* The rhetoric in the 14th Congressional district Republican primary is going way over the top. From a Jim Oberweis press release…
“When is career politician Chris Lauzen going to ‘man up’ and come clean with the voters of the 14th District regarding his recent announcement that he plans to return $100,000 in tainted campaign contributions he took, over a period of ten years, from a convicted felon and the firm he heads?
“Two weeks ago, Mr. Lauzen announced he was going to give back $100,000 in tainted campaign cash,” said Pascoe. “He claimed then that while he previously knew of the donor’s own criminal conviction, he was unaware of the ethical and legal concerns surrounding the donor’s company — and, in fact, remained unaware until he recently got an email from 15 businessmen who laid out the company’s ongoing troubles.
“Sadly, this statement does not square with the facts as publicly known. On December 27, 2007 — five days after Mr. Lauzen’s announcement was first reported in the Beacon News — the Beacon News revealed that, contrary to Mr. Lauzen’s assertions, he had been made aware of his donor’s company’s legal troubles almost TWO YEARS EARLIER than he had acknowledged.
“Mr. Lauzen’s announcement, as we pointed out before Christmas, raises more questions than it answers. This new information revealing that Mr. Lauzen was publicly upbraided almost two years ago for taking this tainted money raises the bar even further. Mr. Lauzen should release the email he claims he received from the 15 businessmen, and should come clean by revealing now exactly what he knew and when he knew about his donor’s troubled past - and what has changed between now and almost two years ago, when he first was made aware?
* To which Lauzen replied…
“Jim, you’ve left me no choice but to respond to your campaign’s negative attacks. From now on, I will not sit idly by and allow you to mislead the voters.
“The voters only need to look at Team Oberweis’ campaign rhetoric and public statements to realize full well that Jim is ignoring Denny Hastert’s desire to have his endorsed candidate run a positive campaign. In fact, it is rather difficult to find anything but scathing attacks on me that have nothing to do with the issues. […]
“Jim, to quote your political mercenary, it’s time for you to ‘man up’ and gain control of your campaign. Stop hiding behind your attack-dog consultants and let the voters figure out who is most ready and prepared to lead. If you are unable or unwilling to confront me yourself, say so and explain why.”
* So far, the back and forth has generated little to no earned media and the candidates aren’t taking this message to the voters via their paid media…
Some of Oberweis’ and Lauzen’s attacks on each other are the same, down to the capitalization in the press releases. An Oct. 30 press release from Oberweis called Lauzen part of “the Establishment Insiders.” A Dec. 13 Lauzen press release said Oberweis was trying to buy “Insider Establishment clout.”
Whether the “Establishment Insiders” or the “Insider Establishment” are attacks that will resonate with the voters is to be seen. Those messages are not being presented directly to the voters, but to the news media.
The four TV commercials that Oberweis has broadcast deal with immigration, finances, the Oberweis family dairy, and Midwestern values. None of them reference Lauzen or any other candidate.
Likewise, Lauzen plans commercials based on his platform, not attacks.
“The theme … [is] about integrity, service and a philosophy that there ought to be limits on government, a person that will not enrich himself and his family on his service,” Lauzen said.
* Lauzen has clearly developed more detailed issue positions than Oberweis, and Lauzen was recently endorsed by former US Sen. Peter Fitzgerald. The big question remains how much of his own money that Oberweis will spend and whether he can get away with these attacks without attracting the notice of too many voters.
* But Lauzen is famous for his ground game…
Early reports are that between 500 and 600 grassroots supporters of State Senator Chris Lauzen jammed into the Aurora Christian High School where they were energized to knock on doors and get Lauzen supporters to the polls February 5.
* Meanwhile, Democrats are taking notice…
Lets hope they beat the crap out of each other and that things get really really nasty.
This should be lots of fun to watch.