With control of the United States Senate in issue, the mainstream media have left it to the Washington Free Beacon and Free Beacon reporter Alana Goodman to explore the background of Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock. Goodman’s latest report on Warnock recounts the testimony of former camper Anthony Washington at the church camp overseen by Warnock. Washington testifies to the counselors who tossed urine on him and locked him outside his cabin overnight while Warnock did his best to obstruct a related investigation:
Washington, now 30, recounted the events in an interview with the Washington Free Beacon and said his experience at the camp resulted in a 2003 lawsuit that ended two years later, when Washington says he and his family received a large financial settlement.
Washington’s account of the 2002 events provides the first direct insight into the alleged abuse and neglect that transpired at Camp Farthest Out, which Warnock oversaw as senior pastor of Maryland’s Douglas Memorial Community church, and raises new questions for the Democrat, who is currently vying for a Senate seat in Georgia.
Washington expressed surprise when he was told Warnock is currently running for U.S. Senate in Georgia. “I don’t think nobody like [Warnock] should be running for damn Senate nowhere, running a camp like that,” he told the Free Beacon. “He should not be running for government.”
Warnock has faced scrutiny over his 2002 arrest for allegedly obstructing a child abuse investigation by Maryland State Police that centered on the camp’s treatment of children. Washington’s account is buttressed by records from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, obtained by the Free Beacon earlier this month, which indicated that campers were routinely left unsupervised; staffers were not subject to required criminal background check; and at least five cases of child abuse or neglect were brought against the camp’s director, who was ultimately forced to resign.
Warnock served as senior pastor at Baltimore’s Douglas Memorial Community Church from 2001 until around 2005. His job included overseeing the expansion of the church’s sleepaway camp, Camp Farthest Out, which served inner city children. Warnock’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The Free Beacon reached out to Washington and members of his family because his name appears on a lawsuit filed against Warnock, the camp, and several of the counselors.
“I just wanted to get the hell away from that camp,” Washington said in an interview. “I didn’t want to spend another day there. … That camp was real messed up.”
A court docket from the case shows that lawyers from both sides moved to dismiss the case “with prejudice” in May 2005, a resolution that frequently occurs when lawsuits are settled out of court. Officials from the courthouse and the Maryland state archives told the Free Beacon that they are unable to locate any records from the case. The lawyer who represented Washington’s family said he was unable to discuss the matter on the record.
Washington’s sister, Dominique, who also attended Camp Farthest Out the summer her brother says he was abused, corroborated the family’s involvement in the lawsuit when contacted by the Free Beacon. Another source close to the Washington family told the Free Beacon that the lawsuit was related to an incident when counselors “poured urine on [Anthony], at the camp.”
The performance of the mainstream media with respect to Warnock contrasts markedly with the work of the Washington Post and others with respect to Republican candidate Roy Moore in the Georgia special election of December 2017. I thought Moore was a pitiful candidate, but Warnock makes him look like Solon. Thus the Post averts its eyes. Funny how that works.
Shannon Bream invited Goodman to discuss her story on Fox News at Night. Here is how it went last night:
BREAM: So you talked with Anthony Washington, a man who is an adult now if I understand it. He went to the camp as a child, but what did he tell you about allegations — and by the way I want to note from the start we reached out to the Warnock communication director but we haven’t heard anything back. I don’t know if you’ve had success on that front.
GOODMAN: I didn’t either so I hear you on that. These are very disturbing allegations that are coming out. These are actually the first details that we’re really hearing about what was going on with the abuse allegations at the camp. I spoke to a camper who went there when he was 12 years old. His family sued Raphael Warnock directly at the camp in 2003 for experiences that he went through at that camp….I think — it is very interesting when you say, you contacted Warnock on this. I have contacted Warnock as well and not heard from him. I think he has avoided addressing questions on this. He has really gone after people who bring this situation [as] a political attack…I think he will have a harder time dismissing this. This is a person who is telling his story. He has a stake in this…and really, it was just a traumatizing and disturbing situation.
BREAM: Yeah, and we want to hear from the Warnock camp to rebut or explain these claims….I want to know what his role was at the camp. Would he have known about these things? What do you know?
GOODMAN: That is a great question. Yeah, he was a senior pastor at the church running the camp. He was a head of the church, and he talked about his role of expanding this camp. In this situation specifically, in this lawsuit, he was a defendant in the lawsuit. So he was sued directly by this camper and the family. You know, as you know, he was arrested for allegedly interfering with a child abuse investigation by the state police. and those charges later dropped. But there are a lot of connections here with him. I mean, this was not a trivial kind of one-off issue. This was something where you had three separate state agencies investigating child abuse allegations at this camp under his tenure. You had at least five cases that were brought for child abuse brought against the camp’s director under Warnock’s tenure, and the camp had its license revoked for failing to report child abuse. And so, yeah, this isn’t just kind of a one-off matter….
Bream reiterated in conclusion that “again, we have repeatedly contacted the Warnock campaign and welcome them to give us any statement on this.” Goodman’s story is a scrupulous piece of reporting that is deserves the attention of voters and the wider public. Whole thing here.
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