In the Republican runoff to face down U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Augusta, state lawmaker and farmer Lee Anderson has created a manure storm with final-round TV ad accusing businessman Rick Allen of spreading, um, lies about him:
A quick transcript:
Narrator: Watch out. Rick Allen’s brought out the manure spreader. Allen’s lying, waging a negative campaign to distort Lee Anderson’s record. A wealthy government contractor, Rick Allen doesn’t want you to know he gave thousands to liberal Democrats, thousands more to support Obama’s failed stimulus, and even Democrat John Barrow.
Lee Anderson, the proven conservative who’s cut taxes, slashed spending and balanced budgets. Conservative. Republican. Lee Anderson for Congress.
The Augusta Chronicle takes up some of the charges that Anderson has made, on TV as well as through direct mail:
The mailer, which features “Rick Allen’s Democrat Dream Team” with photos of Charles “Champ” Walker, Barrow and President Obama, says Allen gave money to Democrats in hopes of securing lucrative government construction contracts.
It cites a Federal Elections Commission filing as the source of information about Allen’s donation to Barrow. The filing, accessible at FEC.gov, shows an April 11, 2006, donation of $250 to Barrow from “Richard E. Allen,” which is the name of an Augusta lawyer, although it lists the donor’s address as the Augusta home of Rick W. Allen, Anderson’s opponent.
In an e-mail Tuesday, Anderson’s political director, Scott Knittle, said “none of our materials ever referenced a donation from Rick E. Allen.”
The money instead came from Associated General Contractors, a political action committee in which Allen has held leadership roles in Georgia and made contributions.
In the weeks since the July primary, Anderson has waged his campaign chiefly through paid media. He’s refused all debates with Allen. Somebody will surely tell me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the state lawmaker has had a single encounter with a reporter since July 31.
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Stuart Rothenberg reports that the National Republican Congressional Committee isn’t waiting on Lee Anderson and Rick Allen to settle their differences. The NRCC’s TV attack on U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Augusta and three other targeted House Democrats begins tomorrow:
One spot, “Barack and John,” is aimed at Democratic Rep. John Barrow of Georgia. It is a straight Barrow-Obama ad, and includes audio from a 2008 radio spot in which then-candidate Obama urged district voters “to join me in supporting John Barrow for re-election.”
The new ad uses Obama’s name and image repeatedly in the spot, with Republicans clearly hoping to make the Congressional race little more than a referendum on the president.
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Maria Saporta of the Saporta Report on Thursday caught former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young offering up his analysis on the failure of the TSPLOST vote:
“We just didn’t do our homework,” Young said. “We made a mistake. They depended on the media. A lot of public relations people get a 15 percent kick-back. The more ads they put on TV, the more money they make. They don’t care whether it won or lost. You’ve got the commercialization of politics.”
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Two former lawmakers from south Georgia have been chosen to lead a panel that helps determine Georgia transportation policy. From the Associated Press:
State Transportation Board members elected Johnny Floyd of Cordele to a one-year term as chairman. Jay Shaw of Lakeland will be vice chairman. Both men spent long tenures in the Georgia General Assembly.
Their promotions come in the wake of most Georgia regions, including metro Atlanta, rejecting a sales tax hike that would have paid for $18 billion in transportation projects.
“We have our work cut out for us on this board and in this department,” Floyd said in a statement. “We need to hear what the voters were saying and work with Governor (Nathan) Deal … to make the most of the resources we have.”
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The AJC’s Politifact Georgia today takes a look at this statement from a NASCAR executive: “NASCAR fans are twice as likely as non-fans to serve in the military and 37 percent of active service members and veterans are NASCAR fans.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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