Posted on 10/25/2004 5:48:46 PM PDT by NotchJohnson
The campaign of Democratic congressional candidate Nick Clooney said it isn't behind recorded messages going out to Northern Kentucky homes, one which says his Republican opponent, Geoff Davis, supports a national sales tax. "We don't know anything about it and certainly don't condone that," Clooney campaign spokesman B.J. Neidhardt said.
Davis spokesman Justin Brasell said he was made aware of the messages, which purport to be polls, Friday.
Brasell said the campaign received copies of the messages from two voters' answering machines.
Davis, from Hebron, and Clooney, from Augusta, are facing each other for the 4th Congressional District seat, from which Rep. Ken Lucas, D-Richwood, is retiring. Independent Michael Slider, from LaGrange, is also running.
The Davis campaign deemed the messages as "push polls," which are generally considered unscientific and are designed to push for a particular candidate.
There are two different messages, according to transcripts provided to The Post by the Davis campaign. Both ask a single question and direct callers to Press 1 to support Clooney and Press 2 to support Davis.
ITC Research and USA Public Opinion Group identify themselves as conducting the "poll."
Both campaigns said they've never heard of the companies.
The ITC Research message, in part, said, "Last week's federal economic report indicated that the job market is tight, wages are stagnant -- In the race for Congress, Geoff Davis supports the Bush economic plan. His opponent, Nick Clooney, supports a rollback of the Bush tax cuts."
The Public Opinion Group message said Davis would support a national sales tax if elected.
"Geoff Davis doesn't support a national sales tax," Brasell said.
Similar calls have been made by the USA Public Opinion Group in the 3rd District referring to Republican Rep. Anne Northup of Louisville, who is running against Democrat Tony Miller.
The Davis campaign has sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission asking the agency to look into the calls.
This is the first dispute between the campaigns about campaign tactics used by outside groups.
During a televised debate Monday night, Clooney asked Davis if he would denounce campaign ads and a mail piece that refers to Clooney as "looney."
Davis replied that he wished the ads, paid for separately by the Republican Party of Kentucky and the National Republican Congressional Committee, had not used the "looney Clooney" phrase.
However, he said the ads did bring up legitimate questions about Clooney's politics.
The state Republican Party sent another mail piece to voters that characterizes Clooney as a liberal in conservative clothing.
Neidhardt has said the mailings, which said Clooney wants to raise taxes, are "outright lies."
"Nick Clooney does not support raising Social Security taxes or the retirement age. This is par for the course that they're going to try to distort Nick's position instead of talking about their own," he said.
The mailings refer to snippets Clooney wrote as a longtime columnist for The Post. He took unpaid leave from the newspaper to run for office.
Clooney said Monday that his columns were his opinions, not political positions, and were designed to create dialogue on a wide range of issues.
His son's the looney one. George has essentially said "I disagree with my dad on a number of key issues, please vote for him." What the hell kind of endorsement is that? "I don't agree with his positions, please vote for him!"
What do you expect from a guy who lives with a pet pig?
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