AZ-5 GOP race goes negative
By Evan Brown, PolitickerAZ.com ReporterDavid Schweikert is hammering back against an attack by his 5th Congressional District Republican primary rival, Susan Bitter Smith, after Bitter Smith put out a mailer attacking Schweikert's record as Maricopa County treasurer.
Tuesday morning, a hit piece from the Bitter Smith campaign showed up in mailboxes across the district saying Schweikert mismanaged the county's funds during his tenure as treasurer. Later that day, the Schweikert camp put out a robo-call refuting the charges and slamming Bitter Smith's "negative" tactics.
Brian Hummell, Bitter Smith's campaign manager, pointed to an audit of the treasurer's office from April 2007 to support his claim. The report stated that "some Treasurer’s Office actions conflict with uniform accounting practices and with State Statutes" by allowing its servicing bank "to extend credit beyond line of credit limits."
"What he did is not evidence of being conservative or evidence of strong fiscal management," said Brian Hummell, Bitter Smith's campaign manager. Hummell also said that Schweikert's actions as treasurer "resulted in two school districts being placed in receivership."
The Schweikert campaign shot back immediately, and within hours of seeing the Bitter Smith mailer had rolled out a robo-call attacking her tactics.
"Are you fed up with negative politics?" says a woman's voice in the call that the campaign estimates went out to between 20,000 and 40,000 numbers.
"In 2000, liberal Susan Bitter Smith was called 'Susan Gutter Smith' by the Arizona Republic for her dirty campaign tactics. Now Bitter Smith is back again, attacking strong conservative David Schweikert with more dirty politics and outright lies. Though we shouldn't be surprised: after all, Susan Bitter Smith isn't called 'Susan Gutter Smith' for nothing. Do we really want a liberal, tax-hiking lobbyist with the nickname 'Gutter Smith' representing us in Congress? Say no to 'Gutter Smith' and her dirty tricks campaign. Paid for by Schweikert for Congress."
Bill Connor, who manages Schweikert's campaign, explained that they were "fed up" with Bitter Smith's hits on Schweikert.
"We let a few things go," Connor said to PolitickerAZ.com. "However, once the rhetoric got ramped up to the point where it was distorting the record, we had to respond."
Connor said the claims by the Bitter Smith campaign were "libelous lies," and said, "The people of the district deserve to know that she stands for raising taxes and is pro-illegal alien."
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"I support Laura"
I will at least give you that Laura has some conservative credentials.. but all she does is lose races to democrats. She could not beat Mitchell before and then she could not beat the crazy left wingers Ablesar or Schapira...
I think it is time to give someone else who ALSO have conservative credentials a chance like Mark Anderson.
Let these 2 losers beat each
Let these 2 losers beat each other up. Out of the dust the true leader will arise. I know that our only hope to beat Harry is Laura Knaperek. She has an infallible record on all issues. She is the only true conservative running.
George of the Desert
Who really cares whether he is responsible for these tax hikes or not...
In the end he was endorsed by the AFL-CIO twice! Gets 75% of his money from out of state donors and Club for Growth and if he had not given himself 250k he would have negative 6k cash on hand.
He has no real support within CD-5... Its time to pick a new candidate.
And no I am not talking about Baby killer Gutter-Smith or Lobbyist "walking man" Ogsbury...
Susan Bitter is right up
Susan Bitter is right up there for idiot of the year award with Russell Pearce.
Not true
I happen to know there is NO WAY that a county Treasurer can be held responsible for school districts heading into receivership. That is a blatant distortion, if not an outright lie.
Two districts have gone into receivership because the administrators of those districts were incompetent and could not handle money properly. IT IS NOT the function of the Treasurer to manage the funds of any school district.
Blaming the Treasurer for a school district being placed in receivership is like blaming the bank because you wrote too many bad checks.
Robos may sound good but they don't work
1) Robos don't work. Green and Gerber (Yale) and PEW have clear evidence that they don't
2) We are doing something about robos.
These calls are an epidemic and are invading the privacy of All American Voters.
Our members are taking a stand and saying enough is enough at the National Political Do Not Contact Registry at StopPoliticalCalls.org.
Here is a quote from a member this morning:
"I find it very frustrating... I tend to get calls at the WORST time. I have a one year old daughter, and it NEVER fails that the phone will ring when I put her down for a nap or for bed. Also my vote is PRIVATE... so who do you think you are calling with a survey to find out who I am voting for!!! Stop calling me."
Regards,
Shaun Dakin
CEO and Founder
http://www.stoppoliticalcalls.org
Good to see
I am very glad to see that the Schweikert staff is posting on politicker... Good job P.meyers. My favorite part is how you claim the Schweikert mailer is drawing a contrast..
Is it part of your contrast to show that a picture of Gutter-Smith hiding behind a fence?
Lets be real it is a hit piece. Not that I really care both your boy I love labor Schweikert and baby killer Susan are closet liberals.
We need a real conservative to represent the GOP in CD-5 like Mark Anderson!
Another youtube vid without
Another youtube vid without attribution. Funny how the information is so stellar yet no one wants to take credit for it. Then again, that's what we've come to expect from people like Susan.
Union Man
I do find it interesting that David Schweikert had so much support for and from Big Labor when he was in the Arizona House.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt-m9Pdqmzc
GUTTER-SMITH...
Susan is probably the most evil, retched, despicable human being in AZ politics. I do not see how any decent person could ever justify supporting here pro "undocumented-worker", tax raising, baby killing agenda. She IS in-bed with Al-Qaeda, because she refuses to support FISA! If you do not want to keep this country safe from terrorists then in my book you are in bed with the terrorists. David Schweikert is a good man and the mailer that she sent out is full of untruths. Susan and here pleasantly-plump husband will do anything to win, even if that means breaking Reagan’s eleventh commandment; “Thou shall not speak I’ll of a fellow Republican.”
I saw Schweikert’s mailer and it was in no way a hit piece on Susan. I merely highlighted the difference between the two. At least he had the courage to have an entire side dedicated to promoting himself letting the voters know who was sending it. Susan Bitter-Smith is not the right person to send to Washington, she is cut from the same cloth that all of the other corrupted politicians back there are. Vote for Susan if you promote the killing of the innocent! Vote for Susan if you welcome illegal’s into our country! Vote for Susan if you approve of higher taxes! Vote for Susan if you support dirty campaigns.
As for me? Give me Schweikert, or give me death!
Of Course You Fail To Mention...
The numerous hit pieces sent by David's campaign, one calling Susan in bed with Al-Qaeda. Nice little omission.
Let me just say
I posted a comment just a couple hours ago saying we needed some real pieces about the AZ-5 race and I was immediately rewarded!
It is good to see politicker reads the comments people make on their articles.
Let these two "conservatives" beat each other up. That way Gutter-Smith can keep killing babies as a lobbyist and Schweikert can keep budding up to the AFL-CIO..
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