A Democratic party operative in New York has been fired after he became a little too enthusiastic in his assignment of tracking a Republican congressional candidate.
Yougourthen Ayouni was assigned to follow Phil Oliva, who is currently running in the Republican primary to be the candidate for New York’s 18th congressional district, currently represented by Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney. That isn’t unusual; both parties often assign staffers to shadow candidates to ensure that not event the slightest mistake or verbal miscue is missed.
But Ayouni apparently went far above and beyond the call of duty. Not only did he follow Oliva on the campaign trail, but he even used his assignment as an invitation to stalk Oliva’s family. He did two drivebys of Oliva’s home, peeked into the windows, and tried contacting his wife on Facebook using the pseudonym Jonathan Aelius Zheglov.
Jessica, Oliva’s wife, told The Daily Caller News Foundation that the first visit from Ayouni terrified her. She said she was simply making coffee when she heard a car idling outside, and when she looked out she saw a man hunched over looking through the family’s kitchen window.
“I was scared,” she said. “I was in my bathrobe. I’m home alone with my children, and I have a strange man looking through the window at me.”
Oliva, who has three young children, initially couldn’t believe that a Democratic operative would be so invasive, and he told his wife it was probably a landscaper.
But eventually Ayouni made another pass at the house, and Oliva made a connection between a man who was harassing him at his workplace to the man who also followed all his social media accounts.
With the help of a co-worker wielding a camera, Oliva confronted Ayouni Wednesday.
WATCH:
In the video, Ayouni initially tries to deny contacting Oliva’s wife or visiting the family home. But after he’s questioned, Ayouni admitted he had, offering the explanation that he was simply innocently interested in her business, an online fitness company targeted at moms.
“I didn’t reach out to her, I reached out to the company she started,” Ayouni says in the video. “I like to be fit.”
Similarly, Ayouni tries to justify visiting Oliva’s home on the grounds that he was simply in the area.
“I didn’t drive by your specific house, I drove by your road,” he says. Oliva told TheDCNF that his home is out of the way and almost nobody drives on the road it sits on unless they live there.
Oliva complained to local police Thursday morning, who said they would arrest Ayouni if he ever returned to the house, though that didn’t prove necessary in the end. The New York Democratic party announced Ayouni had been fired Friday.
“It’s behavior that is unacceptable to us and will not be tolerated. He’s been fired,” New York State Democratic Party’s Executive Director Basil Smikle told The New York Post.
Oliva says he isn’t convinced Ayouni was going rogue in his actions, and he expressed suspicions that the state Democratic Party may intentionally be taking responsibility to deflect blame away from Maloney’s campaign.
“Who instructed him, to come to my home and contact my wife?” he said. “I signed up for this, but my wife didn’t sign up for this. My kids didn’t sign up for this.”
Oliva said he would never consider sending an operative to Maloney’s home, even though it could be politically useful since Maloney has been attacked as a carpetbagger who doesn’t genuinely live in the district.
“Stuff like this, this is why good people don’t run for office,” Oliva said.
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