Kitchens press release on Smith robocalls
Campaign responds to underhanded robocalls
With less than 72 hours left until election day, supporters of Jim Smith resorted to dirty political tricks aimed at dividing the electorate with fear.
A number of white voters called members of the Jim Kitchens campaign Saturday to report they had received robocalls in which the supposedly black male caller identified himself as Jason Cooper. The caller then went on to ask the recipient of the call to vote first for Barack Obama and then for “Democrat Jim Kitchens”.
All of those who contacted the Kitchens campaign were historically Republican voters.
“Jim Smith and his supporters are not only trying to identify him as a Republican, they are using dirty, underhanded tricks to scare white, Republican voters away from voting for Kitchens,” said Sam Hall, campaign manager for Jim Kitchens. “These are the same kind of tricks George Bush used against John McCain in 2000 and McCain used against Mitt Romney this year. They are designed to mislead and scare people.”
Hall said the campaign responded with a call of its own.
“We are telling people that Jim Kitchens will not politicize this race. Judicial races are non-partisan for a reason: because the law should apply to everyone, equally, regardless of their political persuasion,” Hall said. “Jim Smith should know better. Jim Kitchens does.”
The pro-Smith robocalls follow two rounds of push polls designed to spread negative, misleading attacks against Jim Kitchens under the guise of “polling”. The first round took place in the summer. The latest round took place two weeks ago.
“Jim Smith talks about leading with integrity, but if he had the integrity of which he speaks he would stand up and denounce these dirty tricks,” Hall said. “The truth is, the only thing Jim Smith cares about is getting re-elected. His actions speak to that, regardless of what he says on the campaign trail.”
FOLO
11/3/8
Magnolia Tribune
