Posted on 06/27/2004 6:27:49 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
The race between GOP primary candidates for the 24th Congressional District is heating up with charges of lying and fact twisting.
On June 17, the office of Republican challenger David Walrath sent out a news release accusing incumbent Congressman Sherwood Boehlert, R-24 of New Hartford, of falsely portraying himself as a fiscal conservative. The release stated that Walrath had gained the endorsement of the influential tax cut advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform.
In an interview with the Times last week, Walrath himself also said he had gained that endorsement.
However, the Washington-based group, as policy, does not endorse candidates.
On Friday, Walrath campaign spokesman Brett Mecum told a reporter in the Washington bureau of the Utica Observer-Dispatch there was no news release mentioning the endorsement and that Walrath had never used the words in an interview, calling it “shoddy reporting.”
When the Washington reporter later told him that he had a copy of the news release, which was sent to many media outlets including the Times, Mecum said the release was a “draft copy” that mistakenly stated Americans for Tax Reform had endorsed Walrath.
“I 100-percent screwed up,” Mecum said by phone Saturday night while on his way to an event with Walrath in Seneca Falls. “It was completely my fault. It was a typographical error on my part.”
Mecum said he was working on the press release late at night and had two letters in front of him — one from the American Conservative Union endorsing Walrath and one from Americans for Tax Reform thanking him for signing a pledge not to vote for tax increases.
Mecum said he knows that Americans for Tax Reform does not endorse candidates, but he inadvertently used the wrong group’s name in the release.
“It was completely my fault. I had two letters in front of me, and I screwed up and put Americans for Tax Reform,” Mecum said.
Mecum, 25, said the quote in the Observer-Dispatch about “shoddy reporting” also was taken out of context.
“I didn’t want it in the paper but was pushed. I told [reporter John Machacek] that it was one of two things — either bad reporting or we screwed up,” Mecum said.
The National Republican Congressional Campaign committee, the political arm of the House leadership, also has been critical of Walrath’s campaign practices, which have included campaign staff writing letters to the editorial department of two newspapers using fake signatures.
“If Dr. Walrath is going to continue in the campaign we hope he starts focusing more on the truth,” said Chris Paulitz, a spokesman for the Congressional committee.
“It’s been a campaign of lies and deceit and that’s no way to get elected to Congress,” he said, adding that it is very rare for candidates of the same party to accuse each other of lying. “It’s used for extremes. This stuff is ridiculous. It’s just slanderous.”
“I can’t figure if these guys are dumber than hell, have Alzheimer’s or what,” he said about changing their stories on the news release. “It’s bizarre. I haven’t witnessed anything this bizarre.”
Also at issue between the two candidates is a letter signed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and obtained by the Syracuse Post-Standard.
In the letter, Gingrich warned the Club for Growth, a Washington-based organization founded in 1999, that if it backs Walrath, he will personally become involved in the primary race. Gingrich said Walrath is not only wrong on fiscally conservative policy issues but is not a strong candidate.
“All of which makes your support of Walrath inexplicable and inconsistent with your stated claim of helping to elect candidates who support the Reagan vision of limited government and lower taxes,” Gingrich wrote, urging the group to reconsider its opposition to Boehlert.
In a statement issued last night, Walrath claims the letter was written by Boehlert’s people and only signed by Gingrich. He called it “the act of a desperate career politician who has an extremely liberal record he cannot defend.
“Although I am flattered by Mr. Gingrich’s interest in our race, he shamefully signed his name to a letter crafted by Boehlert’s office. Someone of his stature should have had the smarts to have researched the issues before signing his name to such lies and slander,” Walrath added.
“Factually, Mr. Boehlert is by far the most liberal Republican in Congress, who most recently received a ranking as the third worst Republican ‘tax and spender’ by the National Taxpayers Union. He clearly is scared to death and is pulling out all the stops,” he said.
The 24th Congressional District includes the town and city of Geneva in Ontario County, all of Seneca, Cortland, Chenango and Herkimer counties and parts of Broome, Cayuga, Oneida, Otsego, Tioga and Tompkins counties.
Walrath and Boehlert are slated to square off against each other in a Sept. 14 Republican primary.
ping
From another newspaper:
Moran was removed from his post. He is now an unpaid volunteer for Walrath, according to Brett Mecum, Walrath's new campaign manager. Boehlert complains that he has yet to receive an apology from the Walrath campaign. Walrath also has accused Boehlert of straying from the bounds of fair play. In a news release last week, Walrath charged that the incumbent employed a "highly unethical tactic" by sending newsletters at taxpayer expense to likely primary voters in the district." But Walrath admits that Boehlert broke no law in sending the mailers, a time-honored advantage used by incumbents for generations. Boehlert [also] cites a Feb. 27 e-mail from Moran accusing Boehlert of voting for a ban on snowmobiles in national parks. In fact, Boehlert voted against the ban last July and again earlier this month. It was narrowly defeated both times.things turned ugly early....Walrath's then-campaign manager, Matt Moran, last month admitted he wrote anti-Boehlert letters to newspapers using the name of Kevin McGuiness, a Washington lawyer. At least two papers, the Utica Observer-Dispatch and the Auburn Citizen, published one or more of the letters.
It seems as if, everyday, Walrath's staff creates a new story about Walrath lying, being mistaken, or having an out of control staff, instead of about the issues.
The only person here who is wrong on the issues is Gingrich, who has become a go-along-to-get-along, don't-rock-the-boat RINO and supporter of Bush's big-government prescription drug program.
You are correct but for others I will post this.
2002 Republican primary
Boehlert 21,504 53%
Walrath 18,773 47%
2002 general
Boehlert (R) 71%
Walrath (C) 22%
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