I’m not sure if this is more disheartening or hilarious. Maine State Senate candidate Colleen Lachowicz has found herself under attack because of a deep, dark secret that, her opponents contend, will negatively impact her ability to represent her constituents.

So does she have a history of accepting bribes?

Have her credentials been falsified?

Does she have ties to the mafia?

No. Worse. She plays World of Warcraft.

An e-mail sent to reporters by Maine GOP communications director David Sorensen condemns Lachowicz for “living a time-consuming double life as a member of the World of Warcraft community.”

States the e-mail, Lachowicz “lives vicariously” though her character, a Level 85 rogue named Santiaga, and regularly posts as her on online forms including the Daily Kos. And if Sorensen’s indignation at the idea of a public servant playing an MMORPG in which they—horror of horrors—stab people other characters isn’t funny enough, the Website www.colleensworld.com (“Maine needs a State Senator that lives in the real world, not in Colleen’s fantasy world.” Italics theirs.) should do the trick. The site is a collection of screenshots of Lachowicz’s comments about WoW, with the particularly ~*~scandalous~*~ bits highlighted.

A few samples:

So I’m a level 68 orc rogue girl. That means I stab things…a lot… Who wouldn’t have thought that a peace-lovin’, social worker and democrat would enjoy that?

I’m so jealous! I wish I wasn’t at work. I’d much rather be gaming with my guildies!

I can kill stuff [In World of Warcraft. Not in the real world!] without going to jail. There are some days when this is more necessary than others.

Most of the time the random dungeon groups are pretty good. …But every once in a while you get the person who has no regard for the survival of the group. They want to get the dungeon done, top the meter, grab their loot and screw everyone else. These types are usually nasty in party chat as well. I tend to think of them as teabaggers.

And the most horrifying:

I miss you!! Where are you? Ahhh…remember the days of cooking sausages on the grill while doing dungeons?! Good times!

Cooking sausages. On the grill. How dare she run for public office!

It’s not like Lachowicz ever hid her seedy completely normal WoW habits; she even posted about her campaign to the Daily Kos, asking her fellow guild members for campaign donations. (“I want to take my advocacy skills, knowledge of health care and kick ass attitude to the State Senate.” How horrible.)

There is a point to be made here about how, in our era of ubiquitous Internet access, public figures need to be wary of saying anything that could be construed as negative lest it be used against them at some point down the line. But holy Christ, I just can’t get over al the effort put into discrediting Lachowicz, not based on her political beliefs or experience, but because she plays World of Warcraft.

(via: BuzzFeed)

Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com