"A television ad run by 5th District congressional nominee Al Weed mistakenly calls a misdemeanant a felon and is being changed, Weed’s campaign acknowledged Thursday.

The Nelson County Democrat’s ad referred to former MZM defense contractors Mitchell Wade and Richard Berglund as “felons” who knowingly and illegally gave campaign contributions to Weed’s opponent, 5th District Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-Rocky Mount.

The mistake was that Berglund has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year of incarceration for his part in giving straw contributions to Goode and thus is not a felon. Wade pleaded guilty in February to federal felonies for bribing a former California congressman and election fraud for straw contributions to Goode and a Florida congresswoman.

“I regret the error and apologize to Mr. Berglund,” Weed said in a statement released by his campaign. “I will have the ad changed accordingly.”

“That error was minor,” said Curt Gleeson, Weed’s communications director. “The fact still stands that Mr. Goode took illegal contributions and got authorization for MZM to get up to $15 million of taxpayer money.”

Goode has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has said he was unaware of the illegal nature of the straw contributions passed to him from Wade through other individuals.

A photograph in Weed’s ad shows Goode standing between Wade and Berglund at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the now-defunct MZM facility in Martinsville two years ago.

Goode helped gain a congressional earmark appropriation for the facility and received nearly $100,000 in campaign contributions from Wade and MZM employees. Goode later gave an amount covering all MZM campaign contributions during three years to charities throughout the 5th District.

Meanwhile, Goode is running a television ad that his campaign described as positive and biographical. In the ad, Goode endorses the constitutional amendment to define marriage that will appear on the Virginia ballot Nov. 7.

Goode said he objected to Weed’s ad, which states that the congressman “took the money” from Berglund and Wade without making clear that the money consisted of campaign contributions.

“The implication of the Weed TV attack ad that I personally took money is false,” Goode said in a statement. “I have never taken any money from anyone.”

“Today’s Weed statement that the Goode for Congress campaign received campaign donations in return for an earmark is also false,” Goode said. “I sought funding for the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center in an effort to bring jobs and help the economy in Southside Virginia.”

Goode said he is working on an ad responding to Weed’s, which should start airing in three to five days." (Bob Gibson, The Daily Progress, September 22, 2006)