OFFBEAT POLITICAL REPORT OF THE WEEK

JIM HICKEY, MARTHA'S VINEYARD GAZETTE - Police this week are continuing their investigation into a Florida man believed to be the former chief of staff for a U.S. senator who crashed the fundraiser of Presidential candidate John Edwards in Chilmark on Friday by passing himself off as a campaign official. Police say 31-year-old Michael Duga used a credential identifying himself as the chief of staff to former Sen. Maxwell Cleland of Georgia to gain access to the event.
 
Once inside, he purported to be a top official for the Edwards campaign to some while representing himself as a paying guests to others. According to Mr. MacDonald, the host of the event, Mr. Duga was neither. "Let me say that Mr. Duga is not - nor has he ever - been affiliated with the Edwards campaign . . . as far as I know he knew nobody at the event, and nobody there knew him," Mr. MacDonald said.
 
During the party, Mr. Duga slipped into a back room at the MacDonald home and stole a package of Edwards campaign material as well as a bundle of the former U.S. senator's personal stationery. According to one guest who asked not to be identified, Mr. Duga approached several people during the fundraiser and asked if they could help him arrange a private meeting with Mr. Edwards and his wife Elizabeth. . .
 
Mr. Duga spent the night on the Island, and was next spotted Saturday around 8 a.m. when the Menemsha Coast Guard Station called Chilmark police to report a suspicious person on their property. Coast Guard officials later told police Mr. Duga was looking through paperwork and made some telephone calls from the Coast Guard boat house without permission. When police arrived and questioned Mr. Duga, he said he was on official business and was currently volunteering for the Edwards campaign.
 
"Mr. Duga was asking many questions and was using military style jargon with lots of acronyms," the report said. "His eyes were glossy and red; his hair was messed up and he had a white substance that appeared to be toothpaste on his lips and chin . . . he appeared to be intoxicated." A portable breathalyzer test on Mr. Duga, however, revealed that his blood alcohol content was zero.
 
The communications center said the Oak Bluffs police had run Mr. Duga's information the previous evening. They also learned he had an extensive criminal background in Florida, where he had been charged with possession and sale of narcotics as well as carjacking.
 
When police asked Mr. Duga what he was doing on U.S. Coast Guard property, he said he was bringing provisions to the officers, and pointed to a paper bag containing a sandwich and a soda. He then said he wished to speak to the U.S. Coast Guard commander to notify him of the 27 security deficiencies he had observed. . .