The Maine Republican Party has discovered that a Democratic candidate for state senate in Maine's 25th district leads a "double-life" on the online game World of Warcraft.
In an email sent to reporters today, Maine GOP communications director David Sorensen reports that Colleen Lachowicz "has been living a time-consuming double life as a member of the World of Warcraft community."
Sorensen's release notes that Lachowicz is at Level 85, the game's highest level, and is a character named Santiaga. Lachowicz apparently "lives vicariously through her," and comments as her on the liberal blog Daily Kos.
A sample comment: "So I'm a level 68 orc rogue girl. That means I stab things . . . a lot. Who would have thought that a peace-lovin', social worker and democrat would enjoy that?!"
There is perhaps a case to be made that dealing with troglodytes and maintaining raid-life balance is exactly the sort of thing that qualifies a person for public office.
But even if you don't think the online game is a form of witchcraft, gamers may have their own objection to Lachowicz's in-game record.
Lachowicz's main character is a rogue, a type almost universally reviled by other characters in the game because its invisibility gives what is widely seen as an unfair advantage: Rogues can sneak around opponents and "grief" the other team by stealth; rogues have a particularly bad reputation for killing other players over and over until they get so frustrated they log off.
Lachowicz's status as Santiaga doesn't appear to have been a secret; in this post on the Daily Kos' Wreck List, a "World of Warcraft guild," Lachowicz asks the list for donations for her campaign. The post is from 2011.