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PA-9: Shuster Staffer Accuses Halvorson of Assault

Art HalvorsonOn August 9th, a woman working a booth for Representative Bill Shuster at a fair filed a report stating that congressional candidate Art Halverson approached her and “grabbed her tightly by the wrist,” according to a report from Patty Yauger of the Herald-Standard.

The woman, Meghan Boocks, asserts that she was manning a table at the Fayette County Fair with her fiancé James Keenan, when Halverson approached them both. Boocks claims Halverson grabbed her by the wrist and enquired about who Rep. Shuster’s campaign manager was. He left promptly after telling Boocks to “personally tell [Shuster] that he would destroy him in the election and take his job.”

Halverson, a registered Republican, was previously unsuccessful in securing the GOP nomination, but has since been running his campaign on the Democratic ballot after receiving support as a write-in.

He later told Yauger that Boocks was lying.

“I never shook [Keenan’s] hand and I certainly didn’t touch this young woman’s wrist. This is beyond imagination. It is striking they would come up with this.”

Halvorson went on to say that he only wanted to know the identity of Shuster’s campaign manager.

“I’ve only seen statements from Casey Contres, who is [Shuster’s] taxpayer-funded communication’s director,” he stated. “She responded that he was doing both by splitting his time or something to that effect.

Congressman Shuster condemned his opponent for the incident.

“Art Halvorson inappropriately and aggressively grabbing a young woman, who works on my campaign, is disgraceful,” Rep. Shuster said. “Under no circumstance should he ever make physical contact with a staffer, much less a young woman.

“His denial is troubling, since there was a witness there to see the entire incident. It is disturbing that he believed it was okay to intimidate her and make her feel uncomfortable,” he concluded. “He should leave my staff alone.”

The 9th Congressional District consists of all or parts of Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland Counties.

15 Responses

  1. GUILTY AS CHARGED! If you tell the TRUTH, you never have to remember the lies you told. This time Art not only lied to PSP, he lied to the judge. His multiple versions of his stories, arrogance, and anger finally caught up with him. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the real Art Halvorson. GOOD RIDDANCE!

  2. This srtory fails to note that the alleged incident was August 6, not August 9. The woman waited three days to report it, no doubt polishing her story with the Shsuter campaign in the interim.

  3. I attended the US Coast Guard Academy with Art and know him well as a classmate. You do not get through four years of the stress and harassment at a Service Academy and not show your true self. Art was a model cadet all four years, always the consummate gentleman and similarly was an outstanding officer achieving the rank of Captain (O-6) in the U.S. Coast Guard. You do not achieve that rank in a very small Service if you behave in this manner. There is no way this assault story has any merit.

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  5. This poor 22 year old girl had the courage to report wildly inappropriate behavior of somebody RUNNING FOR OFFICE and then he has the nerve to fundraise off of it!! This is disgusting politics at it’s worst.

  6. So let me see if I follow this. Bud Shuster resigns after getting caught with his pants down and now his son gets caught with his down but we’re supposed to believe Art is the one “Grabbing” women? Hey Bill, did you ever pay your bill that night you got sloshed in Mercersburg and started grabbing waitresses? Hmm.. #RetireShuster

  7. This is pathetic. I hope the truth comes out and if Shuster’s team is lying about this situation it will backfire. I have head from reliable sources that Art Halvorson is a man of integrity and this act is not a reflection of his character. Bill Shuster has a reputation for dirty tricks against Delgrosso and stretching the truth about farm subsidies. I have a problem with Art accepting the Democratic nomination and that is an act of political suicide, if he does not win. Shuster will only get elected because of Trump’s coattails in the 9th.

  8. Last time around Shuster landed on the list of Biggest Campaign Whoppers of 2014 for making up a story about Halvorson getting farm subsidies in Iowa. Apparently he really wants to make the list again this year.

  9. Let’s see: a candidate’s opponent approaches that candidate’s campaign booth at a crowded public area.

    In 2016.

    You can’t tell me there are not…oh, I don’t know, at least 78,000 or so…videos of this event, and that at least one hasn’t made it to social media.

    Enough with the old fashioned he said / he said. Let go to the instant replay.

  10. I’ve personally been on the receiving end of a similar confrontation with Halvorson. The guy comes completely unhinged if you don’t do what he wants. To his friends he may be a nice guy, to those with which he disagrees, he becomes threatening and attempts to bully. I’ve experienced it.

  11. I have seen Shuster’s staff in action at a public rally at the Indiana County Courthouse.

    Now you want to talk about confrontational, their level of aggressiveness was unbelievable and this was because Tom Smith would not endorse Bill as a candidate and them openly wanting to know the reasons why.

    Shuster knows he is in trouble.

  12. C’mon, Shuster. Be a man! Go kick his ass. Show your fans that chivalry isn’t dead.

  13. If Shuster’s campaign is resorting to this during August, there must be some polling that is showing something. The Shuster family has benefitted themselves long enough in Washington.

  14. Of course this makes Shuster mad. Nobody is allowed to grope his young female staffers except him!

    Halvorson is one of the most polite and mild-mannered people I’ve ever met. And if this really happened, there’d be video of it because Shuster has a guy following Halvorson with a camera everywhere he goes. Looks like somebody is getting worried.

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