We had a lot of activity on the blog yesterday after I posted a few lines about Ron Gidwitz’s new TV ad. I figured it might be a good QOTD.
Here’s a roundup of the coverage with the question below.
· The Sun-Times proclaims “Gidwitz gives Topinka a venomous Valentine.”
“Judy Baar Topinka supports bigger government,” the narrator says in the 30-second spot. “More spending. More taxes. More debt.”
Topinka immediately fired off an angry letter to Gidwitz demanding he stop airing the commercials, calling them “reprehensible,” “dishonest” and “blatantly false.”
“He is misguided or he doesn’t understand or he is making a very grievous mistake,” Topinka told the Sun-Times.
Gidwitz campaign manager Joe Calomino said they have no plans to pull the commercial.
“The facts are the facts, and she’s wrong,” Calomino said.
There are facts and then there are political facts.
· “Gidwitz ad rips into Topinka’s record” writes the Daily Herald.
Gidwitz’s 30-second ad claims Topinka doubled spending in the treasurer’s office, sponsored a sales tax increase while a state senator and backed billions in new debt.
“Topinka. More of the same when it’s time for a change,†a male announcer’s voice says.
Topinka, who is the front-runner in polls while Gidwitz is running third, said her office has assumed more responsibilities than her predecessor, including the state’s lost-property program. Spending on regular operations has increased from just over $6 million to just under $8 million in her 11 years in office, aides said — far less than the double the ad claims.
“It’s dishonest. If he wants to hit me on something, hit me on something that exists. That is fair,†said Topinka, who started airing her own biographical TV spot Tuesday.
And the Tribune writes:
The ad, called “More,” suggests that Topinka would continue the kind of state government Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich has led.
The ad’s first claim is that Topinka “doubled spending” on her office.
While the number of people in the treasurer’s office has increased during Topinka’s tenure, so have the functions assigned to it in recent years.
Personnel records from the treasurer’s office show that 185 people work for Topinka, compared with 141 in 1995 when she took office.
Her campaign said the additional employees were from other state departments that had duties moved into the treasurer’s office. When compared directly, campaign aides contend she has actually reduced staff.
The question is, what do you think of all this? Will the ad backfire? Will it work?