Sunday, March 02, 2008

Dems Run Dirtiest Campaign In Indianapolis History Against Elrod

Republican Jon Elrod has finally gotten his dander up about what is by far the most negative and the dirtiest campaign ever run against a candidate for any office in recent history in Indianapolis. Every conceivable negative tactic used in modern day campaigning is being deployed by the Democrats and the campaign of Andre Carson against the underfunded Elrod. At least two-thirds of the money is coming from the DCCC and out-of-state special interests. The Carson campaign, for all practical purposes, is being run out of D.C., including the media buys, the battery of phone banks, and the canvassing on the ground where so-called volunteers are being paid $50 a day to go door-to-door. Elrod shared his frustration with the negative campaign in an opinion piece each of the 7th District candidates were allowed to offer in today's Star:

You learn to shrug off the dirty tricks with amusement. Before I even announced my candidacy, the spokesperson for the Indiana Democrat Party purchased the Internet domain name "elrodforcongress.com." Next came the spying. Later began the radio commercials targeted at scaring senior citizens, the biting push polls that pretend to be objective and the negative Internet commercials.

It's not a shame to lose an election. It's a shame to serve the wrong ideas. It's a shame to engage in fear-and-smear tactics rather than rationally debate the issues. It's a shame to run an ugly campaign that lowers voter turnout. Unfortunately, this is politics as usual.

I've heard from numerous people, mostly Democrats, who have complained about the large volume of negative mail pieces they are receiving in the mail from the Democrats trashing Jon Elrod. One person complained of receiving 7 different mail pieces on the very same day, mostly attacking Elrod. Others slammed their phoned down angrily after receiving push telephone calls from the Democrats, which repeated false and misleading information about Elrod's position on the issues. These are the phone calls where the caller pretends to be with with an objective public opinion firm and says things like: "Would you be more or less likely to vote for Jon Elrod if you knew he supports abolishing social security and throwing all senior citizens into the street to fend for themselves?"

Sadly, our local news media is ignoring what's happening right under our noses. We have a person who has never run for competitive elective office before, who suddenly finds hundreds of thousands of dollars pouring into his campaign from out of state special interest groups who know nothing about the people of the 7th District or the candidates of either party. Yet, they are defining everything in this race about the candidates and the issues by saturating our air waves and mailboxes with false information about Elrod, while feeding us feel-good dribble about the underwhelming Carson.

In Carson's pitch in today's Star, he repeats the false claims our local news media will not take Carson to task on:

My opponent wants to privatize Social Security, turning a guaranteed benefit into a gamble. Under his privatization proposal, the benefits of 96,860 Hoosiers who depend on Social Security would be at the whim of the stock market. I have pledged to fight all efforts to privatize Social Security, and I will work to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, both today and for the long term.

This is a flat out lie. Anyone who has heard Elrod explain his ideas about social security know that Carson's claims are untrue. Elrod's top priority is to ensure the solvency of a plan that is broken and will run out of money unless we act in the near future. Elrod does not plan to privatize the social security senior citizens currently earn. What he is offering is a plan to allow younger workers to invest monies in private investment accounts for their future. Every objective analysis of this plan shows that younger workers would be able to retire on benefits several times larger than what they would be offered under the current social security plan. This concept is completely foreign to Carson because he's spent much of his adult life on a government payroll thanks to jobs his grandmother pulled strings to get him. Carson suggests privatization is just another vacation for a corporate CEO. It's actually a good description of Carson's current job, which he took after becoming a member of the Indianapolis City-County Council six months ago, and which seems to allow him all the time off he needs to campaign every day. He serves as a marketing rep for an engineering firm which has a lot of contracts with government. But for the privatization of the work performed by his company on behalf of government, Carson would have no job. Carson won't tell you what his plans are for social security, but I will. He wants to increase the payroll taxes employers and employees must pay to fund the system, which already surpasses 15% of the employee's wages. That's what has to occur if an alternative plan such as proposed by Elrod is not enacted. The only other choice is to cut benefits.

As Elrod explains in his column today, Carson's campaign is just "politics as usual." Partisan brinkmanship and gotcha politics is what Carson represents. "A candidate for change will have a record of reaching across the aisle, embracing creative solutions and focusing on priorities," Elrod writes. "He will thoughtfully address the issues, rather than offer knee-jerk, partisan talking points." "Change is blazing a new path, not promising to do the same as the last two predecessors." Carson promises nothing more than the same his grandmother gave us. Her record produced not a single legislative accomplishment in the more than a decade she served in Congress, and she had many years of experience as a state legislator and a township trustee before she went to Congress. Is there any reason to believe a career government employee with six months experience as an appointed city councilor will do any better?

