So far he’s been able to be aggressive in criticizing the other candidates and not get hit back. I wondered awhile back how this strategy will work out for him. If the following video is the first of things to come it looks like things are going to get really ugly.
Ouch. I wonder how effective it will be in the long run. Kevin Hall, the Des Moines Conservative Examiner, who “stumbled” upon this video lists the claims involved:
According the video, Rants’ 527 group, the Iowa Leadership Council, accepted the following special interest money in the past few years:
$212,500 – gambling interests
$153,000 – cigarette lobby
$ 85,200 – beer and wine industry
$ 73,500 – "Payday loan sharks"
$ 35,000 – low wage meatpackers
Hall states that Rants stated that he’ll “accept their numbers at face value.” He also said that the “luxury vacations” were in fact fundraising trips.
The Iowa Leadership Council’s stated purpose is:
The Iowa Leadership Council is an organization dedicated to expanding the general civic and economic welfare of the citizens of Iowa. The Council promotes conservative principles and engages in advocacy to improve the health, education, prosperity, safety, and overall quality of life for all Iowans.
I’d like to know what campaign or group is really behind this ad. I’m curious to know exactly how the producer of the video thinks this influenced Rants’ votes. This went to a PAC that he was involved in, and didn’t go to his campaign. Also some spin has gone describing these groups, and you obviously don’t get the full picture.
But that may not matter to some. I’m waiting for Michael Kiernan to send out a press release calling him a hypocrite. Right, like Iowa Democrats never take special interest money.
HT: The Bean Walker
Update: Jason Hancock emailed me a link to a story he wrote last year on 527s in Iowa, it’s good background reading for this.
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[...] I highlighted an attack video done alleging special interest contributions made to a 527 group that current Gubernatorial candidate, Representative Chris Rants (R-Sioux City) started. Rants sent Kevin Hall, who did the original article on this, an email in which very little of it was referenced in his article. Rants provided the entire email to Krusty Konservative at The Iowa Republican and I thought I should include it in its entirety: The video is a mixture of the accurate and inaccurate – both of which have been covered extensively in the main stream media. [...]
[...] is definitely seen as the idea guy in this race, but it is uncertain how much the video that tied him to special interest groups will come back to haunt him, even though he had a reasonable response. But, we haven’t [...]