the general collapse in ethics in U.S. politics today, this isn’t a case I can get exercised about. I will say this, though: if factions in the Virginia Beach Republican Party want to bash one another’s brains in, they should keep it out of the courts.