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Was Bridgewater behind the nasty mailing that cost Mike Lee an outright victory?

Why are they not responding?

By: Tabitha Hale (Diary)  |  June 14th, 2010 at 04:30 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Via FreedomWorks:

Nearly two weeks ago, The Salt Lake Tribune broke a story about a controversial mailing that may have cost Republican Senate Candidate Mike Lee an outright victory for the nomination at the recent state party convention.

The mailing, sent to Republican Convention Delegates who would soon be selecting the party nominee for U.S. Senate, used LDS temple imagery (a veritable taboo in Utah politics) and popular LDS phrases to attack Republican Senate incumbent Bob Bennett, while seeming to support Mike Lee. The Lee campaign had nothing to do with the piece, yet it is clear that its dual-purpose was to first, offend recipients and second, lead them to believe that it had indeed come from the Lee campaign.

Back story after the jump.

At the end of May – just before the May 8th GOP Convention in Utah, a nasty mailer came out purportedly supporting Mike Lee and disparaging incumbent Bob Bennett with the use of popular LDS phrases and an image of a temple. To put it in perspective, 90% of the delegates identify as Mormon… so this is incredibly damaging.

The clear victim, as the Salt Lake Tribune alludes, is Mike Lee. It was designed to look like it had come from the Lee campaign, who categorically denies that they sent the flier. Anyone who is looking at this seriously and understands the damage done to the campaign would realize that it didn’t come from him. And obviously Bennett isn’t going to release literature blasting himself.

Which leaves Bridgewater’s camp.

So, did Bridgewater send this out? It’s murky, that’s for sure. If he didn’t, why won’t he say so? As Russ Walker says “Utah voters want this Senate race to be an honest debate on the issues. They don’t deserve to have the integrity of this election hijacked by political hacks bent on engaging in deceptive tactics.”

Be up front, Bridgewater. Don’t muddy the water. Your silence speaks volumes.

COMMENTS

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  • mattmillburn

    How many articles will be found on RedState that make false accusations against Bridgewater and will be in the form of a question in the headline? Time to move on to the next accusation now that this one has been proven wrong. Don’t worry Bridgewater won’t be able to disprove everything, just keep throwing stuff out there and people will believe some of it. http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_15297267?source=rss

  • utah_cares

    Tim Bridgewater

    I have watched Tim for over a year, and I believe he is the best US Senate candidate in the primary. Tim’s attitude and methods and his actions have impressed me. Words alone are not enough.

    I was surprised and appalled at two “comparison” flyers printed since the convention by the Lee camp. (Has their name on it any everything) Not only were the ads of questionable accuracy, they totally contradict what Lee has been saying he would do and say during his campaign.

    Lee also seems to be very quiet lately on the recent attack radio ads by Common Sense Issues, who went after Mitt Romney in favor of Huckabee with push polling, Where is his outrage over the deceptive ads Freedomworks and Jim DeMint are running, or are they getting their message from Lee’s camp?

    That those that are endorsing Lee are trying to smear Bridgewater with and use for fundraising for Lee, the “temple” flyer is pretty low.

    The group that went after Lee prior to convention also went after Bridgewater with “polling” as well.

    The fact that Cherilyn Eagar endorsed Tim Bridgewater, and Bob Bennett endorsed Bridgewater, in my mind, has more to do with how the Bridgewater campaign treated those two campaigns with greater respect than Eagar and Bennett agreeing with Bridgewater on issues.

    Bridgewater has my vote.

  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    That’s not really happening anywhere, best as I can tell. I don’t see any reason why I would expect that to change.

  • Flagstaff

    Fiorina intend to try the “issues” approach. Carly used it very effectively on Sunday.

  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    I know their opponents aren’t, which makes it even harder. But then, even Carly had to apologize for a non-issue comment. Here in CO both candidates have gone in the gutter and I don’t see it improving any time soon.

  • laststand

    As a state delegate I saw the flyer, and knew it ha to be sent out by someone else, but talked to many delegates who thought it was real, and did not like it. I quickly called Mike Lee’s campaign and they said of course it was not real, and they were abhorred by it. It was dirty politics at it’s finest.

    Well if anyone noticed, I have seen this same scenario play out again this last week against Mike. A fake robo call that diid the same type of thing. Initially I would not point fingers, but now it is only Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater. Obviously happing twice, it shows how Tim Bridgewater plays, Dirty.

  • Flagstaff

    as well as that kind of thing can be handled. She said,

    FIORINA: …I gave people the opportunity to talk about something petty and superficial. And this is a very serious election year about serious issues.

    WALLACE: Well, we’re going to get to that in a second, but I do want to ask, have you called Senator Boxer to apologize and say, “Let’s not talk about petty and superficial things?”

