Democratic operatives reportedly commissioned a brief, low-cost background check on Graham Platner before launching his Senate campaign, a decision that appears to be backfiring as new allegations and controversies engulf the candidate and Democrats call on him to drop out.Candidate vetting, which has become standard practice in high-stakes elections, is a process that often takes several weeks and tens of thousands of dollars to properly complete.Democratic strategist and top Platner staffer Dan Moraff, however, paid just $6,250 for a background check on Platner that took only three days, sources familiar told the Wall Street Journal.Vetting processes are undertaken to help ensure prospective elected officials don’t have personal baggage that could, if discovered, derail their candidacy. HOW GRAHAM PLATNER'S CAMPAIGN UNRAVELED: FROM REDDIT POSTS TO RAPE ALLEGATIONDemocratic U.S.
Senate candidate Graham Platner.(Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)Platner faces a rape allegation from one former girlfriend and separate allegations of abusive behavior from another, all of which he denies.
The Maine Senate hopeful has also faced scrutiny over a Nazi-linked tattoo that he got during his time in the Marine Corps, as well as over sexually explicit texts he sent to other women while he was married.While these issues didn’t come up in the brief risk-assessment memo produced for Platner’s campaign, some controversial items that have since been reported did, the Wall Street Journal reported. SEE IT: MAINE VOTERS SOUND OFF ON PLATNER'S DIVISIVE CAMPAIGN AS CRUCIAL PRIMARY NEARS: 'HE'S A DISGRACE'Republican staffers, including National Republican Senatorial Committee staffers, protest outside the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., wearing towels to mock Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s reported Kik profile photo.(Nicholas Ballasy/Fox News Digital)"The firm sent us a thing and it had some of the posts, but it didn’t have all of...