WV-02: Our candidate strikes back

Crossposted from a version at West Virginia Blue.

State Sen. John Unger is that rare candidate, drafted by those of us at West Virginia Blue and the DCCC to run against vulnerable Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito.

As we’ve posted before, the GOP has desperately sought anything to throw at State Sen. John Unger, Democratic challenger to the vulnerable Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito.

With her neverending Iraq occupation stance, her handcuffing herself to an incredibly unpopular president, the DCCC making this a top tier race, the growing anti-Capito sentiment with the netroots, and the overall weakness of the GOP bench, the West Virginia Republicans are desperate to find something to throw at Unger to protect her even when they have to make it up.

We’ve called the rightwingers on it before. This time Unger called them on it and it’s good to see the campaign fighting back.

Once again a Republican attempt to throw mud at Unger has splashed back on Capito.

The latest attempt is a variation of one they’ve tried before on Unger’s employment as a federal contractor and yet it only highlighted how much better qualified Unger is for the job than Capito.

This time, however, the effort not only shows a potential ethical breach by the WV GOP, but it reveals dirty tricks by Capito. So much for her genial, civility veneer.

From Unger’s statement to the media today:

CHARLESTON – To combat the State Republican Party’s early smear campaign against him, Senator John Unger today made public a letter from Lewis G. Brewer, Executive Director of the West Virginia Ethics Commission, directly contradicting the State Republican Party’s attack on Senator Unger’s 2007 financial disclosure form.

In the attached letter from July 16, Executive Director Brewer states:

“Marking `other’ on your form would not meaningfully change the financial information you have already disclosed in completing the form.  Accordingly, it is my opinion that you are not required to file an amended financial disclosure statement.”

In simple words even rightwingers can understand the West Virginia Republican Party Chairman Doug McKinney filed an ethics complaint for Unger filling out the disclosure papers properly. How much more desperation are they going to get?

Seriously, they filed a complaint for someone filing a form properly. What’s next from the West Virginia GOP? “Unger places stamp with torn corner on envelope.”

Anyway, back to Unger’s statement:

West Virginia Republican Party Chairman Doug McKinney filed a formal complaint with the State’s Ethics Commission on July 17 alleging Senator Unger did not properly complete his personal financial disclosure statement.

“I am very proud of my employment with EG&G Technical Services and the work I do in the area of homeland security,” Senator Unger said.  “As can be seen by my financial disclosure forms, I have been open and transparent about my employment with EG&G.”

Filing ethics complaints against challengers of Shelley Moore Capito’s is not uncommon practice with the state’s Republican Party. In 2000, Shelley Moore Capito ran ad campaigns alleging at least 18 ethics charges had been filed against her opponent Jim Humphreys in an effort to attack his credibility.

In her ads, Capito herself said her intention was to state “the truth about Jim Humphreys’ questionable conduct, deceit and repeated violations of personal and professional trust.”

“It is unfortunate that the West Virginia Republican Party has run out of meaningful ideas about solving the pressing challenges our state and country are facing today, and instead has decided to engage in these petty character assassination attempts,” Senator Unger said.

What will be interesting to see in the days ahead is whether the media digs into how Capito’s supporters are filing false ethics complaints and abusing the ethics system for partisan political reasons or whether the press simply parrots Republican talking points.

Jake Stump of the Charleston Daily Mail already debunked the smear on Unger’s employment.

An employee at the National Energy Technology Laboratory recommended him for the EG&G job, Unger said.
“I’m not a federal employee, but I work with federal officials,” he said. “The reason I don’t talk much about the particulars of the job is because we’re dealing with sensitive materials and homeland security.”

The senator said he believes the company tapped him not because of his political background, but for his experiences overseas.

He has worked with Mother Teresa in India during monsoons and riots in 1990. There he coordinated the distribution of relief supplies.

Before that, he worked for the United States Refugee Program in Hong Kong and helped Vietnamese refugee children there.

He’s also aided in disaster relief efforts in Turkey and Iraq, where he has traveled twice.

Unger said those experiences provided him with knowledge concerning international relations and security.

“Part of our training in Iraq dealt with security,” Unger said. “When you’re working with government in the area of human relief, there’s a large component of security.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again of the rightwing whining smears on Unger: That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?

Capito’s got no positive record to run on after six years as an ineffective representative for West Virginia. All she and her supporters got against Unger is he filled out a form correctly and they’ve tried to make an issue of it.

They’ve done it before because they’ve got no ideas to run on and no facts to use against him. So they throw mud. They throw mud and it splashes on Capito. With friends like them, Capito doesn’t need any enemies.