Opinion: Opening: Richardson eastern Nevada field director

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Just make sure you don’t have any outstanding warrants. The Bill Richardson campaign has accepted the resignation of eastern field director Kristian Forland following revelations that he is wanted on four outstanding bad-check counts in Los Angeles County, had been busted twice in Las Vegas on similar charges, and had been the subject of an investigation into allegations that he had shorted some of the, um, help, when he did bookkeeping work for the Mona’s Ranch brothel in Elko. Forland described it all as a series of misunderstandings, but resigned anyway.

While this kind of stuff happens in campaigns (Exhibit A, Exhibit B), this can’t help Richardson’s foundering efforts in the run-up to the Nevada caucuses. And Forland’s troubles aren’t likely to help Democrats overall in Nevada’s rural areas, long dominated by Republicans. Forland was on leave from his role as vice chair of the Elko Democratic Party, which has been trying to use the caucuses to build a rural Democratic political organization. But it’s hard to build political credibility when there are warrants floating around with your organizers’ names on them.

-- Scott Martelle