Memo from Bill Foster
for Congress
The
Forecast Calls for Mud
February 7, 2008
Contact: Andrew Dupuy,
630-800-8165
The next 30 days will bring not just snow to
the 14th District, but a lot of mud as well. This morning's
opening salvo from an outside group was just the beginning of the
nasty politics that are guaranteed to come before the March 8
special election.
The Oberweis-Lauzen Republican primary was characterized by
intense personal attacks and mudslinging.
Oberweis spokesman Bill Pascoe has a reputation for supporting
negative campaigning.
Outside groups like the Majority Accountability Project and
Freedom's Watch are expected to levy personal attacks and spend
money on behalf of Oberweis.
Oberweis Spokesman Pascoe Slings
Mud
New Jersey political strategist Bill Pascoe
has a long history of dirty politics.
Pascoe said of the 2008 special election to fill Hastert's seat,
"There's a difference between running a negative campaign and a
dirty campaign. It's our hope that the points of contention
are legitimate points of contention and we stay away from the
personal smears." [politico.com, 12/21/07]
Pascoe's
credibility is also debatable, and his strong-arm tactics turn off
voters and media members alike.
Pascoe wrote, "Recognize that it is not your campaign's job to
tell the objective truth, it's your campaign's job to tell the
version of the truth that puts your opponent in the worst light
possible (it's his campaign's job, after all, to do the same to
you)." [Springfield Journal Register, 6/3/04]
Aurora Beacon News editor: Oberweis' consultant should be
"demoted, if not fired." Following the Republican debate on
January 15, 2008 for the special election in IL-14, Aurora Beacon
News managing editor Denise Crosby wrote, "Whatever high-priced
political consultant Oberweis hired to help him with this debate
should probably be demoted, if not fired. His strategy of
jumping straight out of the chute in attack mode backfired, to the
point of being downright embarrassing." [Aurora Beacon News,
1/16/08]
Oberweis Supporter Majority
Accountability Project Smears Foster
Oberweis supporters released a doctored
mailer on the Internet about Foster's role in Patrick Murphy's
Congressional campaign.
Foster did, in fact, campaign for Murphy and was an unpaid
staffer after Murphy's election.
The Majority Accountability Project (MAP)
calls itself independent while its website claims that it "is
devoted to exposing the Democratic majority's misdeeds."
"MAP aims to hold the Democrats' feet to the fire with the 'same
level of scrutiny' that Republicans received during their
reign...MAP plans to 'conduct its own investigative stories not
being done by the mainstream media or the liberal-dominated Internet
news services.'" [National Journal, 4/28/07]
MAP was
founded in 2007 by former National Republican Campaign Committee and
Republican congressional staffers responsible for attacks that third
parties and even Republicans criticized as the work of "a rogue
attack shop," responsible for "over-the-top accusations" and
"demonstrably false" and "misleading" attacks.
After its many blunders in 2006, Republican candidates blamed
their losses on the NRCC for its attacks, which were called
"misleading at best, demonstrably false at worst." With the
release of their doctored image, MAP has already destroyed its own
credibility in the 14th District. But their false accusations
against Foster are nothing new -- accusations are their
specialty.
Even Republican candidates depicted the NRCC as "a
rogue attack-ad shop" that encouraged "over-the-top accusations."
From the Boston Globe:
One advertisement accused the rival candidate of billing
taxpayers for a call to a phone-sex line. One alleged that a
candidate "fixed" his daughter's speeding tickets. Still others
stated that a candidate endorsed a "coffee talk with the Taliban,"
and that another was supported by the Communist Party. Each charge
was misleading at best, demonstrably false at worst...
Now,
four months after Republicans lost control of Congress, many of
their former candidates are calling for major changes at the NRCC.
They depict the committee as a rogue attack-ad shop that shielded
party leaders from having to account for the claims in their ads -
encouraging over-the-top accusations that often hurt GOP candidates.
[Boston Globe, 3/04/07]
Heavily Bankrolled
Group Freedom's Watch is Unaccountable, Uses Negative
Advertising
Freedom's Watch is 501 (c) (4) organization
that acts as an advocacy group for conservative causes. The
organization was co-founded by former Bush administration official
Ari Fleisher and is heavily backed by casino magnate Sheldon
Adelson, who in 2007 Forbes Magazine called the sixth wealthiest
person in the world. It has a large bankroll, and uses its money to
sway races through negative advertising for which nobody can be held
accountable.
Various media reports puts the group's
expected spending on 2008 House, Senate and presidential races
between $200-250 million. By comparison, the DCCC and NRCC have $31
million and $2.3 million respectively. In 2004, MoveOn.org spent $21
million, and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth spent $22 million.
Freedom's Watch has just started to use
its bankroll in an attempt to influence public opinion. It spent $15
million in summer 2007 for a 22-state ad blitz supporting the troop
surge. For the Ohio 5th Congressional District race (Bob Latta vs.
Robin Weirauch) in December, FW spent an estimated more than
$100,000 in television advertising depicting immigrants sneaking
under fences "while accusing Weirauch and 'liberals in
Congress' of supporting free health care for illegal immigrants."
Weirauch lost 57-43 percent.
Freedom's Watch has already
shown acumen in targeting its production and ad purchases to
on-the-fence rural races. An added bonus to rural areas already
trending conservative is that TV airtime and full-page ad space is
cheap.
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