Krystal Ball: Bloggers who posted my photos are 'sexist and wrong'

By Rachel Weiner

Krystal Ball, a Democratic congressional candidate in in Virginia, is accusing political operatives of orchestrating an attack on her this week by publicizing sexually suggestive photos of her taken years ago at a gag party.

The photos depict Ball and her ex-husband posing with a sex toy at a party that she says took place shortly after college. They were posted on two Republican blogs -- Black Velvet Bruce Li and Virginia Vertucon -- before spreading around the Internet. Ball said she doesn't know how the blogs got the photos, which as far as she knew had never been posted online.

Ball initially accused her Republican opponent, Rep. Rob Wittman, of releasing them as part of a smear campaign. Wittman's spokesman said in a statement Tuesday night that Wittman is "adamantly opposed" to the release of the photos, and that he has asked bloggers to take down the pics.

Ball said Wittman's request came "hours after the damage had been done."

The district has been Republican for decades, and Ball's campaign received little national attention until now.

"It's sexist and it's wrong, regardless of political party," Ball, 28, said in a statement. "And I have a message for any young woman who is thinking about running for office and has ever attended a costume party with her husband or done anything stupid on camera. Run for office. Fight for this country. Don't let this sort of tactic deter you."

"Of course, I am embarrassed by these photos, that was the whole point of these political operatives when they put them up," she said. "But more than just embarrassed, I'm angry! I'm angry that when we are suffering from high unemployment, record budget deficits and a broken education system, that crass political operatives will resort to the politics of personal destruction when they can't talk about the issues."

Ball said something similar in an interview with NBC12:

Ball also said there was a double standard for women, pointing out that Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) posed naked in Cosmopolitan magazine without facing the same scrutiny. She added that she thought Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell had experience a "similar smearing," even though she disagreed with their political views.



The Post wrote about Ball in May:

Running as "a fresh voice for Virginia," Ball has been the presumptive nominee to take on Wittman since the other Democrat in the contest, Scott Robinson, dropped out in late March. Democrats in the 1st district -- which stretches from Fauquier County south past Williamsburg to Poquoson on the Chesapeake Bay -- officially handed Ball the nomination at their local convention this weekend.

Ball, 28, runs an educational software company with her husband and has never been a candidate for political office before. For a novice, her fundraising has been prolific: As of April 18, Ball had raised $521,000 (including $76,000 in personal loans to her campaign) and had $134,000 in the bank.

As for Krystal Ball's distinctive name, InsideNoVa.com explains it thusly: "Her father has a doctorate in physics and did his dissertation on crystals. So after her mother named older sisters Heidi and Holly, it was dad's turn."

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Ball will reportedly appear on the Today show later this week.

Related: Women's groups call out political sexism