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Sumers' Hail Mary TV spot is hard hitting, but risky
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Race
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| Contributor | *crickets chirp* |
| Last Edited | *crickets chirp* Nov 02, 2002 02:47am |
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| Category | General |
| Media | Website - PoliticsNJ.com |
| News Date | Saturday, November 2, 2002 08:47:26 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | [full text]
RIDGEWOOD, November 1 - Trailing in the polls as the race for Congress in the 5th District turns for home, Democrat Anne Sumers launched a cutthroat new television ad today that has some questioning if she's crossed the line.
The 30-second spot, which will air through Election Day on cable television, accuses Sumers' Republican opponent, Assemblyman E. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage), of holding positions on gun issues that made it easier for accused Washington, D.C.-area sniper John Muhammad to pull off his crimes.
"Scott Garrett shouldn't be blamed for the sniper," the ad's voice-over intones, "but Garrett's positions are the problem." A newspaper shot of Muhammad is shown in the ad's first frames, along with a headline from the sniper's recent rampage.
Specifically, the ad hammers Garrett, a six-term legislator, for backing the repeal of an assault weapons ban. It also slams him of supporting legislation to ease restrictions on carrying concealed weapons, and backing the repeal of a law banning those convicted of domestic violence from purchasing guns.
"It is absolutely sickening to see Ms. Sumers exploit the tragedy in a clear attempt to get voters to avoid the real issues," said Evan Kozlow, Garrett's campaign manager.
"She's losing, she's desperate, and she's resorting to scare tactics to win this campaign."
But Jeffrey Garcia, Sumers' campaign manager, said today that if anything about the ad is sickening, it's the voting record of Garrett that is spotlighted.
"[Garrett's votes] are the kind of things that allow tragedies like this to take place," Garcia said. "We have to hold our elected officials accountable."
Along with 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, Muhammad is alleged to be responsible for a sniper spree that left ten people dead in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Reports since his arrest have indicated he had previously been arrested for domestic violence.
Garcia said that measures Garrett has opposed could have made catching Muhammad easier, or prevented the killings from happening at all. He pointed specifically to "ballistic fingerprinting", which some have said will allow police to trace the bullets used in shootings to the guns from which they were fired. Sumers has called for national fingerprinting system while Garrett has not
Garcia acknowledged the ad's explosive emotional content, but said that's the nature of the issue. "People should be emotional about this," he said. "You ask Sarah Brady if she's emotional about this." Brady's husband, Jim, was paralyzed by gunman John Hinckley in the 1981 attempted-assassination of Ronald Reagan.
"I say we're not using this as a political ad," he continued. "I say we're running an ad trying to maker Americans safer."
Sumers, a former Republican who left the party to run for Congress this year, has hammered away at Garrett on gun issues for much of the campaign. The race has been marked by an increasingly vicious tone of late, with both sides ratcheting up their rhetoric for the home stretch. A recent poll by the Bergen Record gave Garrett an eight-point edge.
The new ad, which Garcia said will be run 35-50 times a day until the election, has caused an immediate stir, gaining coverage in local and even some national newscasts. But the free media coverage may not necessarily help Sumers, according to David Rebovich, the Director of Rider University's Institute for New Jersey Politics.
"If you have news anchors raising their eyebrows, it might not go over so well," he said.
But Rebovich said it's a chance Sumers' campaign had no choice but to make. "If you're five to eight points down and you see that Frank Lautenberg is making significant headway on gun control issues, you have to take that chance," he said.
"It may pick her up a few points," Rebovich said. "But does it put her over the top? I don't think so." |
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