    FIORINA: You know, what I think I owe the voters is a commitment to stay focused on facts, on issues and on the things that really matter, and I will keep that commitment to the voters.

    And then she talked about the issues. I haven’t been a Fiorina fan, but we need people who can handle irritating questions by turning them to our advantage. The ability to speak well is as important as the knowledge of what is right.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    First off, I’m not voting for Bennett Lite and have asked others to cast their ballot for Mike Lee in this race.

    It certainly looks bad on Bridgewater’s part not to outright deny his campaign had any part in the flyer, but let’s not forget that during the primary race there was at least one other viable candidate and that there was no love lost between that candidate and Lee.

    I can’t speak to the robo-call, I haven’t received one and don’t know the contents of said call.

  • utah_cares

    http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_15297267

    Tim Stewart, who spent seven years as a legislative aide for Bennett and now is a lobbyist and founder of the group Saddle PAC, coordinated the mailer with a pair of D.C.-area consulting firms, according to e-mails and invoices provided to The Salt Lake Tribune.

    http://www.sltrib.com/D=g/ci_15035047

    Phone calls went out to rural delegates who, if they identified themselves as Bridgewater supporters, were asked if they knew he was a lobbyist who worked to get federal stimulus money for businesses, Bridgewater’s campaign said.

    Saddle PAC, a political action committee, was behind those calls, though its director Tim Stewart, a former Bennett staffer, says the effort wasn’t a push-poll or an attack, but an effort to raise Bennett’s profile on public lands and energy issues.

  • mattmillburn

    There is no evidence that Bridgewater sent this mailer. As for why he has not said so, it’s probably because nobody has been accusing him of doing so. I do not think it is reasonable to expect a candidate to have to defend themselves against every crime that is committed. Ask Bridgewater if he sent the mailer, he’ll say no and then you could no longer complain about his silence.

    The mailer was paid for by Jordan Karp of Precision Strategies located in Alexandria, Virginia. http://blogs.sltrib.com/utpolitics/index.php?p=16815&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 Jordan Karp’s political donations are 100% to democrats. http://www.vpap.org/donors/profile/index/71484 He has campaigned for Democrats and worked for democratic organizations. Bridgewater has nothing to do with him.

  • deano64

    that he didn’t send it or pay to have sent either. Your links you provided are nice but there is no proof there that he wasn’t involved with this mailer. One person stood to gain from this mailer and that’s Tim Bridgewater.

  • Next93

    Has anyone given any thought that this might be an attempt to drive a wedge into the republicans?

  • Adjoran

    Obviously Democrats also benefit from intra-party rancor in the GOP – even if they have no shot at the Senate seat, anything that keeps Republicans mad at each other and disillusioned with the system (and staying home) helps their whole ticket.

    Anything sent on behalf of a candidate in a federal campaign must be labeled as such.

  • Right_Again

    but in Utah it wouldn’t help the Democrats at all. This seat is firmly Republican.

    It had to be one of the other Republican candidates playing dirty politics.

  • GuyInSD

    Has this argument really descended to the level of being able to make circumstantial accusations and then require disproof?

    There is no evidence to disprove many things — that’s why it is incumbent on the accuser to prove the accusation.

    Hey, who made the accusation that Bennett and Bridgewater cut a secret deal for Bennett’s delegates at the convention? Sure got some people here at RS excited (http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/05/07/is-bennett-cutting-a-deal-with-bridgewater/). (Oh, wait, that full-throated accusation has disappeared! ) Could it have been Mike Lee’s camp? Can you disprove it?

  • utah_cares

    We are sorry.

    They have been trying to use this to fund Mike Lee.

    Pretty low. Stay out of Utah with the politics.

  • GuyInSD

    of those who should apologize.

    Very quick to jump on anything negative about Bridgewater, but not so quick to clear the record.

    If history is an indication — like the claims of a Bridgewater/Bennett deal prior to the convention — this thread will simply disappear.

  • utah_cares

    you took the photo of. You were no more accurate with your conclusion.

    Time to get Freedomworks and Jim DeMint to say they were wrong? Pretty lame for them going after Bridgewater with this for the purpose to fundraise for Mike Lee.

    http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_15297267

    Tim Stewart, who spent seven years as a legislative aide for Bennett and now is a lobbyist and founder of the group Saddle PAC, coordinated the mailer with a pair of D.C.-area consulting firms, according to e-mails and invoices provided to The Salt Lake Tribune.

    http://www.sltrib.com/D=g/ci_15035047

    Phone calls went out to rural delegates who, if they identified themselves as Bridgewater supporters, were asked if they knew he was a lobbyist who worked to get federal stimulus money for businesses, Bridgewater