Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Will Tully Talk About Actual Negative Campaigning?

I apologize in advance for the weird formatting at the end. I have no idea what happened.

The Indianapolis Star
's political columnist Matthew Tully has once again written a column lamenting about all the horrible negative campaigning coming from the Melina Kennedy campaign. Maybe it's just me, but I don't count talking about your opponent's record and actions as "negative". I know Tully thinks that Deputy Mayor Michael Huber is practically the Second Coming, and I like Huber as well. But come on, the Kennedy camp are raising what they believe to be valid points. Instead of just casually dismissing the criticism with a "Come on, he's a good guy! Trust me!", maybe Tully should explain why the criticism is without merit?

Or maybe he could investigate into some ACTUAL negative campaigning, such as what is being done by the state Democratic party on behalf of the Kostas Poulakidas council campaign? It's no secret that Poulakidas, with the help of his campaign chairman Kip Tew, has been a very successful fundraiser. So if I was someone who say, had a job at some type of media organization, and had the time and resources that a media organization would bring to the table, here are the questions I would be asking:

  • Has Poulakidas, the county Democrats, or the state Democrats made a public statement on the negative campaigning? If not, try to get one.
  • Why are the state Democrats involving themselves this deeply in a district council race? Yes, I'm aware that it's pretty common for the state parties to pay for mailers or commercials, but this seems like an unusual level of involvement.
  • Has there been any transfer of funds from one campaign/political party arm to another to cover the cost of these direct mail negative pieces? After all, direct mail isn't cheap, especially if you want it to arrive on a certain day.

On another note, where in the world has Marion County GOP Chairman Kyle C. Walker been in on this? Christine Scales, Poulakidas' opponent in November's election, posted about the negative attack on her Facebook page on October 21. And still we've heard nothing from Walker to defend his party's candidate. And to the people active in the county GOP, I should remind you that Walker is drawing a salary as chairman. Bang for your buck, right?

Eric Holcomb, chairman of the Indiana Republican Party, easily does Walker's job , and does it quite well. In a press release, he ties the negative campaigning of Democrats in the Indianapolis council race into recent federal indictments on voter fraud:

Today, Indiana Republican Party Chairman Eric Holcomb demanded to know who was behind a mailer sent to residents of Indianapolis’ 4th City-County Council District in the form of a postcard from Florida purported to be from Republican Councillor Christine Scales. The postcard included a note that looked like Scales had written it herself meant to confuse and mislead voters in her district. Following the news that hundreds of signatures on nominating petitions were forged in St. Joseph County in 2008, this is yet another documented episode of Indiana Democrats caught forging the signatures and writing of individuals for their own political gain.

“You’d think the Indiana Democrat Party had learned its lesson that forgery is a crime. Obviously not,” said Chairman Holcomb. “It seems Indiana Democrats’ forgery operation has expanded to campaign mailers. So now we need to know: who’s accountable for this latest stunt? Did Chairman Dan Parker sign off on this deceptive and fraudulent mail piece?”

Holcomb added, “We have yet another example of why it’s time for the Indiana Democrat Party to clean house. Their belief that the ends justify the means is just plain wrong. In the Indiana Democrat Party’s Culture of Corruption, defrauding and misleading Hoosiers voters is the name of the game. The buck has got to stop with someone, but who?” — Indiana Republican Party


If I was Republican right now within Marion County, I'd consider having a serious talk with Chairman Holcomb about the need to clean house within the Marion County GOP leadership.


UPDATE: Over on Ruth Holladay's blog, I noted how the Star will often dismiss stories it doesn't
want to report on by either condensing it into a portion of their gossip column, Behind Closed
Doors or with Tully casually dismissing it in one of his columns. Maybe this tweet is a preview
of his next column?

8 comments:

  1. wow...have you guys never heard of satire? the postcards are satire...anyone looking at them could tell they are not from her for gosh sakes...they are making fun of her for being out of touch

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  2. Scales received several calls from constituents asking why she sent the postcard to them, mostly from elderly residents of the districts.

    And I could give you guys a very full list of out-of-touch councilors on both the Ds and Rs. Christine isn't one of them, and the support she's received from Democrats, Republicans, and independents in her district is a testament to that.

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  3. Tully goes ape over the Kennedy moderately negative ads on Ballard's records, yet has no problem with the Kostas postcard? The man has lost it.

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  4. Of course, Anon, the postcards don't actually prove she's out of touch at all. If you have evidence of that produce it. Don't send out fake post cards from Florida. The fact is Scales is one of the most hands on, independent minded councilors down there. Attacking her on this issue is absurd. She has stood up to a Mayor in her own party because he wanted to do things that weren't good for her constituents.

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  5. No. Christine's not out of touch. She is proudly unemployed but uses her own money to fly back from a "European itinerary" to cast a council vote (which is her only responsibility).

    Gimme a break.

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  6. Jennifer, you Dems can't honestly make the "she's an out-of-touch rich person" argument when you're running a guy whose job is a PARTNER at a large, successful law firm.

    And I guess it would've been alright if she just up and left, with no public statement, and hadn't been to council meetings in months? Democrats were pretty silent when a D council member did that

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  7. Student:

    When I was unemployed I didn't have the $$$ to go to Europe or get a last minute ticket back.

    I was on food stamps and had to borrow $$$ to get my electricity on.

    Scales is totally out of touch. I wish I hadn't voted for her last time and won't this time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Man, she's rich. How dare her! Let's vote all the richers out! By uh...voting for another rich guy?

    ReplyDelete

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