Local outlet covers AIM activism against ‘Loudoun Love Warriors’
July 10, 2023
Democratic Loudoun officials targeted in conservative billboard/phone call campaign
A conservative media watchdog group is being accused of crossing the line between advocacy and harassment by Loudoun Democratic and Democratically-supported officials who’ve been targeted by an electronic billboard and phone survey campaign.
The campaign is by Accuracy in Media. The group “empowers individuals to hold journalists as well as public and private officials accountable to achieve a well-informed free society,” according to its website.
The group formed in 1969 in response to television coverage of police brutalizing anti-Vietnam War protesters, reporters and bystanders, during the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, according to a 2004 New York Times obituary on AIM founder Reed Irvine. A 1968 report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence concluded the beatings were a “police riot” and CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite called the officers “a bunch of thugs” after they roughed up reporter Dan Rather on the convention floor. However, Irvine thought the coverage was too critical of police.
AIM President Adam Guillette said a box truck with an electronic billboard has been sent to the home of Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj, D, as well as Democratically-endorsed county school board members Erika R. Ogedegbe, Leesburg, and Atoosa Reaser, Algonkian, in the last few weeks. Ogedegbe and Reaser didn’t return calls or emails, but filed complaints with the Leesburg Police Department and Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office respectively, according to LPD and LCSO spokesmen. Liberal activist Andrew Pihonak was also targeted with a billboard.
LPD spokesman Officer Michael Drogin said in an email that police investigated complaints Ogedegbe made on June 14 and June 21 about a box truck with a billboard about her driving through Leesburg. No charges were filed and the cases were closed.