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

I got one of those phone calls the other night. I sat there in disbelief listening to what the caller had to say. If the experts out in D.C. think people are going to be more likely to vote for Andre Carson after receiving that kind of a phone call, they better fire their experts and hire some new ones who have some common sense.

Anonymous said...

Those illustrations of the candidates by Angela Edwards were horrible. Couldn't the Star find a high school art student who could do a better job?

Anonymous said...

I don't like any of the candidates in this race and don't even live in the district any more. But, if Elrod really wants to be the Congress-critter from Indianapolis, I think he is going to have to develop a thicker skin. There is this game called "politics". It ain't for the faint of heart.

Anonymous said...

What happened to the fact checking stories the Star and WTHR used to do on candidates' ads? A candidate purchases a bunch of ads from them and they check their objective analysis at the door.

Anonymous said...

Julia would have been doing the same thing if she was dying of cancer during the last campaign, but then again, she had the dumpster diving whoring for her.

Anonymous said...

News stations don't screen political ads for the accuracy of their claims. They have never done that and that is something they should never start doing. You're confusing political advertising with political reporting.

Jon E. Easter said...

Wow! Short memories! If you think pointing out differences in policy such as Elrod's views on social security is negative campaigning, what do you think of the campaigns waged against and using the late Julia Carson? Remember Tom Schneider's flyer? That's negative campaigning.

"What he is offering is a plan to allow younger workers to invest monies in private investment accounts for their future." That's privatizing social security. It will be just another example of the Republicans selling out our government. Pretty soon Dubai and China will want a cut if this is allowed to happen! That's not fear...it's fact.

Gary R. Welsh said...

jon easter, Perhaps you've forgotten the DCCC ad from Julia's last campaign which was mailed to white voters portraying her black male opponent as a crazed wife beater. The Schneider ad was attacked because it used a black & white photo of Carson. Guess what, Julia used a black & white photo of Dickerson. The whole purpose of the mailer was to play on the worst stereotypes of the black male to scare white voters away from voting for him. And anon. 1:08, the fact checking by the local media of campaign ads was a function of their political news reporting--something they have completely abrogated in this election.

Vox Populi said...

I never understood why Tom Schneider, my then-mayor, used Julia Carson in a flyer in the first place. Wasn't he running for Sheriff? He was a total douche-bag who looted our city and was a sincere racist.

Gary R. Welsh said...

One other point, Jon Easter, in case you had noticed it, our country is already at the mercy of foreign capital from places like Dubai and China. Get used to it. The terrorists no longer have to carry out an attack on U.S. soil to harm us. If they can cause foreign capital to be pulled out of our country, they can bring our whole economy crashing down worse than the Great Depression.

DannyHipReplacement said...

Don't forget about the jewlery dealer Gary "what the hell" he used every dirty trick on Julia!

Sorry John the Elrod move to Carmel and take on Dan Burton!

SatanManning666
(Shout at the El Diablo!)

Jon E. Easter said...

I guess my grander point in all of this is that negative campaigning is not pointing out policy differences.

If Elrod thinks all of this is bad, then he isn't ready to be in Congress, in my opinion. That's all I'm saying. It CAN get a lot worse.

Elrod seems like a nice enough guy, but this isn't a Center Township Board or State Rep. race. You are responsible for what you say and do. Elrod stated publicly that he wants to allow at least partial privatization in social security. This is a difference in policy between himself and Carson.

Don't call this the dirtiest campaign in Indianapolis history, though. This one doesn't scratch the surface.

Anonymous said...

John Easter, please stop drinking the Carson koolaid. Stick to issues in Decatur where you belong.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't be more disappointed the party I've long supported, the late Congresswoman included, with my money and my election day time nominated Andre. This Democrat is voting for Elrod, and for David O in the primary.

But "Diretiest Campaign in Indianapolis History??" No.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Carson said, "Under his privatization proposal, the benefits of 96,860 Hoosiers who depend on Social Security would be at the whim of the stock market."

Elrod's proposal does no such thing to the system's current beneficiaries. It doesn't touch them and Carson knows it (or maybe I should'nt assume he's capable of understanding that). Only workers under the age of 50 will have the opportunity to opt in to a different system with safeguards to ensure revenues to fund current retirees benefits while providing even larger benefits for future, younger retirees.

Anonymous said...

1:48, when those markers get called in by the totalitarian and communist banking interests our government has sold our T bonds it will just about be the time our military begins WWIII.
There IS a reason we maintain the stongest army on earth.
The time unfortunately is quickly approaching as the dollar continues to erode.
Listn to those sabres rattling.

Anonymous said...

Privatization or even partial privatization of SS is not going to happen. Why?
The only group of people that mismanage their money worse than the government is the American people themselves.
90% of Americans have no business in the stock market with their retirements savings.
When those private retirement investment accounts go south who do you think those people will look to to bail them out? You guessed it, the government.
I sure as hell don't want my kids to have to depend on the likes of Wall Street for retirement.
Take a look at your 401K lately?
Elrod needs to educate himself before he takes a idiot position like this one.
We donlt need another Ron Paul wannabe in Congress.

