Norment wants Tareq Salahi to resign from Virginia Tourism Board....

Sen. Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment is calling on Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to ask for the resignation of social butterfly Tareq Salahi from the Virginia Tourism Board in the wake of the Salahi and his wife sneaking into the White House dinner last week.

The Virginia couple has come under withering criticism for crashing President Barack Obama's first state dinner at the White House. The couple apparently was not on the guest list for the dinner, but showed up decked out anyway and managed to get inside and snap pictures with dignitaries and big timers. There are rumors that the stunt was a balloon-boy clone-job - some sort of rash attempt to get into the limelight and snag a reaity TV sho (let's hope somebody puts them on the Rock of Love bus.) 

But according to Norment, a James City Republican, Salahi had flashed signs of this "outrageous behavior" before. Norment obviously has a major stake in making sure tourists continue to come to Virginia as a destination - thanks to his respresentation of the historic triangle.

Here's the nut graph from Norment's short succinct letter to Kaine.  

"Mr. Salahi's recent outrageous behavior and personal promotion in regards to trespassing in the White House is not the face that we need for Virginia tourism. There has been a history of this behavior stemming back to the Jamestown Commemoration in 2007 and I would appreciate you taking swift action to avoid any further negative situations."

Kaine has already acknowledged that he could have guessed it was the Salahi's who were crashing the White House

And Kaine has already asked the Secretary of the Commonwealth to see if Salahi should be removed from his post on the tourism board. And there is also now a formal investigation into the Salahi's charity - the America's Polo Cup   according to the folks over at the Washington Post.

Looks like all this attention might not be such a good thing for the couple, cue the delicious-irony dancers and the careful-what-you-wish for band.

Comments

[John Doe]

Have another drink and chill out, Tommy.

[HamptonHomer]

What an embarrassment. Get this Salahi guy off of anything he can be kicked off of. He is pure sleaze.

As far as I'm concerned, he ought to be in jail.

[John Smith]

Maybe Norment should resign from his slushy W&M post to set a good example...