Update: The police incident report which I noted below has been updated this afternoon as follows:
In an interview this afternoon with Madison Police detectives, the
victim in this case recanted his earlier statements in regards to this
crime. This crime, alleged to have occurred on High Street in the South
Police District, will be cleared as “Unfounded” for case reporting
purposes. Once follow up investigation is completed, MPD’s case file
will be reviewed with Dane County District Attorney’s Office.
It sounds as if this is an admission that Kyle Wood’s story of a politicized attack was faked. In addition, Media Trackers, the site that published the alleged text messages has now removed them from their site and added a denial from Mr. Frank. As of now it looks like this whole thing may be bogus.
[End Update]
The race for Wisconsin’s second congressional district got ugly last week when an openly gay volunteer for the Republican candidate was beaten at his home and hospitalized. The story took another twist Monday with the revelation of threatening, racist text messages allegedly sent by the Democratic candidates’ husband to the victim prior to the beating.
Chad Lee is a Republican running for the open seat in Wisconsin’s second congressional district. Kyle Wood is a full-time volunteer working for his election. Kyle is openly gay and was targeted in what appears to be a politically motivated attack last week. Mark Pocan is the Democrat who is running for the open seat. Pocan is gay and campaigns with his husband Philip Frank.
Today it emerged that Mr. Frank allegedly sent a series of crude text messages to Kyle Wood prior to the attack, one of which reads, “From here on out you’re a marked man Kyle Wood, and you have no one to blame but yourself.” The messages rise to that level of hostility over time.
PF [Philip Frank, spouse of Rep. Mark Pocan]: Bet your boss hurts so good right now, huh? Pretty boy got cocky. 2:12 PM
PF: Good Morning handsome. Are you up and done
licking your wounds after your boy got laid down and Thompson showed
what a total incompetent he is? Must be a rough day over there in the
conservative land. 9:01 AMPF: You know you could just concede defeat and take
the weekend off working out your frustrations in a fun way. You, me,
some Iron Horse, a little gun oil and a couple knots I learned in boy
scouts. 9:14 AMKW [Beating Victim]: Phil, just stop. 9:15 AM
PF: Don’t pretend you dont want a piece of this ass.
Its alot more fun than working yourself to death for a hopeless cause
that will make you even less likeable. 9:17 AMPF: Just take the day off of this totally unwinnable race and lets mess around. 9:20 AM
KW: Dude, lets get something straight. 1- I’m wont
stop fighting until every last vote is counted and verified. And then
win lose or draw I will keep fighting for t 9:28 AMKW: he America I believe in. 9:28 AM
KW: And as far as messing around goes, well, I wouldnt fuck you with Bea Arthur’s dick. 9:30 AM
PF: I get it… you would rather spend the day with
your imaginary straight boyfriend than with us real, lesser gays. You
prefer your imaginary world, thats cool. 10:08 AMKW: No, you dont get it. Id rather spend my day with a man of integrity, fighting for an America I believe in. 10:16 AM
KW: The only “lesser” aspect here is the dignity
with which you have conducted yourself. I’m sorry you don’t see it that
way Philip. 10:18 AMPF: Fuck you Kyle. Remember your station in life and
remember not to cross the husband of a powerful man. You are on shaky
footing as it is, push much farther and you won’t have a future in this
town, or any other. You’ll go back to pig farming where you
belong. 10:28 AM
The conversation resumes later that evening with Frank allegedly threatening to leak Wood’s private medical records. The sender of the messages begins a new line of attack, insulting the GOP candidate’s Mexican-American wife using racist stereotypes:
PF: Shopping around for TV time, are we? Did Chad
finally pull an Indecent Proposal with that tight little wetback of his
for a quick buck? 5:07 PMPF: Or did that big amazon bitch with the hair blow someone higher up… Paul Ryan maybe? He has some cash. Whats the secret. 5:12 PM
PF: We were brainstorming for you here at our office
last night trying to help you guys out just to make this race
interesting. And we were thinking since you can’t afford useful tv time,
maybe his ugly chola hooker wife has some illegal friends that could
stand on corners and wave signs like Little Caesars. 10:29 AM
Kyle Wood had already stopped responding to the taunts by this point. Kyle claims that during the attack he was told he’d been warned. He connected this to vandalism of his car which included the words “traitor” and the phrase “house trained Republican faggot.” The texts allegedly sent by Philip Frank include a similar line, “will Mr. Lee be leaving his little house-trained faggot at home…?” The second to last text reads, “You miserable fucking traitor. You are going down along with your fake boyfriend and that wnba slut.”
There is an incident report for the attack on Kyle Wood. So far, Marc Pocan’s campaign has not issued a statement about the text messages allegedly sent by his husband or about the attack on Mr. Wood.
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