Anonymous said...

If Jon Elrod wants Andre Carson's crown he's going to have to take it from him because Andre sure as hell isn't going to hand it to him.

Anonymous said...

"Julia would have been doing the same thing if she was dying of cancer during the last campaign, but then again, she had the dumpster diving whoring for her."

Brilliant!!! I could not have said it better!!!

DannyHipReplacement said...

Who is the Dumpster Diving Whore?

Mayor Chunky goin thru the trash at all of the Chinese restaurants?

Shout at the Devil!

SatanManning666

Anonymous said...

WOW, Gary, I live in Elrod's house district, and the mail I've received is NOTHING like what I received from Elrod and the House Republican campaign committee last election.

Elrod (or his surrogates with the state House campaign) unloaded mail on Ed Mahern that was blatantly untrue, unfair, and downright ugly.

At least Carson is sending positive things supporting his campaign. All Elrod sent to win his campaign was negative stuff dissing on Ed Mahern. Now he knows how it feels ... it's bad for anyone on the receiving end.

I would feel somewhat sorry if he'd been an innocent candidate. But Elrod's did the EXACT same thing to a bigger degree less than 20 months ago. He deserves everything they're throwing at him and more, much more.

Anonymous said...

Dumpster Diving Whore will let you know who he is. He must be out taking pictures with no film in the camera again, this time of Andre since Julia is gone.

Gary R. Welsh said...

anon 6:40, You have Elrod confused with Brian Mahern's campaign, which accused Scott Keller among other things of being backed by a drug dealer, referring to one of the Carson's closest political supporters.

Anonymous said...

Gary - No, I'm absolutely not talking about the Mahern campaign against Keller. I live in Elrod's district, and he sent at least a dozen sleezy fliers about Ed Mahern.

I'm not a primary voter so I got them all, and the ones I'm getting from Andre Carson now might be bad, but they're nothing like what Elrod sent in '06.

Anonymous said...

why are people calling me saying they are and independent research firm but my caller id says neighbors for carson? i have received 5 of these calls in 3 days -- 3 yesterday alone?

the carson campaign is lying.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:04.

Show me your tools. You've got the wrong Mahern, and the wrong target: it was Keller being attacked by a Mahern, not Elrod attacking one.

jmbp

Anonymous said...

To 9:04, there's no way you received a dozen Jon Elrod flyers during the State Rep. race. There were three flyers (count that three) that were sent out from State Party that were comparison pieces. Jon's campaign in 06 didn't send out even six flyers total... that doesn't even make it HALF a dozen.

Anonymous said...

I have to laugh at all you people. The train wreck can't be stopped. I am personally fighting against Democrats by trying to derail any "property tax reform" which is going to benefit some of the most elite, rich, leftist in Marion County. Screw them. They decided to live in an urban cesspool, _they_ should be the ones paying for it. The rest of us in the 80 some counties who don't have sky high property taxes shouldn't have to bailout the multicultural swamp that is Marion County. Help turn Indianapolis into New Detroit. Tell your local elected hacks to kill the property tax bill. At a minimum, tell them that local income taxes, not sales taxes, should be raised to help off-set any funding reduction from property tax caps. If rich liberals want to live in Butler-Tarkington, Meridian-Kesler, or Downtown, let them pay their fair share.

Anonymous said...

I got a poll call from "Opinion Research" over the weekend. They asked for me by a particular part of my name, which lets me know where they got my name. I sensed what it was about, so, on question one, which was an Elrod-vs-Carson matchup, I said "Elrod."

To which the person responded:

"Would it interest you to know..."

And the diatribe was on. I looked at my caller ID, and it was "unavailable number."

Cowards.

Make your own determination who paid for the call. I already have.

Cowards.

Anonymous said...

9:04, try to contain your Andre enthusiasm with some facts.

I have rental property in Elrod's House district, and during the last legislative cycle, it was empty, but I had to retrieve the junk mail. Evidently the last tenant was just like you: not a primary voter. So he got everything, from both parties.

I went through all the political stuff. There was not one single piece of Elrod negative material. Not one.

I can recognize nasty political mailers. Ed Mahern could've used some...he sleep-walked through the campaign and damned near cost my party control of the House.

Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Anonymous said...

I take my Carson mail pieces, write the truth on them in sharpie markers, then leave them around watering holes.

Imagine what could happen if every person that wanted that dirty gang driven out of our town did the same.

They wouldn't fight so dirty if they weren't very afraid. You don't have to fight dirty to win and of course success feels much better and has meaning when you come by it fairly.