WASHINGTON – The son of a Virginia congressman resigned from his father’s campaign Wednesday after an undercover video captured him discussing possible voter fraud.

Patrick Moran, whose father is Democratic Rep. James P. Moran, was secretly recorded in a video posted by conservative activist James O’Keefe.

In the video, Moran, who was working as his father’s campaign field director, talks about using utility bills and other documents to evade Virginia’s new voter ID laws. The person who made the recording – saying he was a worried supporter of President Obama – asked for Moran’s advice in casting votes for 100 Virginia residents who weren’t going to the polls.

“He’ll need bills,” Moran said, standing outside an Arlington, Va., sandwich shop, referring to the requirement to present identification. “He’ll need something with their name and address on it.”


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But at another point, Moran suggests that “all the energy you’re putting into this” would be better spent on a legitimate get-out-the-vote effort.

The campaign said it had accepted the younger Moran’s resignation effective immediately. “Patrick is well liked and was a well-respected member of the campaign team,” Moran’s campaign said in a statement. “This incident, however, was clearly an error in judgment.”

In an email to Politico, Patrick Moran said he was humoring the person, whom he considered “unstable and joking.”


The resignation came just a day after Moran and two other Virginia congressmen sent a letter to Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. asking for an investigation of a possible “broad conspiracy” in a voter registration operation financed by the Republican National Committee.

The operation, which cost at least $3.5 million in eight swing states, has been linked to suspicious voter forms in Florida, and a supervisor in Virginia was arrested last week for allegedly dumping eight completed registrations.

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joseph.tanfani@latimes.com