Posted on 08/19/2002 9:31:24 PM PDT by Shermy
By BILL TORPY and MELANIE EVERSLEY
Residents of the 4th Congressional District were bombarded with misleading recorded telephone messages as the race entered its final hours.
Some were from U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney's campaign, which recycled recorded endorsements of celebrities that were made for McKinney's earlier re-election races. Robert Redford's spokeswoman called it "inappropriate," and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young called it "a fudge."
And on Monday, voters in the district received recorded calls from an unidentified source urging Republicans not to cross over to vote in the Democratic primary today. The message implied it would be illegal for them to do so -- not the case in Georgia.
The McKinney campaign's message, included with recorded endorsements by former basketball star Magic Johnson and former President Bill Clinton, played to thousands of homes in the 4th Congressional District last weekend. Young did not record the endorsement this year and said in an interview Monday he told the campaigns of McKinney and challenger Denise Majette that he was going to sit this primary election out.
"I really didn't want to get involved," Young said. "I admire Cynthia and her outspokenness and strength, but I also admire Denise."
Young said he has not said anything to the McKinney campaign about the old tape. "I'll just let it slide," he said.
State Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta), McKinney's re-election chairman, was surprised to hear Young was not endorsing the congresswoman. "I am baffled; I thought Andy Young was still with us," said Brooks, who said the media coordinator must have pulled a tape from a previous campaign from the archives.
Later, Brooks called back to say, "Cynthia told me she had personally spoken to Andrew Young, who gave the campaign permission to use the old material and that he'd stand by anything he recorded."
Redford's political consultant, Joyce Deep, said the actor made a one-time use endorsement of McKinney in a previous election, to be used only in radio ads. "It would be inappropriate for them to use Robert Redford's voice in this election," she said.
Representatives of Magic Johnson could not be reached for comment Monday. Clinton representatives said that he did not record an ad for McKinney for this campaign.
Bob Dallas, 4th District chairman for the Republican Party, speculated that the phone message discouraging voters from crossing over and voting Democratic could have been generated by either the McKinney camp or a Republican candidate.
McKinney spokesperson Dana Mott said Monday night the candidate "doesn't have any knowledge about the phone message; it's not anything that anybody here is aware of."
Endorsements also made news in metro Atlanta's other nationally watched congressional race, in the northern suburbs' 7th District.
In the heated contest between Republican incumbents Bob Barr and John Linder, the Linder campaign issued a statement Monday saying that two GOP colleagues, Reps. Jack Kingston and Mac Collins, had endorsed Linder.
According to the statement, both congressmen based their decision on Barr's "false attacks" on Linder.
"Bob Barr has accused John Linder of supporting the gay agenda, being soft on gun issues, abortion and other things important to conservatives," the statement read, quoting the congressmen. "We are here to tell you these things are absolutely untrue."
But the endorsement was accompanied by some confusion. Kingston spokesman Rob Asbell issued a statement saying that Monday Kingston told Linder he supported his conservative voting record on abortion and gun rights. "We can see where Congressman Linder got the idea that he had received an endorsement, and we are leaving it at that for now," Asbell said.
Barr spokesman Brian Walsh said Barr had also spoken to Kingston. "Congressman Barr spoke with Congressman Kingston earlier today, who told him personally that he was ... not endorsing either candidate," Walsh said.
Staff Writer Jeffry Scott contributed to this report.
"....
Polling Stations Armed With Lawyers
Both campaigns have hired lawyers to protect their prospective constituents for Tuesday’s vote. The increased vigilance comes as the result of a controversy two years ago.
In that controversy at DeKalb County’s Stoneview Elementary School, the McKinney campaign charged voters were kept out, though they were on line at closing time.
Congresswoman McKinney and her father were accused of campaigning inside the polling place.
They eventually signed a consent order, denying any wrongdoing and no sanctions were imposed. Both sides insist they expect no problems this time but both say they’ll protect the right to vote.
“That is something we will be monitoring at every precinct,” said McKinney attorney Dwight Thomas.
“We don't want people exerting undue influence over voters or trying to threaten them or harass them,” said Michaeleen Crowell, a Majette attorney.
DeKalb County Elections Director Linda Latimore has tried to head-off problems before they happen, “We have hired people to monitor the outside of the precincts for campaign signs and all different things that causes problems in itself right there,” she said.
Election officials said they have learned the lessons of Stoneview. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office said they will have extra monitors at DeKalb polling places.
Voters Receive Mysterious Message
11Alive News received dozens of calls from Fourth District residents Monday night who got the following recorded election message:
“This is an official notice for Republican voters. It is a violation of state and federal law to attempt to vote in a Democratic primary without proper documentation. State and federal enforcement officials will be monitoring polling places closely tomorrow for violations of the law. Do not risk violating the law by trying to vote in a Democratic primary without the proper documents. Go to www.sos.state.ga.us for information about Georgia voting law.”
The race is an open primary and Georgia does not have registration. Therefore, any voter can vote in either the Democratic or the Republican party as long proper identification is available.
11Alive News could not confirm who was responsible for the calls.
The primary is scheduled for August 20.
Is that the same as a lie?
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I'd like to thank each of you who has made efforts to defeat this bigoted witch- we will not know how much our efforts have done, but even if we don't defeat her, we surely have scared her badly. I like scared politicians...
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