Politics

Another McDaniel Supporter Arrested After Cochran’s Bedridden Wife Photographed

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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Another supporter of Mississippi Sen. Chris McDaniel has been arrested in connection to the illegal photographing of the bedridden wife of incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran.

On Thursday, police arrested Mark Mayfield, an attorney and official with the Mississippi Tea Party, along with another unnamed individual, according to The Clarion-Ledger newspaper. That makes a total of three people now who have been arrested in connection to the incident.

Mayfield, according to the report, is a supporter who has volunteered for the campaign.

Police have accused 28-year-old blogger Clayton Kelly of making his way into the St. Catherine’s nursing home in Madison, Miss. to photograph Cochran’s wife, Rose, who is suffering from dementia.

McDaniel, who is challenging Cochran in the state’s Republican primary on June 3, has denied any involvement.

McDaniel responded to the latest arrests on Thursday by saying: “As we have said since day one, the violation of the privacy of Mrs. Cochran is out of bounds for politics and is reprehensible. Any individuals who were involved in this crime should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

When news of the Kelly’s arrest last week was made public, McDaniel said: “I’ve reached out to Senator Cochran directly to express my abhorrence for the reprehensible actions of this individual. This criminal act is deeply offensive and my team and I categorically reject such appalling behavior.” 

McDaniel’s campaign said they have “no relationship with Mr. Clayton Kelly in either a volunteer or official capacity.”

But Kelly has blogged about his support of McDaniel and has posted a photo online of him with McDaniel.

Mayfield donated $300 last year to the Senate Conservatives Fund, according to OpenSecrets.org. That PAC has supported McDaniel over Cochran in the competitive Senate race. In 2012, he also donated a total of $1,500 to SCF.

A spokeswoman for SCF confirmed the donation. “We have hundreds of thousands of donors and don’t have a relationship with this individual. As soon as we learned about this, we gave his money to charity. Our efforts in this race are focused on the issues,” spokeswoman Mary Vought said.

Mayfield also gave $500 to McDaniel’s campaign this year, according to donor records at the FEC, and to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012.

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