Yeah, Baby! Negative campaigning, two weeks early!
Posted on 8/19/2002, 11:33:47 PM by Saundra Duffy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 19, 2002
Simon Blasts Davis for Endangering Californians for Campaign Cash Calls on Governor to Return Metabolife Deadly Donations
SACRAMENTO - Gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon today said Gray Davis' decision not to warn Californians about the dangers of Metabolife, while accepting thousands in campaign contributions from the company, is disturbing testament to the governor's pay to play priorities.
Standing in front of the state's Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that years ago warned Davis of the potential dangers of Metabolife, Simon said the governor's latest pay to play scandal goes far beyond damaging the state's fiscal health.
"It's one thing when the governor's political favors waste taxpayers' money and plunge our state deeper into debt and deficits," Simon said. "But just like the Dioxin he allowed to be dumped into the San Francisco Bay, Gray Davis' favors for Metabolife just might be putting people's health and lives at risk."
Simon said that Davis' recent song-and-dance efforts to cover-up his "contributions first" policies failed to mention the governor's veto of legislation years ago that would have warned Californians about the drug's dangers.
"The state's own scientists in the Department of Health and Human Services were worried that this product could cause heart attacks, strokes and seizures," Simon said. "But after receiving $150,000 in campaign contributions, Gray Davis vetoed a bill that would have required a warning about Metabolife's dietary supplements. Now, two years later, crisis has hit and Governor Davis is doing what he always does: pointing fingers, fixing blame and searching for scapegoats. Well, the bucks stops with you, governor."
Simon said this was not the first time Davis had put Californian's health at risk. It was recently revealed that a government board, stacked with Davis appointees, reversed a previous decision and allowed a company to increase the amount of toxic chemicals dumped into the San Francisco Bay after a large contribution was made to the governor's campaign account. Simon said Davis should return contributions from both of these companies.
"Just over two weeks ago, I called on Gray Davis to give back the dirty money he received for letting a corporate polluter taint San Francisco's Bay. Today, I am demanding the governor return the deadly donations he received from pill-pushing a potentially dangerous product."
He is waiting only because he lacks the funds to start the attack today. Simon has promised President Bush that he will start using more of his own money to fund the campaign to start TV and radio ads. In addition, as this article states, the President will help raise some 3 million for the campaign. Davis is a very weak candidate and the only thing keeping him afloat is his large warchest and an opponent with his hands ties behind his back!
Me, too. Me, too. Davis has a lot of nerve, huh? (Davis is a WHORE.)
Yeah, Baby! Negative campaigning, two weeks early!
Just as long as it doesn't turn out that he was involved in the Metabolife thing, he could get some traction on this.
Though this is only a press release that I doubt the Times will pick up, at least it's a start. With Bush in town and talk of him opening his own coffers, Simon is licked yet!
Too little. Too late. GWB has predicated his campaign hopes on not needing California to win re-election. It worked in 2000, and there's no reason it won't work in 2004.
Besides which, we're discounting the inevitable 11th hour revelation from the Davis campaign that Simon is really a Nazi camp guard, or some such last-second smear campaign. This news should break about two days before election day.
The RATS are predictable, but they are effective.
I think so.
This can be a very good strategy. A few years ago, Alphonse D'Amato spent tons early in his campaign and ran very, very good radio ads. They were targeted toward women - - all the good things he did for breast cancer victims, etc. Smooth, sentimental fluff that women usually eat up. Everything was positive, with testimonials from women all over the great state of New York thanking Senator D'Amato for all that he did. I mean, I thought these ads alone would wrap it up for him. But Chuckie came to the party late with a big, smearing ad campaign and ended up winning the Senate seat in NY, likely with a lot of vote fraud and union thug-help from Harold Ickes.
I hope Simon comes out with both barrels blazing in the last three or four weeks of the campaign. In the meantime, he should just throw stuff out there to keep the incumbent Davis on the defensive. And he should be careful not to take any bait - - ignore Davis' attacks and respond only with fresh attacks of his own on Davis, like these in the article.
GO SIMON!
Most folks are still in summer-time mode, and won't pay attention to politics until Labor Day at the earliest.
Sorry for the rant, I know this isn't the real issue here. But Simon's willingness to use this as a basis for an attack causes me to wonder what his feelings are on one of my most important issues: Health Freedom. Can any Simon supports alleviate my concern?
Go back to DU, liberal commie disruptor!!!!!!!
hey, someone was gonna say it anyway :-P
Believe it or not, the LA Times had this story, big time, (albeit on Saturday) on page A1. The article continued on to full page A20.
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